Gaius Curiatius Philo or Chilo ( 445 BC) was putatively one of the two

Roman consul The consuls were the highest elected public officials of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC). Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum''an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspire ...

s in 445 BC, during the early

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

. According to the historian

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

, both he and his colleague in office, Marcus Genucius, unsuccessfully opposed the law of the tribune

Gaius Canuleius Gaius Canuleius, according to Livy book 4, was a tribune of the plebs in 445 BC. He introduced a bill proposing that intermarriage between Patrician (ancient Rome), patricians and plebeians be allowed. As well, with his fellow tribunes he proposed ...

which allowed intermarriage between

patricians The patricians (from ) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after the Conflict of the Orders (494 BC to 287 B ...

and

plebeians In ancient Rome, the plebeians or plebs were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not Patrician (ancient Rome), patricians, as determined by the Capite censi, census, or in other words "commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Et ...

. He then presided over the elections of the first ever

consular tribunes A consular tribune was putatively a type of magistrate in the early Roman Republic. According to Roman tradition, colleges of consular tribunes held office throughout the fifth and fourth centuries BC during the so-called " Conflict of the O ...

, only to have them invalidated by committing a mistake in the taking of the

auspices Augury was a Greco- Roman religious practice of observing the behavior of birds, to receive omens. When the individual, known as the augur, read these signs, it was referred to as "taking the auspices". "Auspices" () means "looking at birds". '' ...

. Münzer, Friedrich (1901), " Curtius 15", ''

Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft The Pauly encyclopedias or the Pauly-Wissowa family of encyclopedias, are a set of related encyclopedias on Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman classical studies, topics and scholarship. The first of these, or (1839–1852), was begun by compiler A ...

'' (''RE'', ''PW''), volume 4, part 2, column 1866. The authenticity of both Curiatius and his colleague, Genucius, has been doubted. The sources exhibit considerable confusion with regards to Curiatius's name. Gaius most frequently appears as his first name, while variants like Publius and Titus are probably copyist errors, and, in the case of "Agrippa" (given by

Diodorus of Sicily Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which survive intact, bet ...

), a confusion with the previous year's consul, Agrippa Furius. The oldest sources, as reported by Livy (in turn probably following

Licinius Macer Gaius Licinius Macer (died 66BC) was a Roman annalist and politician. Life A member of the ancient plebeian clan Licinia, he was tribune in 73BC. Sallust mentions him agitating for the people's rights. He became praetor in 68BC, but in 66BC Cice ...

) and

Cassiodorus Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Christian Roman statesman, a renowned scholar and writer who served in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senato ...

, seem to have preserved his family name as "Curiatius", but most later authors rendered it as "Curtius", a name borne by no other Republican-era consul. Finally, Curiatius's surname is found as Philo in the ''

Chronograph of 354 The Chronograph of 354 is a compilation of chronological and calendrical texts produced in 354 AD for a wealthy Roman Christian named Valentinus by the calligrapher and manuscript illuminator, illustrator Furius Dionysius Filocalus. The origina ...

'' and Chilo ( ) in Diodorus. If the name Curiatius is correct, he may be regarded as a brother of Publius Curiatius, consul in 453 BC and decemvir in 451 BC. RomaForoRomanoLacusCurtius

The antiquarian

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Virgil and Cicero). He is sometimes call ...

suggested that Curiatius (Curtius) gave his name to the

Lacus Curtius The Lacus Curtius ("Lake Curtius") was a pit or pool in the ground of the Forum Romanum. The area where the Forum would be built was likely once a lake, as the wider area is known to have been surrounded by brooks and marshes. One part was never ...

, a holy site on the

Roman Forum A forum (Latin: ''forum'', "public place outdoors", : ''fora''; English : either ''fora'' or ''forums'') was a public square in a municipium, or any civitas, of Ancient Rome reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, alon ...

. After lightning had struck the site, the Senate decreed that the area be fenced, which was done by Curiatius as consul. This story is one of the three found in ancient sources explaining the origin of the name, and the only one mentioning Curiatius.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curiatius, Gaius, Philo 5th-century BC Roman consuls