Apuleius Madaurensis
Apuleius
The author of the only complete Latin novel
c. AD 124 – c. AD 170
Lucius Apuleius was born around 124 AD in Madauros, in Roman North Africa (modern Algeria). Wealthy, well-educated, and endlessly curious, he studied in Carthage, Athens, and Rome, was initiated into several mystery religions, and was once tried for witchcraft — a charge he defeated with a defence speech so brilliant it was published as the Apologia.
His masterpiece is the Metamorphoses, commonly known as The Golden Ass — the only Latin novel to survive complete. It tells the story of Lucius, a young man transformed into a donkey by a magical mishap, who passes through a series of picaresque adventures before being restored to human form by the goddess Isis. The novel is bawdy, violent, satirical, and deeply religious — a combination that has puzzled and delighted readers for nearly two thousand years. Embedded within it is the tale of Cupid and Psyche, one of the most beautiful and influential stories in Western literature.
Works (3)
- 1
- 2
-
3
Metamorphoses epic
A young man with too much curiosity and too little sense travels to Thessaly — the witchcraft capital of the ancient world — and gets himself turned i...