Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita, Books 1 - 7, 17 Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita, Books 1 - 7, 17

During the reign of emperor Augustus, Livy composed a history of Rome in 142 books, of which only the books 1–10 and 21–45 have survived in their entirety. The content of the remaining books is only known through brief summaries from Late Antiquity.

The historical narrative begins with the mythical foundation of the city of Rome (thus the title ‚Ab urbe condita‘) and continues up to the year 9 B.C. The work is one of the most important sources for early Roman history and on the war the Romans fought against the Carthagians under Hannibal.

Msc.Class.34 is one of the most reliable textual witnesses for the first seven books of Livy’s work. The opening shown contains the passage in which the murder of Remus by his brother Romulus is recounted (centre of right-hand page).

The codex is one of the manuscripts listed in the inventory of Otto’s books in the Lorsch miscellany (Msc.Med.1), which is also shown in this exhibition.