Valerius Antias

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Valerius Antias was a Roman annalist living apparently in the first century BC, a younger contemporary of Quadrigarius, who wrote the history of Rome from the earliest times in a voluminous work consisting seventy-five books.

He is notorious for his willful exaggerations, both in narrative and numerical statements. For instance, he asserts the number of the Sabine virgins to have been exactly seven; again, in a certain year when no Greek or Latin writers mention any important campaign, Antias speaks of a big battle with enormous casualties.

Nevertheless, Livy at first made use of him as one of his chief authorities, until he became convinced of his untrustworthiness. Only fragments of his work survive.

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This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.