ARCHIAS, AULUS LICINIUS

born , c.120 BC, Antioch, Syria [now Antakya, Turkey] ancient Greek poet who came to Rome, where he was charged in 62 BC with having illegally assumed the rights of a Roman citizen. He was defended by Cicero in the speech known as Pro Archia, but the issue of the trial is unknown. A number of epigrams in the Greek Anthology appear under the name of Archias. Aulus Licinius Archias may be the author of one or two of them, but there were evidently other Greek poets of that name. (See Cicero, Pro Archia.)