depiction of Apuleius |Occupation||Novelist, writer, public
speaker| |Notable work(s)||The Golden Ass| Apuleius was a
philosopher and rhetorician tried for using magic to win an
older, wealthy bride, but he's better known for his novel about
the cult of Isis, the tale of Cupid and Psyche, and the
adventures of its hero, Lucius. Apuleius was born in about 125,
in Madauros, Numidia. It is not known what his first name was,
although writers in the Middle Ages often called him "Lucius
Apuleius" because the hero of his novel was called Lucius.
Apuleius was educated in Carthage and Athens, and then traveled
around the Mediterranean learning about religious cults. In 158
he delivered a speech recorded as Apologia Apuleii 'The Apology
of Apuleius' in the town of Sabratha, Tripolitania (modern
Libya), as a defense against the charge of using magic to win a
wealthy older bride called Pudentilla. Apuleius, in his Apology,
provides a glimpse into second century Roman law, the economic
and social conditions of Roman North