Horace was born on 8 December 65 BCE in Venosa. A Roman lyric poet in the age of Augustus, Horace was the son of a freed slave and rose through education in Rome and Athens, fighting on the losing side at Philippi before being pardoned. Befriended by Virgil, he gained the patronage of Maecenas, who gave him a farm in the Sabine hills. He wrote the Odes, the Satires, the Epistles and the Ars Poetica, works distinguished by polished form and a philosophy of moderation, as in his famous phrases carpe diem and the golden mean. His influence on European poetry, from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, has been immense.
Before and after
- from 73 BCE to 71 BCEThird Servile War
- 15 October 70 BCEBirth of Virgil
- 13 January 69 BCEBirth of Cleopatra
- from 66 BCE to 217 CERoman–Parthian Wars
- 8 December 65 BCEBirth of Horace
- 63 BCEBirth of Strabo
- 23 September 63 BCEBirth of Augustus
- from 60 BCE to 106 CEDacia
- from 59 BCE to 51 BCECaesar begins the conquest of Gaul
More in Art, literature & culture
- c. 2,100s BCEEpic of Gilgamesh
- c. 1,500 BCEOrigins of Zoroastrianism
- 551 BCEBirth of Confucius
- 6th century BCEOrigins of Judaism
- 33 CEOrigins of Christianity
- 381 CEFirst Council of Constantinople
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires. You can also browse everything in the 1st century BCE.