Nothing is known of the poet Grattius except that he was a contemporary of Ovid. However, certain peculiarities in the text of his Cynegetica suggest that he wrote for public performance, that the poem was presented at ludi scaenici where dancers and singers were performing too, that the Palatine temple of Apollo was probably where the event took place, and that the most likely occasion for it was one of the ‘quinquennial’ games celebrating the defeat of Cleopatra.