Satyricon

Petronius Arbiter c. 14 – 66 AD - the author of the ancient Roman novel Satyricon, usually identified with the senator Petronius, whom Tacitus wrote about. Petronius’ Satyricon, one of the most original works of first-century Roman imperial literature, has come down to us in fragmentary form in medieval manuscripts. In content, this work is a sharp adventure-satirical novel, consisting of many separate life scenes, in which the amusing escapades of three friends and the sordid stories that happened to them on the streets and squares of Ancient Rome are vividly and talentfully described. The novel broadly depicts the everyday, lowly life of common folk, ignorant and superstitious, with a limited worldview, crude tastes, but not without practical ingenuity.