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Marcus Messius Rusticus
The gens Messia was a plebeian family at Rome. The first person of this name to appear in history is Vettius Messius, a Volscian soldier whose courage inspired his comrades in a desperate battle against the Romans in 431 BC. It is not known when the Messii first obtained Roman citizenship. Members of the family appear in the lists of annual magistrates during the final decades of the Republic. In imperial times, some of the Messii achieved the highest offices of the Roman state. Members * Vettius Messius, a Volscian warrior of humble origin, who in 431 BC rallied his countrymen against the Roman army under the command of the dictator Aulus Postumius Tubertus. So fiercely did the Volsci fight that the outcome of the battle was in doubt for some time, but the Romans prevailed; the fate of Vettius Messius is unknown. * Gaius Messius, tribune of the plebs in 57 BC, introduced a bill to recall Cicero from exile, and passed a law granting Gnaeus Pompeius control over the grain suppl ...
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Plebs
In ancient Rome, the plebeians or plebs were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words "commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of the group and the term are unclear, but may be related to the Greek, ''plēthos'', meaning masses. In Latin, the word is a singular collective noun, and its genitive is . Plebeians were not a monolithic social class. In ancient Rome In the annalistic tradition of Livy and Dionysius, the distinction between patricians and plebeians was as old as Rome itself, instituted by Romulus' appointment of the first hundred senators, whose descendants became the patriciate. Modern hypotheses date the distinction "anywhere from the regal period to the late fifth century" BC. The 19th-century historian Barthold Georg Niebuhr believed plebeians were possibly foreigners immigrating from other parts of Italy. This hypothesis, that plebeians were raci ...
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Legio X Fretensis
Legio X Fretensis ("Tenth legion of the Strait") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. It was founded by the young Gaius Octavius (later to become Augustus Caesar) in 41/40 BC to fight during the period of civil war that started the dissolution of the Roman Republic. X ''Fretensis'' is then recorded to have existed at least until the 410s. X ''Fretensis'' symbols were the bull — the holy animal of the goddess Venus (mythical ancestor of the gens Julia) — a ship (probably a reference to the Battles of Naulochus and/or Actium), the god Neptune, and a boar. The symbol of Taurus may also mean that it was organized between 20 April and 20 May. History Aelius Gallus' expedition In 26 BC, the Legio under Aelius Gallus was ordered by Augustus to undertake a military expedition to Arabia Felix, where Gallus was to either conclude treaties making the Arabian people foederati (i.e. client states), or to subdue them if they resisted. According to Theodor Mommsen, Aelius Gall ...
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Damascius
Damascius (; ; 462 – after 538), known as "the last of the Athenian Neoplatonists", was the last scholarch of the neoplatonic Athenian school. He was one of the neoplatonic philosophers who left Athens after laws confirmed by emperor Justinian I forced the closure of the Athenian school in c. 529 AD. After he left Athens, he may have sought refuge in the court of the Persian King Chrosroes, before being allowed back into the Byzantine Empire. His surviving works consist of three commentaries on the works of Plato, and a metaphysical text entitled ''Difficulties and Solutions of First Principles''. Life Much of what is known about Damascius' life comes from his semi-autobiographical work called ''The Philosophical History'', or ''Life of Isidore'', and from a work called ''Vita Severi'' written by the 6th-century bishop and historian Zacharias Scholasticus. Damascius, as his name suggests, was born in Damascus in c. 462 AD, and travelled to Alexandria in the 480s AD to ...
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Colosseum
The Colosseum ( ; , ultimately from Ancient Greek word "kolossos" meaning a large statue or giant) is an Ellipse, elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world, despite its age. Construction began under the Emperor Vespasian () in 72 and was completed in AD 80 under his successor and heir, Titus (). Further modifications were made during the reign of Domitian (). The three emperors who were patrons of the work are known as the Flavian dynasty, and the amphitheatre was named the Flavian Amphitheatre (; ) by later classicists and archaeologists for its association with their family name (Flavia (gens), Flavius). The Colosseum is built of travertine#Uses, travertine limestone, tuff (volcanic rock), and brick-faced Roman concrete, concrete. It could hold an estimated 50,000 to 80,000 spectators at various points in its h ...
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Praefectus Urbi
The ''praefectus urbanus'', also called ''praefectus urbi'' or urban prefect in English, was prefect of the city of Rome, and later also of Constantinople. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, and held high importance in late Antiquity. The office survived the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and the last urban prefect of Rome, named Iohannes, is attested in 599. Lançon (2000), p. 45 In the East, in Constantinople, the office survived until the 13th century. Regal period According to Roman tradition, in 753 BC when Romulus founded the city of Rome and instituted the monarchy, he also created the office of ''custos urbis'' (guardian of the city) to serve as the king's chief lieutenant. Appointed by the king to serve for life, the ''custos urbis'' served concurrently as the '' princeps Senatus''. As the second highest office of state, the ''custos urbis'' was the king's personal representative. In the absence of the king fro ...
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Patrician (ancient Rome)
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 Roman Republic, Republic, but its relevance waned after the Conflict of the Orders (494 BC to 287 BC). By the time of the late Republic and Roman Empire, Empire, membership in the patriciate was of only nominal significance. The social structure of ancient Rome revolved around the distinction between the patricians and the plebeians. The status of patricians gave them more political power than the plebeians, but the relationship between the groups eventually caused the Conflict of the Orders. This time period resulted in changing of the social structure of ancient Rome. After the Western Roman Empire, Western Empire fell, the term "patrician" continued as a high Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy, honorary title in the Eastern Empire. In many Italian city-states, medieval Italian republics, especially in Republic of V ...
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Anthemius
Procopius Anthemius (; died 11 July 472) was the Western Roman Empire, Western Roman emperor from 467 to 472. Born in the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, Anthemius quickly worked his way up the ranks. He married into the Theodosian dynasty through Marcia Euphemia, daughter of Eastern emperor Marcian. He soon received a significant number of promotions to various posts, and was presumed to be Marcian's planned successor. However, Marcian's sudden death in 457, together with that of Western emperor Avitus, left the imperial succession in the hands of Aspar. He instead appointed Leo I (emperor), Leo, a low-ranking officer, to the Eastern throne, probably out of fear that Anthemius would be too independent. Eventually, this same Leo designated Anthemius as Western emperor in 467, following a two-year interregnum that started in November 465. Anthemius attempted to solve the two primary military challenges facing the remains of the Western Roman Empire: the resurgent Visigoth ...
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Messius Phoebus Severus
Messius Phoebus Severus (''floruit'' 469–470) was a Roman politician and philosopher. He was appointed consul with Flavius Iordanes for 470. Biography Born in Rome, he studied at the school of the neoplatonist philosopher Proclus, in Alexandria; among the other students there were the Pagan poet Pamprepius (who was instrumental in the revolt of Illus), the military officer Marcellinus (later semi-autonomous commander in Illyricum), the noble Anthemius (Consul and Western Roman Emperor), and Illustrius Pusaeus (Praetorian prefect of the East in 465 and Consul in 467). During this period, a pause in his career after he had become disillusioned with public life, he received some scholars who were interested in his rich library. In 467/469 Severus returned to Rome, where the Western Emperor Anthemius elevated him to the honour of the consulate in the year 470, as well as gave him the rank of '' Patricius'' and the office of ''Praefectus urbi''. According to Damascius, Severus ...
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Arusianus Messius
Arusianus Messius, or Messus (), Latin grammarian, flourished in the 4th century. Life He was the author of a small extant work ''Exempla Elocutionum'', dedicated to Olybrius and Probinus, consuls for the year 395. It contains an alphabetical list, chiefly of verbs admitting more than one construction, with examples from each of four writers, Virgil, Sallust, Terence and Cicero. Cassiodorus, the only writer who mentions Arusianus, refers to his work ''Exempla Elocutionum'' by the term ''Quadriga''. References Attribution: * Sources *Heinrich Keil Theodor Heinrich Gottfried Keil (25 May 1822, Gressow – 27 August 1894, Friedrichroda) was a German classical philologist. He was a son-in-law to educator Friedrich August Eckstein (1810–1885). He studied classical philology at the Univer ..., ''Grammatici Latini'', vii. *WHD Suringar, ''Historia Critica Scholiastarum Latinorum'' (1834–1835) *Van der Hoeven, ''Specimen Literarium'' (1845) External linksCorpus Grammatico ...
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Charles Du Fresne, Sieur Du Cange
Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange (; December 18, 1610 in Amiens – October 23, 1688 in Paris, aged 77), also known simply as Charles Dufresne, was a distinguished French philologist and historian of the Middle Ages and Byzantium. Life Educated by Jesuits, du Cange studied law and practiced for several years before assuming the office of Treasurer of France. Du Cange was a busy, energetic man who pursued historical scholarship alongside his demanding official duties and his role as head of a large family. Du Cange's most important work is his ''Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae Latinitatis'' (Glossary of writers in medieval and late Latin, Paris, 1678, 3 vol.), revised and expanded under various titles, for example, ''Glossarium manuale ad scriptores mediae et infimae Latinitatis'' (Halae, 1772–1784) or from 1840 onward, ''Glossarium mediae et infimae Latinitatis'' (Glossary of medieval and late Latin). This work, together with a glossary of medieval and late Gree ...
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Trebonianus Gallus
Gaius Vibius Trebonianus Gallus ( 206 – August 253) was Roman emperor from June 251 to August 253, in a joint rule with his son Volusianus. Early life Gallus was born in Italy, in a respected senatorial family with Etruscan ancestry, certainly a relation to Appius Annius Trebonius Gallus. He had two children in his marriage with Afinia Gemina Baebiana: Gaius Vibius Volusianus, later co-emperor, and a daughter, Vibia Galla. His early career was a typical '' cursus honorum'', with several appointments, both political and military. He was suffect consul and in 250 was made governor of the Roman province of Moesia Superior, an appointment that showed the confidence of Emperor Decius in him. Rise to power In June 251, Decius and his co-emperor and son Herennius Etruscus died in the Battle of Abrittus at the hands of the Goths they were supposed to punish for raids into the empire. According to rumours supported by Dexippus (a contemporary Greek historian) and the thirte ...
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Hostilian
Hostilian (; died July 251) was briefly Roman emperor in 251. Hostilian was born to Decius and Herennia Etruscilla at an unknown date and elevated to ''caesar'' in 250 by Decius. After Decius and Herennius Etruscus, Hostilian's brother, were killed at the Battle of Abritus, an ambush by the Goths, Trebonianus Gallus was proclaimed emperor by the legions. Almost immediately, he elevated Hostilian to co-emperor and his own son, Volusianus, to ''caesar''. Hostilian died soon after, either due to plague or being murdered by Trebonianus Gallus. History Hostilian was born at an unknown date, to Decius, a Roman general who later became Emperor, and his wife Herennia Etruscilla. He had a brother, Herennius Etruscus, and one sister. His full name based on coinage and inscriptions was Gaius Valens Hostilianus Messius Quintus, but to this the historian Aurelius Victor adds Perpenna or Perperna, a name of Etruscan origin. In September 249 the army of Decius declared him emperor ...
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