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Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

Ausonius, Decimus Magnus

c. 310 CE–c. 395 CE · Bordeaux (Burdigala)

Decimus Magnus Ausonius was a Latin poet and teacher of the 4th century CE from Bordeaux in Gaul. He rose from professor of rhetoric to tutor of a future emperor and to high public office, including the consulship, and left a varied body of verse, including the 'Mosella,' a poem in praise of the river Moselle, and affectionate poems on his relatives and teachers. He is a leading witness to the literary culture of late Roman Gaul.

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Bordeaux (Burdigala)Gaul

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About Bordeaux (Burdigala)

Bordeaux, ancient Burdigala, is a port on the Garonne in southwestern France and today the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Under Rome it was a commercial centre with schools of rhetoric and grammar, where the 4th-century poet Ausonius taught before being summoned to the imperial court; his pupil Paulinus, later bishop of Nola, was born in the city. After Eleanor of Aquitaine married the future Henry II of England, Bordeaux was ruled by the English crown until 1453. Its archbishop Bertrand de Got was elected Pope Clement V in 1305, and a university was founded in 1441. The city later grew rich on Atlantic trade and wine, and its historic port is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Across the traditions, in Bordeaux (Burdigala) at the same time

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Sages whose lives overlapped with Ausonius, Decimus Magnus’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.

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Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Ausonius, Decimus Magnus’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Works(26)