When did Lucretius die and what is his birth date?
Titus Lucretius Carus died on the 15th of October in the year 55 BC. His birth remains uncertain but Jerome places it around 99 or 98 BC based on an age of 43 at death.
Questions about Lucretius
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What poem did Lucretius write to Gaius Memmius?
Lucretius wrote De rerum natura which spans some 7,400 dactylic hexameters across six untitled books. He addressed this work transmitting Epicurean ideas including atomism and cosmology to Roman readers for the first time.
How does Lucretius describe the three-age system of human development?
Lucretius specified earliest weapons as hands nails and teeth before moving to stones branches and fire. Iron eventually made the bronze sickle fall into disrepute during his millennium spanning from 1000 BC to 1 BC.
Who rediscovered the text De rerum natura and when was it found?
Poggio Bracciolini found the text in a monastery located somewhere within Germany in the year 1417. This rediscovery played an important role in developing atomism through influence on Pierre Gassendi.
Which Augustan poets were influenced by Lucretius's work?
De rerum natura exerted considerable influence on Augustan poets particularly Virgil and Horace. Virgil referenced Lucretius in his Aeneid Georgics and Eclogues though less extensively in the latter.