The Ilias Latina is a short
Latinhexameter version of the Iliad of
Homer that gained popularity in Antiquity and remained popular through the
Middle Ages. It was very widely studied and read in
Medieval schools as part of the standard Latin educational
curriculum. According to
Ernest Robert Curtius, it is a "crude
condensation", into 1070 lines.[1] It is attributed to
Publius Baebius Italicus, said to be a
Roman Senator, and to the decade 60 CE – 70 CE.[2] It includes at least two
acrostic elements: the first lines spell out ITALICUS, while the last lines spell SCRIPSIT, taken together translating "Italicus wrote (it)."