Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis) was born between AD 38 and 41 in the Roman provincial town of Bilbilis (now Calatayud) in what is now Spain. He went to Rome as a young man and there obtained imperial patronage for his writing from Titus and Domitian. He wrote over 1,500 poems and epigrams, often witty and satirical. He retired to Bilbilis in 98 and died in 103.