Titus Livius

Roman History, Books I-III (Esprios Classics) Titus Livius

Titus Livius (64/59 BC - AD 12/17), known as Livy in English, was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled Ab Urbe Condita, ''From the Founding of the City'', covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional foundation in 753 BC through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own lifetime. He was on familiar terms with members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and even in friendship with Augustus, whose young grandnephew, the future emperor Claudius, he exhorted to take up the writing of history. Livy's only surviving work is commonly known as "History of Rome" (or Ab Urbe Condita, ''From the Founding of the City''), which was his career from his mid-life, probably 32, until he left Rome for Padua in old age.