Livius Andronicus, Lucius (c. 284–c. 204 BC)

Latin poet. By birth a Greek, he was brought as a prisoner to Rome and, as a freedman of M Livius Salinator, he adopted his owner's name on emancipation. Livius Andronicus was the first literary epic and dramatic author in Rome. He adapted Greek tragedies and comedies and produced a version of the Odyssey in Saturnian verse. Fragments of his work survive.