Cornelius Nepos
c. 110 BC – c. 25 BC
Cornelius Nepos was born around 110 BC in Cisalpine Gaul and died around 25 BC, spanning the last century of the Roman Republic. He was a friend of Cicero, Catullus (who dedicated his book of poems to him), and Atticus (whose biography Nepos wrote). Unlike his more famous contemporaries, Nepos was not a politician or soldier but a man of letters — a biographer and cultural historian.
His surviving work, De Viris Illustribus ("On Famous Men"), originally comprised at least sixteen books of short biographies organised by category — generals, kings, historians, poets, orators — comparing Greeks and Romans. What survives is a section on foreign generals (Miltiades, Themistocles, Epaminondas, Hannibal, and others) plus the lives of Cato the Elder and Atticus. These are brief, readable sketches rather than exhaustive biographies — closer to Plutarch's format than Suetonius's.
Ancient critics did not rate Nepos highly as a stylist, and modern scholars have found factual errors. But he has the distinction of being the earliest surviving Latin biographer, and his portraits of Hannibal and Atticus remain genuinely engaging. He also wrote a universal chronicle (Chronica, lost) and a geographical work.
The most brilliant and dangerous Athenian of his generation. Alcibiades defects to Sparta, then to Persia, then back to Athens — always the most talen...
Brief notices on foreign kings — a catalogue of monarchs from Nepos' broader biographical project, mostly fragmentary.
The greatest Theban general. Epaminondas shattered Spartan military supremacy at Leuctra, liberated the helots of Messenia, and died at the moment of...
The Athenian mercenary general Iphicrates, who reformed the light infantry and won victories across the Greek world through innovation and discipline.
The hero of Salamis. Themistocles built the Athenian navy, lured the Persians into the straits, and won the most decisive naval battle in Western hist...
The Athenian democrat who led the resistance against the Thirty Tyrants and restored democracy to Athens — fighting his way back from exile with just...