LucanArticle Free Pass Lucan, Latin in full Marcus Annaeus
Lucanus (born ad 39, Corduba [now Córdoba], Spain—died 65, Rome
[Italy]), Roman poet and republican patriot whose historical
epic, the Bellum civile, better known as the Pharsalia because
of its vivid account of that battle, is remarkable as the single
major Latin epic poem that eschewed the intervention of the
gods. Lucan was the nephew of the philosopher-statesman Lucius
Annaeus Seneca (Seneca the Younger). Trained by the Stoic
philosopher Cornutus and later educated in Athens, Lucan
attracted the favourable attention of the emperor Nero owing to
his early promise as a rhetorician and orator. Shortly, however,
Nero became jealous of his ability as a poet and halted further
public readings of his poetry. Already disenchanted by Nero’s
tyranny and embittered by the ban on his recitations, Lucan
became one of the leaders in the conspiracy of Piso (Gaius
Calpurnius) to assassinate Nero. When the conspiracy was
discovered, he was compelled to commit suic