Livy

Roman historian (59 BC – AD 17)

Fame73.8
Momentum1.7
Italy rank#108

Source-basedStable

Fame73.8
Momentum1.7
Italy rank#108
Writers rank#223
Wikipedia27.9K

Lived -59–17, aged 76Italy

Italy WritersWriter / Author

Wikipedia
88 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in Italy
#108
Writers
Era
-59–17
Aged 76

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

He set out to write Rome's entire story — from myth to empire — and produced 142 books doing it. Most are lost now, but what survives of Ab Urbe Condita remains the backbone of how we picture the Roman Republic.

Biography

About

Titus Livius was born in 59 BC and spent his life reconstructing Rome's past in a work called Ab Urbe Condita, "From the Founding of the City." It stretched from the earliest legends before Rome's traditional founding in 753 BC all the way through the reign of Augustus, the emperor he knew personally. Augustus kept him close, and Livy was friendly enough with the Julio-Claudian dynasty to encourage the young Claudius — future emperor himself — to try his hand at history. Livy died in AD 17, leaving behind a monumental chronicle that shaped Roman memory for centuries.

Gallery