one of the most celebrated grammarians of the later period of Roman literature.
From the surname Caesariensis which is given to him, we gather that he was either born at Caesareia, or at least was educated there. The time at which he lived cannot be fixed with any great precision. He is spoken of as a contemporary of Cassiodorus, who lived from A. D. 468 to at least A. D. 562. (Paulus Diaconus, de Gest. Longob. 1.25.) According to a statement of Aldhelm (ap. Mai, Auct. Class. vol. v. p. 501, &c.), the emperor Theodosius the younger, who died in A. D. 450, copied out Priscian's grammatical work with his own hand. Some authorities, therefore, place him in the first half of the fifth century, others a little later in the same century, others in the beginning of the sixth century. The second is the only view at all consonant with both the above statements. Priscianus was a pupil of Theoctistus. (Prisc. 18.5.) He himself taught grammar at Constantinople, and was in the receipt of a salary from the government, from which (as well as from parts of his writings, especially his translation of the Periegesis of Dionysius) it appears probable that he was a Christian. Of other particulars of his life we are ignorant.
[C.P.M]