author
Petronius Arbiter
20–66
Known as Nero’s "judge of elegance," this Roman writer is traditionally credited with the Satyricon, one of the sharpest and strangest surviving works from ancient literature. His life is known only in fragments, which gives his story the same mystery and wit that mark his writing.
10 Audiobooks
Le Satyricon
by Petronius Arbiter
The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter
by Petronius Arbiter
The Satyricon — Complete
by Petronius Arbiter
The Satyricon — Volume 03: Encolpius and His Companions
by Petronius Arbiter
The Satyricon — Volume 07: Marchena Notes
by Petronius Arbiter
The Satyricon — Volume 05: Crotona Affairs
by Petronius Arbiter
The Satyricon — Volume 01: Introduction
by Petronius Arbiter
The Satyricon — Volume 02: Dinner of Trimalchio
by Petronius Arbiter
The Satyricon — Volume 06: Editor's Notes
by Petronius Arbiter
The Satyricon — Volume 04 : Escape by Sea
by Petronius Arbiter
About the author
Petronius Arbiter, usually identified with Gaius Petronius, was a Roman courtier and writer active in the first century CE during the reign of Emperor Nero. Ancient sources, especially Tacitus, describe him as a man famous for refined taste and effortless style, so admired at court that he was treated as an authority on luxury and elegance.
He is traditionally regarded as the author of the Satyricon, a fragmented Latin work that mixes satire, storytelling, and vivid scenes from everyday Roman life. Even in its incomplete form, it has had a long afterlife because of its lively voice, comic energy, and unusually direct picture of social ambition, excess, and performance in the Roman world.
Much about Petronius remains uncertain, including several details of his life and even parts of his identity, but the account most often followed places his death in 66 CE, during Nero’s rule. That mix of glamour, irony, and uncertainty has helped make him one of the most memorable literary figures of imperial Rome.