Bellum Poenicum

poem by Naevius

Also known as: “Bellum Punicum”

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Last updated

June 17, 2026

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The Bellum Poenicum was an epic poem by Gnaeus Naevius, an early Latin poet and dramatist. Written around 200 BC, it chronicled the events of the First Punic War (264–261 BC). Naevius drew upon his own experiences in the war and Roman oral traditions for the facts presented in his work. The poem's scope and forceful language mark it as an epic, demonstrating significant originality and likely influencing later works like Ennius's Annales and Virgil's Aeneid.12

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Gnaeus Naevius
…Punic War (264–261) in his Bellum Poenicum, relying for facts upon his own experience in the war and on oral tradition at Rome. The scope of the tale and the forceful diction qualify it as an epic, showing a marked advance in originality beyond the Odusia of Livius and making…
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…Punic War (264–261) in his Bellum Poenicum, relying for facts upon his own experience in the war and on oral tradition at Rome. The scope of the tale and the forceful diction qualify it as an epic, showing a marked advance in originality beyond the Odusia of Livius and making…
Read More

Latin literature
Epic and epyllion
…fragments, primitive, as was the Bellum Punicum of Naevius, important for Virgil because it began with the legendary origins of Carthage in Phoenicia and Rome in Troy. But Ennius’ Annales soon followed. This compound of legendary origins and history was in Latin, in a transplanted metre, and by a poet…
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…fragments, primitive, as was the Bellum Punicum of Naevius, important for Virgil because it began with the legendary origins of Carthage in Phoenicia and Rome in Troy. But Ennius’ Annales soon followed. This compound of legendary origins and history was in Latin, in a transplanted metre, and by a poet…
Read More