Cato the Younger or Cato of Utica, 95 B.C.–46 B.C., Roman statesman, whose full name was Marcus Porcius Cato; great-grandson of Cato the Elder. Reared by his uncle Marcus Livius Drusus, he sho...

Scipio, ancient Roman family of the Cornelian gens. They were patricians. During the 3d and 2d cent. B.C. they were distinguished by their love of Greek culture and learning. Their wealth and ...

Numantia, ancient settlement, Spain, near the Durius (now Douro) River and north of modern Soria. Numantia played a central role in the Celt-Iberian resistance to Roman conquest. Its inhabitan...

Ennius, Quintus, 239–169? B.C., Latin poet, regarded by the Romans as the father of Latin poetry, b. Calabria. His birthplace was the meeting point of three civilizations—Oscan, Greek, and Lat...

Scipio Africanus Major (Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus), 236–183 B.C., Roman general, the conqueror of Hannibal in the Punic Wars. He was the son of Publius Cornelius Scipio, and from a ve...

Basilica, large building erected by the Romans for transacting business and disposing of legal matters. Rectangular in form with a roofed hall, the building usually contained an interior colon...

Punic Wars, three distinct conflicts between Carthage and Rome. When they began, Rome had nearly completed the conquest of Italy, while Carthage controlled NW Africa and the islands and the co...

Oratory, the art of swaying an audience by eloquent speech. In ancient Greece and Rome oratory was included under the term rhetoric, which meant the art of composing as well as delivering a sp...

Latin literature, the literature of ancient Rome and of that written in Latin in later eras.Very little remains of the ritualistic songs and the native poetry of the Romans and Latins before t...

Carthage, ancient city, on the northern shore of Africa, on a peninsula in the Bay of Tunis and near modern Tunis. The Latin name, Carthago or Cartago, was derived from the Phoenician name, wh...