Apuleius of Madauros

Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (c. 124–170 CE) described himself proudly as 'half-Numidian and half-Gaetulian'. Educated in Carthage, Athens, and Rome, he was an initiate into the mystery religions of Isis and Osiris and a passionate lecturer in Middle Platonism across the cities of Roman North Africa.

Apuleius achieved world literary immortality with Metamorphoses (The Golden Ass), an adventurous picaresque novel about a young man transformed by witchcraft into a donkey who undergoes hilarious and harrowing trials before being redeemed by the goddess Isis. In 158 CE, accused by his in-laws of using magic to seduce the wealthy widow Pudentilla, he delivered his brilliant, witty legal defense Apologia.