Scribonius Aphrodisius

Scribonius Aphrodisius was grammarian of ancient Rome. He was originally a slave and disciple of the grammarian Lucius Orbilius Pupillus, who was also the teacher of the Roman poet Horace.[1] He was purchased by Scribonia, the second wife of the emperor Augustus, and was by her manumitted.[2] She may have purchased him to educate her children, or possibly herself.[3]

Aphrodisius is known to have written a treatise on orthography, in opposition to a similar work written by grammarian Verrius Flaccus,[4] also a freedman, but this work is now lost.[5]

Notes

1. Kaster, R.A. (2012). "Scribonius Aphrodisius". In Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony; Eidinow, Esther (eds.). The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press. p. 1331. ISBN 9780199545568. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
2. Suetonius, De Illustribus Grammaticis 19
3. Hemelrijk, Emily Ann (2004). Matrona Docta: Educated Women in the Roman Élite from Cornelia to Julia Domna. Routledge classical monographs. Psychology Press. p. 239. ISBN 9780415341271. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
4. Fantham, Elaine (2006). Julia Augusti. Women of the Ancient World. Routledge. p. 23. ISBN 9781134323449. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
5. de Cassagnac, Adolphe Granier (1871). History of the Working and Burgher Classes. Translated by Benjamin Edwards, Green. Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger. p. 249. Retrieved 2016-02-21.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William (1870). "Aphrodisius, Scribonius". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 1. p. 224.