The Satyricon is the most celebrated work of fiction to have survived from the ancient world. It can be described as the first realistic novel, the father of the picaresque genre.

It recounts the sleazy progress of a pair of literate scholars as they wander through the cites of the southern Mediterranean, encountering en route type-figures whom the author wishes to satirize - a teacher in higher education, a libidinous priest, a vulgar freedman turned millionaire, a manic poet, a superstitious sea-captain, a femme fatale. The novel has fascinated the literary world of Europe ever since, evoking praise for its elegant and hilarious description of the underside of Roman society, but also condemnation for some of its lubricous subjects; most recently it formed the subject of Fellini's controversial film.

This new and lively translation captures the gaiety of the original, whilst the introduction and detailed notes will provide serious students with a comprehensive and useful guide to the purposes of the novel.