Petronius (ca. 27–66) was a Roman writer and noted satirist of the Neronian age. He has been identified with Gaius Petronius Arbiter, consul and enlightened governor of Bythnia, in Asia Minor, although the manuscript text of the Satyricon calls him Titus Petronius. He became an intimate of Nero, by whom he was appointed as master of hedonistic ceremonies. Implicated (probably incorrectly) in a plot to kill Nero, he was ordered by the Emperor to take his own life.