(born &circa; &AD; 38/41, Bilbilis, Hispania—died &circa; 103) Roman poet. Born in a Roman colony in what is now Spain, Martial went to Rome as a young man.
There he associated with such figures as Seneca, Lucan, and Juvenal and enjoyed the patronage of the emperors Titus and Domitian. His early poetry, some marred by gross adulation of Titus, was undistinguished. He is renowned for his 12 books of epigrams (86–102?), a form he virtually created. Pointed and often obscene, they provide a picture of Roman society during the early empire that is remarkable both for its completeness and for its accurate portrayal of human foibles.
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