Quintus Ennius

Jacqueline Elliott (University of Colorado at Boulder)

Ed. by Thomas Habinek, University of Southern California
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.2: Ancient Roman Writing and Culture (Republic and Empire), -750-476.
Vol. editors: Anca Dan (École Practique de Hautes Études PSL), Martine Diepenbroek (University of Johannesburg), William John Dominik (University of Otago), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Victoria Fendel (University of Oxford), Thomas Habinek (University of Southern California), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Sophia Papaioannou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Guendalina Daniela Maria Taietti (University of Liverpool), Jula Wildberger (American University of Paris)

Dates

Born -239
Died -169
Activity c. -219--169

Places

Born in Ancient Rome (Republic & Empire)
Active in Ancient Rome (Republic & Empire)

Activities

Primary

Playwright / Dramatist
Poet

Resources

Ennius' Works

Save to Bookshelf

The poetry of Ennius was counted by Cicero, Virgil and many other major literary figures of the first century as the fountainhead of the most significant traditions of Roman poetry as they understood them. Ennius was an extraordinarily prolific and highly experimental writer, but he is best known today – and was perhaps then – for his epic

Annales

[“Annals”], a work in 18 books that covered Roman history from its origins to Ennius’ own day, which was written towards the end of his life. This epic was the first work of Roman poetry to be written in hexameter, the Greek metre in which the Homeric

Iliad

and

Odyssey

(and much else since) had been composed; and thus the long tradition of Roman hexametric poetry, in which such works as Virgil’s

Aeneid

and Ovid’s

Metamorphoses

…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

1560 words

Citation: Elliott, Jacqueline. "Quintus Ennius". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 June 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1431, accessed 22 November 2024.]