Our way and welcome to Emperor's of Rome, a Roman history podcast from Latrobe University.

I'm your host Dr. Rianen Evans, senior lecturer in classics and ancient history at

Latrobe University and my guest today is Dr. Hannah Chulik Baird, assistant

professor of classical studies at Boston University.

This is episode CXIX, fragments of early Roman literature. While we are lucky that much Roman literature from the

late Republic and Imperial period comes down to us complete or almost complete,

most of the historical and poetic works from the Mid Republic have been lost

and only surviving fragments. In this episode, we discuss some of these nearly lost early Roman texts. Here's Hannah Chulik Baird.

Roman literature is thought to begin in the third century,

BCE, with Livius and Drnis. We often date the beginning of literature because a play

has produced in 240, B.C. He also translated the Odyssey into Latin and so people like to draw attention to the fact that Roma's beginning came from Greece which is a theme that I'm sure we'll return to and then we have a subsequent list of playwrights and epic poets.

Gnaius Nivius who wrote an epic poem on the Punic War.

In the second century, the really famous poet Quintus Enius who wrote the national

epic that really precedes the Anaid which is called the Annals which has told

the story of Rome's history from the very beginning

with Inius coming to Italy up until the beginning of the second century BC up until contemporary

with himself. Right up until his own life. Right which is

different from Virgil who never decided to make that that recent documentary

experience. That's something we should talk about as well.

What's different and what's going on then?

So thank you for giving us that grounding in three of the big names from early Roman

literature.

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