Marcus Terentius Varro

This article is about the Roman polymath. For the Roman general and consul of the Second Punic War, see Gaius Terentius Varro.

An imagined portrait of an elderly Varro, engraving from André Thevet, Les Vrais pourtraits et vies des hommes illustres grecz, latins et payens (1584).

Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero).[1] He is sometimes called Varro Reatinus ('Varro of Rieti') to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus.[citation needed]

  1. ^ Oxford Classical Dictionary, "Terentius Varro, Marcus"