Sextus Pompeius Festus

Sextus Pompeius Festus is the author of a Latin lexicon of the Roman imperial period known as De Verborum Significationibus (“On the Meaning of Words”). Festus the man is obscure; even the elements of his name are uncertain. The hypothesis that he came from Gaul largely derives from an entry in a mid-twelfth century monastic catalogue at Cluny which records a liber Festi Pompeii ad Arcorium Rufum, identified as a descendant of the grammarian C. Artorius Proculus, whom Festus cites. Inscriptions at Narbonne may also suggest a connection between the two families (CIL 12.4412, 12.5066). However, Festus’ Gallic origin remains unproven. Festus probably lived during the later second century CE since as his lexicon seems to have contained citations of the mid-late first century poets Lucan and Martial, while it is in turn cited by Porphyrio (a grammarian teaching in Rome in the early third century). Moreover, the work fits in well with the antiquarian interests of Latin authors of the period such as Probus, Fronto and Aulus Gellius