Quick Facts
Biography
Aulus Licinius Archias (Greek: Ἀρχίας; fl. c. 120 – 61 BC) was a Greek poet.
Life
He was born in Antioch, Syria (modern Antakya, Turkey). In 102 BC, his reputation having been already established, especially as an improvisatore, he went to Rome, where he was well received amongst the highest and most influential families. His chief patron was Lucullus, whose gentile name he assumed. In 93 BC, he visited Sicily with his patron, on which occasion he received the citizenship of Lucanian Heraclea, one of the federate towns and, indirectly, by the provisions of the Lex Plautia Papiria, that of Rome.
In 62 BC, he was accused by a certain Grattius of having assumed the citizenship illegally, but Cicero successfully defended him in his speech Pro Archia. That speech, which furnishes nearly all the information concerning Archias, states that he had celebrated the deeds of Gaius Marius and Lucullus in the Cimbrian and Mithridatic Wars and that he was engaged upon a poem of which the events of Cicero's consulship formed the subject.
The Greek Anthology contains 35 epigrams under the name of Archias, but it is doubtful how many are his work.