Not much is known of the life of Titus Livius, Rome's most ambitious and, arguably, greatest historian. Livy himself offers almost no autobiographical information in his monumental--and only surviving--work, the Historiae ab urbe condita libri. Most of the facts on Livy's life come from later sources, and some of this information is surely apocryphal. According to the chronicle of the Christian priest Jerome, Livy was born in Patavium (later, Padua) in 59 B.C. He died there sometime between A.D. 12 and A.D. 17. An inscription on a tomb at Patavium commemorating a Titus Livius, if authentic, supports Jerome as to both the place and time of Livy's death. Livy's family appears to have been of the middle class, possibly merchants. The family was well-to-do, for Livy apparently never wanted for money and was able to devote his life to the writing of history.

Patavium, located in Cisalpine Gaul...