Titus Pomponius Atticus (109–31 BCE)
Born 109 BCE, died 31 BCE.
Titus Pomponius Atticus (November 110 BC – 31 March 32 BC; later named Quintus Caecilius Pomponianus Atticus) was a Roman editor, banker, and literary patron, best known for his correspondence and close friendship with the famous Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero. Atticus was from a wealthy family of the equestrian class and had close ties to many other Roman aristocrats, most prominently Cicero. Cicero considered Atticus his dearest friend, and frequently turned to him for advice on personal, political, and literary matters. As a testament to their relationship, Cicero dedicated his treatise on friendship, de Amicitia, to Atticus. Their correspondence, often written in subtle code to disguise their political observations, is preserved in Epistulae ad Atticum (Letters to Atticus) compiled by Tiro, Cicero's slave (later his freedman) and personal secretary. In addition to the Ciceronian correspondence, a key source for the life of Atticus is a biography written by the Roman historian Cornelius Nepos. A philhellene, Atticus spent much of his adult life in Greece.
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