Aulus Licinius Archias

Aulus Licinius Archias (; fl. c. 120 – 61 BC) was a Greek poet.

Life Aulus Licinius Archis was a Greek, born in Antioch, Syria (modern Antakya, Turkey). He studied at his native city, and received a liberal education. During his school days, he showed “unusual talent as a poet.” Due to political unrest, Archias, while yet a mere youth, left Antioch and travelled around the major cities of Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy, in each of which his fame grew. In 102 BC, his reputation having been already established, especially as an improvisatore, he went to Rome, where he was well received amongst the highest and most influential families.

In 93 BC, he visited Sicily, Magna Graecia, with his patron, on which occasion he received the citizenship of Lucanian Heraclea, one of the federate towns and, indirectly, by the provisions of the Lex Plautia Papiria, that of Rome. As a result, Archias was able to acquire Roman citizenship in 89 under the newly passed Lex Plautia Papiria, which granted Roman citizenship to all citizens of states allied with Rome. Further Cicero strongly argued that creators of literature had almost universally been held in high esteem.

That speech, which furnishes nearly all the information concerning Archias, states that he had celebrated the deeds of Gaius Marius and Lucullus in the Cimbrian and Mithridatic Wars and that he was engaged upon a poem of which the events of Cicero's consulship formed the subject.

The Greek Anthology contains 35 epigrams under the name of Archias, but it is doubtful how many are his work.