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Metilia Gens
The gens Metilia was a minor family at ancient Rome. Although they occur throughout Roman history, and several were tribunes of the plebs, beginning in the fifth century BC, none of the Metilii attained the higher offices of the Roman state until imperial times, when several of them became consul.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. II, p. 1067 (" Metilia Gens", " Metilius"). Origin The nomen ''Metilius'' appears to belong to a class of gentilicia arising from diminutive versions of other names, originally ending in ''-ulus''. In this case the name might have been the praenomen '' Mettius'', or perhaps another nomen, such as that of gens Mettia. The Metilii are mentioned as one of the Alban houses that came to Rome following the destruction of their city in the reign of Tullus Hostilius, the third King of Rome. They were admitted to the senate, implying that they were originally patricians, but all of the Metilii mentioned during the time of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (50927 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC476 AD) until the fall of the western empire. Ancient Rome began as an Italic peoples, Italic settlement, traditionally dated to 753 BC, beside the River Tiber in the Italian peninsula. The settlement grew into the city and polity of Rome, and came to control its neighbours through a combination of treaties and military strength. It eventually controlled the Italian Peninsula, assimilating the Greece, Greek culture of southern Italy (Magna Graecia) and the Etruscans, Etruscan culture, and then became the dominant power in the Mediterranean region and parts of Europe. At its hei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crotone
Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one of the most important centres of Magna Graecia. It was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until 1928, when its name was changed to the current one. In 1992, it became the capital of the newly established Province of Crotone. History The promontory of Kroton was inhabited by indigenous populations, perhaps Oenotrians and Japigi, in the Bronze Age and early Iron Age. Foundation Kroton's '' oikistes'' (founder) was Myscellus, from the city of Rhypes in Achaea in the northern Peloponnese, after consulting the Delphic Oracle who announced: :''Cross the vast sea and next to the Esaro (river) you will found Kroton.'' The Achaeans were motivated, like others of the Greek colonisation, by the lack of cultivatable land in their mounta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legatus
A legate (Latin: , ) was a high-ranking Roman military officer in the Roman army, equivalent to a high-ranking general officer of modern times. Initially used to delegate power, the term became formalised under Augustus as the officer in command of a Roman legion. From the times of the Roman Republic, legates received large shares of the military's rewards at the end of a successful campaign. This made the position a lucrative one, so it could often attract even distinguished consuls or other high-ranking political figures within Roman politics (e.g., the consul Lucius Julius Caesar volunteered late in the Gallic Wars as a legate under his first cousin, Gaius Julius Caesar). Diplomats and envoys sent by Rome were also given the title of legate. History Roman Republic The rank of legate existed as early as the Samnite Wars, but it was not until 190 BC that it started to be standardized, meant to better manage the higher numbers of soldiers the Second Punic War had forced t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus
Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus (), surnamed Cunctator ( 280 – 203 BC), was a Roman statesman and general of the third century BC. He was Roman consul, consul five times (233, 228, 215, 214, and 209 BC) and was appointed Roman dictator, dictator in 221 and 217 BC. He was Roman censor, censor in 230 BC. His agnomen, ''Cunctator'', usually translated as "the delayer", refers to Fabian strategy, the strategy that he employed against Hannibal's forces during the Second Punic War. Facing an outstanding commander with superior numbers, he pursued a then-novel strategy of targeting the enemy's supply lines, and accepting only smaller engagements on favourable ground, rather than risking his entire army on direct confrontation with Hannibal himself. As a result, he is regarded as the originator of many tactics used in guerrilla warfare. Beginnings Born at Rome c. 280 BC, Fabius was a descendant of the ancient Patrician (ancient Rome), patrician Fabia gens. He was the son or grands ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Dictator
A Roman dictator was an extraordinary Roman magistrate, magistrate in the Roman Republic endowed with full authority to resolve some specific problem to which he had been assigned. He received the full powers of the state, subordinating the other magistrates, Roman consul, consuls included, for the specific purpose of resolving that issue, and that issue only, and then dispensing with those powers immediately. A dictator was still controlled and accountable during his term in office: the Senate still exercised some oversight authority, and the rights of Tribune of the plebs, plebeian tribunes to veto his actions or of the people to appeal them were retained. The extent of a dictator's mandate strictly controlled the ends to which his powers could be directed. Dictators were also liable to prosecution after their terms completed. Dictators were frequently appointed from the earliest period of the Republic down to the Second Punic War (218–201 BC), but the magistracy then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magister Equitum
The , in English Master of the Horse or Master of the Cavalry, was a Roman magistrate appointed as lieutenant to a dictator. His nominal function was to serve as commander of the Roman cavalry in time of war, but just as a dictator could be nominated to respond to other crises, so the ''magister equitum'' could operate independently of the cavalry; like the dictator, the appointment of a ''magister equitum'' served both military and political purposes.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'', pp. 404–408 ("Dictator"). Origin In the time of the Roman Kingdom, the king himself would lead the cavalry into battle, or else delegate this authority to his chief advisor, the Tribune of the Celeres, the cavalry unit that also served as the king's personal bodyguard. The last person to hold this position was Lucius Junius Brutus, nephew of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and final King of Rome. After the rape of Lucretia, it was Brutus who, in his capacity as Tribu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marcus Minucius Rufus (consul 221 BC)
Marcus Minucius Rufus (died August 2, 216 BC) was a Roman consul in 221 BC. He was also Magister Equitum during the dictatorship of Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus known as ''Cunctator''. He was a political enemy of Fabius Maximus. He was against his delaying defensive strategy during the Second Punic War. While the Carthaginians had been busy at Geronium, Fabius had left Minucius in charge of the Roman army with instructions to follow the "Fabian strategy" and journeyed to Rome to observe some religious duties. Minucius, who had always advocated a more forward strategy against Hannibal, moved down from the hills after a few days and set up a new camp in the plain of Larinum to the north of Geronium. The Romans then began harassing the Carthaginian foragers from their new camp as Minucius sought to provoke Hannibal into battle. Hannibal in response moved near the Roman camp from Geronium with two thirds of his army, built a temporary camp and occupied a hill overlooking the Roman ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Veii
Veii (also Veius; ) was an important ancient Etruscan city situated on the southern limits of Etruria and north-northwest of Rome, Italy. It now lies in Isola Farnese, in the comune of Rome. Many other sites associated with and in the city-state of Veii are in Formello, immediately to the north. Formello is named after the drainage channels that were first created by the Veians. Veii was the richest city of the Etruscan League. It was alternately at war and in alliance with the Roman Kingdom and later Republic for over 300 years. It eventually fell in the Battle of Veii to Roman general Camillus's army in 396 BC. Veii continued to be occupied after its capture by the Romans. The site is now a protected area, part of the Parco di Veio established by the regional authority of Lazio in 1997. Site City of Veii The city of Veii lies mainly on a tuff plateau in area. The Valchetta flows a few miles eastward to join the Tiber River on the south side of Labaro al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucius Verginius Tricostus Esquilinus
Lucius Verginius Tricostus Esquilinus was a Roman politician of the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Family His grandfather Opiter Verginius Tricostus Esquilinus was consul in 478 BC, and his father Proculus Verginius Tricostus was consul in 435 BC and 434 BC. Career In 402 BC, Verginius was elected consular tribune; his colleagues were Gaius Servilius Ahala, Quintus Servilius Fidenas, Quintus Sulpicius Camerinus Cornutus, Aulus Manlius Vulso Capitolinus and Manius Sergius Fidenas. The war against Veii was continued: the town of Anxur having been taken by the enemy, the war was extended by the sudden arrival of the Veientanes and the Falisci. Because of the defeat, with the aid of the Senate, Ahala forced the college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ... of tribunes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Appius Claudius Crassus (consular Tribune 403 BC)
Appius Claudius Crassus ( 403 BC) was a consular tribune of the Roman Republic in 403 BC. Career Claudius held the ''imperium'' in 403 BC as one of six consular tribunes. He shared the office with Manius Aemilius Mamercinus. Marcus Quinctilius Varus, Lucius Valerius Potitus. Lucius Julius Iulus and Marcus Furius Fusus. The college, with the exception of Aemilius and Valerius, were all first time consulars. Livy, when writing of this college, incorrectly includes the two censors Marcus Furius Camillus and Marcus Postumius Albinus Regillensis into the consular college. The year saw the continuation of the war started in 406 against the Veii with all consulars leading armies against the Veii, with the exception of Claudius who remained in Rome. The long years of war and new payments towards the soldiers seems to have strained the economy of Rome and the two censors, Camillus and Postumius imposed new taxes targeting bachelors and orphans. During his tribuneship Claudius succeed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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. 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 grammatical number, 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 of Halicarnassus, 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 im ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ager Publicus
The ''ager publicus'' (; ) is the Latin name for the state land of ancient Rome. It was usually acquired via the means of expropriation from enemies of Rome. History In the earliest periods of Roman expansion in central Italy, the ''ager publicus'' was used for Roman and (after 338 BC) Latin colonies. Later tradition held that as far back as the 5th century BC, the patrician and plebeian classes disputed the rights of the rich to exploit the land, and in 367 BC two Plebeian Tribunes, Gaius Licinius Solo and Lucius Sextius Sextinus Lateranus promulgated a law which limited the amount of the ''ager publicus'' to be held by any individual to 500 iugera, roughly . In the half century following the Battle of Telamon ( BC), the Romans fully absorbed Cisalpine Gaul, adding huge swathes of land to the ''ager publicus'', land which was more often than not given to new Latin colonies or to small freeholders. In the south of Italy, huge tracts of newly re-incorporated lands remain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
