Annales (Ennius)

Annales is the name for the highly fragmentary Latin epic poem written by the Roman poet Ennius in the 2nd century BC.

The poem was originally published in fifteen books, although Ennius later amended it with the addition of three others. Fragments of the Annales, as well as ancient testimonia, suggest that Ennius opened his epic with a recollection of a dream. In this reverie, the poet claims that Homer appeared to him and informed him that, thanks to the transmigration of souls, his spirit had been reborn into Ennius.

The poem’s contents seems to have been organized into triads with a "concentric, symmetrical structure". The first seven books concerned the events before the author's birth, whereas the following eight (and eventually, eleven) dealt with events during Ennius’ life. Although most of the poem has been lost, there is a "traditional" (albeit conjectured) organization for the book. The poem's first three books cover the fall of Troy in 1184 BC to the reign of the final king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus c. 535–509 BC. Books 4–6 revolve around the early Republic up until the Pyrrhic War in 281–271 BC. Books 7–9 deal with the First (264–241 BC) and Second (218–201 BC) Punic Wars, as well as the events occurring contemporaneously in the East. Books 10–12 focus on the Second Macedonian War until possibly the beginning of Rome’s campaign against Antiochus III the Great, c. 192 BC. The following three books detail the war against Antiochus (192–188 BC) until the events of the Aetolian War (191–189 BC). The final three books (added to the poem after its publication) concern portions of the Istrian and Macedonian Wars (214–148 BC).

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