Extract

Lucius Septimius Nestor, well-travelled Greek epic poet acclaimed in his day, from Laranda in *Lycaonia. He lived in the reign of *Septimius Severus (ce 193–211), and wrote, among other works, an Ἰλιὰς λειπογράμματος (‘Missing-letter Iliad’), in each of the 24 books of which one letter of the alphabet did not appear; and Μεταμορφώσεις or ‘Transformations’ (Anth. Pal. 9. 129, 364). He set up marble tablets at *Ostia commemorating *oracles given him there by the *Dioscuri; they assure him of his talents and future fame, and tell him to set up his statue in the temple. He may well have composed these oracular responses himself. Inscriptions show his relations with members of the Roman aristocracy and honours received from cities. His son was the epic poet *Pisander (3) of Laranda.