c. 270 B.C.E.–c. 200 B.C.E.

Playwright
Translator

First Roman Playwright.

Naevius was most likely born in Rome around 280 B.C.E., despite a later reference to his possible Campanian origins. His family name is known from historical records as a plebeian rather than noble name and he was certainly a Roman citizen, not a freedman like his contemporary Livius Andronicus. He served in the Roman army during the first Punic War (264–241 B.C.E.) and began writing for the stage afterward, with his first production in Rome in 235 B.C.E. He did not act in his own plays like Livius, but he did originate a uniquely Roman form of drama: the fabula praetexta, historical tragedies about Roman subjects rather than Greek mythology. One, called Clastidium, recounted a Roman victory in that city in 222 B.C.E.; another, Romulus, told the story of...