This article is about women in ancient Rome. For the hummingbird genus, see Lesbia (bird). This article is about the hummingbird genus. ...

Lesbia was a common Latin name in Ancient Rome The most famous example is the lover to whom the Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus (84-54BC) dedicates a number of poems. Nothing is known about her other than what can be deduced from Catullus's poems. The name itself suggests literary and erotic connotations, evoking as it does the Lesbos Island, where the famed poet Sappho lived. According to Apuleius, a much later author from Africa, 'Lesbia' was actually a fake name invented by Catullus, a common practice. Lesbia is the subject of 25 of his 116 surviving poems, and these display a wide range of emotions, ranging from tender love (eg, Catullus 5), to sadness and disappointment, and to bitter sarcasm, following the often unsteady course of Catullus' relationship. Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... The poor poet A poet is a person who writes poetry. ... Fresco from Herculaneum, presumably showing a love couple. ... Lesbos (Modern Greek: Lesvos (Λέσβος)), is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. ... Ancient Greek bust. ... Lucius Apuleius (c. ... by Gaius Valerius Catullus Latin text Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus, rumoresque senum severiorum omnes unius aestimemus assis! soles occidere et redire possunt: nobis cum semel occidit brevis lux nox est perpetua una dormienda da mi basia mille, deinde centum. ...

Lesbia is traditionally identified with the infamous Clodia, prosecuted by Cicero in Pro Caelio, although this conclusion lacks direct evidence, and there is some disagreement in a minority of scholars. A recent article by the Roman historian Suzanne Dixon in Reading Roman Women mounts a strong argument against not only the Lesbia/Clodia identification but also against the notion that 'Lesbia' refers to a historical woman at all. Clodia, born Claudia Pulchra Tertulla in circa 95 BC, was the third daughter of the patrician Appius Claudius Pulcher and Caecilia Metella Balearica. ... For other uses, see Cicero (disambiguation). ... Pro Caelio is one of the most famous surviving speeches by the Roman orator, Cicero. ...

References

Oxford Latin Reader, Maurice Balme and James Morewood (1997)