Lucius Apuleius (c. A.D. 123/5 - c. A.D. 180), an utterly Romanized Berber who described himself as "half-Numidian half-Gaetulian", is remembered most for his bawdy picaresque Latin novel The Golden Ass or, in Latin, the Aureus Asinus (where the Latin word aureus - golden - connoted an element of blessed luckiness). Events Roman Emperor Hadrians villa at Tivoli was built. ... Events Construction of the Pantheon (Rome) as it stands today by Hadrian. ... For other uses, see number 180. ... The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Ancient Roman polity in the centuries following its reorganization under the leadership of Octavian (better known as Caesar Augustus), until its radical reformation in what was later to be known as the Byzantine Empire. ... The Berbers (also called Imazighen, free men, singular Amazigh) are an ethnic group indigenous to Northwest Africa, speaking the Berber languages of the Afroasiatic family. ... Numidia was an ancient African Berber kingdom and later a Roman province on the northern coast of Africa between the province of Africa (where Tunisia is now) and the province of Mauretania (which is now the western part of Algerias coastal area). ... Gaetulia is the name of a Roman Province in present-day southern Algeria. ... The picaresque novel (Spanish: picaresco, from pícaro, for rogue or rascal) is a popular style of novel that originated in Spain and flourished in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries and has continued to influence modern literature. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... DeFoes Robinson Crusoe, Newspaper edition published in 1719 A novel (from French nouvelle, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ... The Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius, referred to as The Golden Ass (Asinus aureus) by Augustine, is the only Latin novel to survive in its entirety. ...

He was born in Madaurus (now Mdaourouch, Algeria), a Roman colony in Numidia on the North African coast, bordering Gaetulia; this is the same colonia where Saint Augustine later received part of his early education, and, though located well away from the Romanized coast, is today the site of some pristine Roman ruins. Details regarding his life come mostly from his defense speech (see below) and a work entitled "Florida," which consists of snippets taken from some of his best speeches. There is also a desire on the part of many to take details from his seemingly autobiographical novel and apply them to Apuleius, but this is not a reliable source -- most notably, the novel is misused as evidence that Apuleius was a worshiper of Isis, though there is good reason to think that this was not the case. (Another dubious conclusion is that "Lucius," the first name of the main character of the novel, was also the first name of Apuleius -- wishful thinking for which there is no concrete evidence.) Colonies in antiquity were city-states founded from a mother-city, not from a territory-at-large. ... A colonia was a Roman outpost, usually established by veterans of a Roman Legion, who received land as a part of their retirement from the Legions. ... St. ... Isis (Greek corruption; the Egyptian is Aset) was originally a goddess from Nubia, and was adopted into Egyptian belief very early. ...

Apuleius inherited a substantial fortune from his father, a provincial magistrate. Apuleius studied with a master at Carthage and later at Athens, where he studied Platonic philosophy among other subjects. He subsequently went to Rome to study Latin oratory and, most likely, to declaim in the law courts for a time before returning to his native North Africa. He also travelled extensively in Asia Minor and Egypt, studying philosophy and religion, burning up his inheritance while doing so. A map of the central Mediterranean Sea, showing the location of Carthage (near modern Tunis). ... The Acropolis in central Athens, one of the most important landmarks in world history. ... Platonic idealism is the theory that the substantive reality around us is only a reflection of a higher truth. ... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Left-Wing Democrats) Area  - City Proper  1290 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,546,807 almost 4,000,000 1... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Oratory is the art of eloquent speech. ... Anatolia (Greek: ανατολη anatole, rising of the sun or East; compare Orient and Levant, by popular etymology Turkish Anadolu to ana mother and dolu filled), also called by the Latin name of Asia Minor, is a region of Southwest Asia which corresponds today to the Asian portion of Turkey. ... Philosophy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

After being accused of using magic to gain the attentions (and fortune) of the wealthy widow he married (the mother of a school chum from his days in Athens), he declaimed and then distributed a witty tour de force in his own defense before the proconsul and a court of magistrates convened in Sabratha, near Tripoli, the Apologia (A Discourse on Magic). The work has very little to do with magic, and a lot to do with making mincemeat of his opponents, with hilarity and panache. It is among the funniest works that have come down to us from Antiquity -- it is certainly the most entertaining example of Latin courtroom oratory to survive, though some fans of Cicero might disagree -- and firmly places Apuleius among the great humorists of his day. The ancient symbol of the pentagram is often used as a symbol for magic. ... For the Miocene ape, see Proconsul (genus) Under the Roman Empire a proconsul was a promagistrate filling the office of a consul. ... Sabratha, in the Zawia district in the northwestern corner of modern Libya, was the westernmost of the three cities of Tripoli. ... This page refers to Tripoli, the capital of Libya. ...

His other works include On the God of Socrates, Florida, On Plato and his Doctrine, and possibly On the Universe.

The Golden Ass is the only Latin novel that has survived in its entirety. It is an imaginative, irreverent, and amusing work that relates the ludicrous adventures of one Lucius, who experiments in magic and is accidentally turned into an ass. In this guise he hears and sees many unusual things, until escaping from his predicament in a rather unexpected way (see SPOILER below). Within this frame story are found multiple digressions, the longest among them being the well-known tale of Cupid and Psyche. Binomial name Equus asinus Linnaeus, 1758 The donkey, a. ... A frame story (also frame tale, frame narrative, etc) is a narrative technique whereby a main story is composed, at least in part, for the purpose of organizing a set of shorter stories, each of which is a story within a story. ... A story within a story is a literary device or conceit in which one story is told during the action of another story. ... The Abduction of Psyche by William Bouguereau The tale of Cupid and Psyche first appeared as a digressionary story told by an old woman in Lucius Apuleius novel, The Golden Ass, written in the second century AD. Apuleius probably used an earlier folk-tale as the basis for his story...

The ending of "The Golden Ass" is unexpected, and should not be spoiled for those who have not read the book. However, since it is an important aspect of Apuleius's masterpiece, it cannot be omitted from this site -- thus the use of this warning.

"The Golden Ass" ends with the hero, Lucius, being rescued by Isis and transformed back from his donkey form. Lucius subsequently becomes a worshiper of Isis, and Apuleius provides a lengthy account of his initiation into the mysteries of Isis, which some see as autobiographical. But Apuleius need not have been a worshiper of Isis to know the details he provides, and this work is more likely to belong to a sub-genre of stories involving rescue by Isis. It is even possible that he is mocking such intensely devout worshipers of the goddess. A mystery religion is any religion with an arcanum, or body of secret wisdom. ... Isis (Greek corruption; the Egyptian is Aset) was originally a goddess from Nubia, and was adopted into Egyptian belief very early. ... An autobiography (from the Greek auton, self, bios, life and graphein, write) is a biography written by the subject or composed conjointly with a collaborative writer (styled as told to or with). The term dates from the late eighteenth century, but the form is much older. ...

External links

• Works by Apuleius at Project Gutenberg
• The Latin Library: Apulei Opera (Latin texts of all the surviving works of Apuleius.)
• English translation of Florida by H. E. Butler (PDF)
• English translation of the Apologia by H. E. Butler
• English translation of the Apologia by H. E. Butler (PDF)
• Apuleius - Apologia: Seminar (Latin text of the Apologia with H. E. Butler's English translation and an English crib with discussion and commentary)
• Apuleius of Madauros, Pro Se De Magia (Apologia), edited with a commentary by Vincent Hunink (Long and detailed introduction to the Apologia)