Livy, full name Titus Livius (59 bc-ad17), Roman historian, whose History of Rome is one of the basic sources of information about early Rome and one of the classics of ancient Roman literature. Livy was born and died at Patavium (modern Padua) in northern Italy, but probably spent most of his life in Rome. His History of Rome was a narrative of events from the foundation of the city in 753 bc until 9 bc in 142 books. Of these only 35 survive in their complete form: Books I-X, which consist mostly of semilegendary accounts of the origin and early history of the city; and Books XXI-XLV, which deal with the Second Punic and the Macedonian wars. Fragments exist of a few other books, and the contents of the remaining ones are known from descriptions in the works of other writers. The books were published in groups of five, the first about 26 bc and the last after ad14.
Writing during the reign of Emperor Augustus, when the Roman Empire dominated the Mediterranean world, Livy intended his history to demonstrate that Rome had been destined for greatness even in the days of its humble origins and to provide a suitable backdrop for the glories of the Augustan age. He accepted and used the material he found in the accounts of earlier Roman historians without trying to determine whether one was more reliable than another, and his work is distinguished more for its literary style and dramatic skill than for its factual accuracy. His was the most widely read and admired history of Rome in ancient times, and remained so during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period.
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