Titus Pomponius Atticus

Titus Pomponius Atticus (110 BC/109 BC – 32 BC). A Roman knight and patron of letters, Atticus is best remembered as the closest friend of the orator and philosopher, Marcus Tullius Cicero. He is the dedicatee of Cicero's treatise on friendship, De Amicitia, and their correspondence is preserved in the sixteen books of Epistulae ad Atticum which were compiled by Cicero's freedman and personal secretary, Marcus Tullius Tiro.

Descended from a family of equestrian rank, Pomponius was born and raised in Rome. As a young man, he was educated together with Cicero, Lucius Torquatus and the younger Marius, "with all of whom he became so close that no one was dearer to them throughout his life" [Nepos]. He is said to have been an excellent student, and in 85 BC Pomponius travelled to Athens, where he immersed himself in literature and philosophy. He so loved Athens and its culture that he took upon himself the nickname "Atticus", or "Man of Attica", which is alluded to in the fifth book of Cicero's De Finibus (section 4).

Atticus' wealth grew by inheritance and through his skillful dealings in real estate. Using this wealth to support his love of letters, he maintained a staff of slaves trained as copyists and book-binders, and published, amongst other things, the works of his friend Cicero. As for Atticus' own literary works, he is said to have written a single book (in Greek) on the consulate of Cicero, as well as a small amount of poetry. None of his writings have survived.

In 65 BC, Atticus returned to Rome. In keeping with his epicurean sympathies, he kept out of politics to the greatest extent possible, except to lend Cicero a helping hand in times of peril - for instance, when Cicero was forced to flee the country in 49 BC, Atticus made him a present of 250,000 sesterces. All in all, his political activity was minimal, though we know that, like Cicero, he belonged to the optimates [the aristocratic party], and held generally conservative views.

Upon the death of his uncle, Atticus became his adopted son and assumed the name Titus Servilius Pomponianus. In his later years, he married a great-granddaughter of the Triumvir, Crassus. She bore him a son of the same name (little is known of him), as well as a daughter, Caecilia Attica, who became the first wife to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.

Atticus lived out the remainder of his life in Rome, where he died of natural causes in 32 BC.

• Most of this information is derived from the Excellentium Imperatorum Vitae of Cornelius Nepos, to which biographies of Cato and Atticus (discovered in a manuscript of Cicero's letters) were added by Peter Cornerus in the reign of Theodosius I.