Latin literature

Literary works composed in Latin, from the earliest surviving inscriptions through antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. Its forms and audiences changed as Latin moved from a spoken language to a language of education, religion, and scholarship.

Classical Latin: The literary and educated form of Latin used chiefly from the first century BCE through the second century CE. Its conventions shaped the works most often treated as the classical canon.
Virgil: A Roman poet of the first century BCE, best known for the epic Aeneid. His epic became a defining model for Roman literary identity and later European poetry.
Old Latin: The earliest stage of Latin literature, represented by works from the third through early first centuries BCE. Its surviving plays and fragments mark the beginnings of written Roman literature.
Carolingian Renaissance: A revival of learning and manuscript production promoted under the Carolingian rulers in the eighth and ninth centuries. Its copying and correction of texts preserved much classical Latin literature.
Vernacular literature: Literary works composed in a language spoken by a community as an everyday language. Latin literature often addressed learned audiences across regions, unlike locally rooted vernacular traditions.
Latin grammar: The system of forms and rules governing Latin words and sentences. Inflection and syntax give Latin prose and poetry distinctive structures.
Ovid: A Roman poet whose works include the Metamorphoses, a narrative poem about transformation. His inventive mythology became one of Latin literature’s most influential sources.
Livius Andronicus: A Greek-born Roman poet and dramatist active in the third century BCE, associated with Rome’s earliest literature. His Latin translation of Greek epic helped establish literary writing in Rome.
Latin Bible: The Latin translations of biblical texts, especially the Vulgate associated with Jerome. Biblical Latin became a major source of vocabulary, style, and literary imagery.
Ancient Greek literature: Literary works composed in ancient Greek, from epic poetry to philosophy and drama. Greek literature supplied many forms that Roman authors translated and transformed.

Linked from 34 pages