„ALEXANDRIA FED ME, ROMA WHELMED ME AS A REFUGEE“

Abstract

The background of Claudian`s life was rich of Egyptian literary color, which was the Roman province during the fourth and the fifth century. A number of relevant historical sources indirectly referred to the life and education of Claudius Claudianus. His mother-tongue was Greek, but during his education in Alexandria Claudian also taught Latin.

The paper listed the names of the great poets of the late Roman Empire, who crucially influenced Claudianus poetic style. The Greek and Roman literature in Egypt, and its cultural and educational centers, were not equally important and cultivated. Only after the Diocletian`s reforms of Roman literature, Latin was studied in details in Alexandria, Hermopolis, Aphroditopolis, Thebes and other centers. From that period, Roman poets and writers started to study Latin, especially the "silver Latin". This fact was confirmed by the latest archaeological findings of the papyrus, during the sixties of the twentieth century.