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Peducaea Gens
The gens Peducaea, occasionally written Paeducaea or Peducea, was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens occur in history from the end of the second century BC, and from then to the time of Antoninus Pius, they steadily increased in prominence. The first of the Peducaii to obtain the consulship was Titus Peducaeus in 35 BC.Broughton, vol. II, p. 406. Origin The gentile-forming suffix occurs in a number of Latin names, many of which seem to be of Oscan or Umbrian origin, and cognate to the more regular endings ''-eius'' and ''-aius'', both of which were sometimes reduced to ''-ius'' in Latin. The ending seems to be derived from nominative forms ending in ''-aes'', which was typical of the Umbri, as well as the Paeligni, an Oscan-speaking people. Praenomina The main praenomina of the Peducaei were '' Sextus'', ''Titus'', and ''Lucius'', all of which were common throughout Roman history. There are also several instances of the common praenomina ''Gaius'' and '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plebeian
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 racial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tribune Of The Plebs
Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune () was the first office of the Roman Republic, Roman state that was open to the plebs, plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power of the Roman Senate and Roman magistrate, magistrates. These tribunes had the power to convene and preside over the ''Plebeian Council, Concilium Plebis'' (people's assembly); to summon the senate; to propose legislation; and to intervene on behalf of plebeians in legal matters; but the most significant power was to veto the actions of the Roman consul, consuls and other magistrates, thus protecting the interests of the plebeians as a class. The tribunes of the plebs were typically found seated on Tribune bench, special benches set up for them in the Roman Forum. The tribunes were sacrosanct, meaning that any assault on their person was punishable by death. In Roman Empire, imperial times, the powers of the tribunate were granted to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Titus Pomponius Atticus
Titus Pomponius Atticus (November 110 BC – 31 March 32 BC; later named Quintus Caecilius Pomponianus Atticus) was a Roman editor, banker, and patron of letters, best known for his correspondence and close friendship with prominent Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero. Atticus was from a wealthy Roman family of the equestrian class (lower aristocratic non-ruling class) and from the Pomponia gens. A close friend since childhood, Cicero dedicated his treatise, , to Atticus. Their correspondence, often written in subtle code to disguise their political observations, is preserved in (''Letters to Atticus'') compiled by Tiro, Cicero's slave (later his freedman) and personal secretary. Biography Early life Born Titus Pomponius in Rome , Atticus' parents were Titus Pomponius, a wealthy businessman, and Caecilia. His family were equestrians and likely had been members of the prestigious equestrians with public horse () for many generations. He had a sister named Pomponia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Verres
Gaius Verres ( 114 – 43 BC) was a Roman magistrate, notorious for his misgovernment of Sicily. His extortion of local farmers and plundering of temples led to his prosecution by Cicero, whose accusations were so devastating that his defence advocate could only recommend that Verres should leave the country. Cicero's prosecution speeches were later published as the In Verrem, ''Verrines''. Biography Gaius Verres was born around 114 BC. Public career During Sulla's civil war, Sulla's Civil War, Verres deserted the government faction of Gaius Marius the Younger, Gaius Marius and Gaius Papirius Carbo (consul 85 BC), Carbo and went over to Sulla. Sulla made him a present of land at Benevento, Beneventum and secured him against punishment for embezzlement. In 80 BC, Verres served on the staff of Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella (praetor 81 BC), Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella, governor of Cilicia (Roman province), Cilicia. According to Cicero, the governor and his subordinate both ruthlessly p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quaestor
A quaestor ( , ; ; "investigator") was a public official in ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who supervised the state treasury and conducted audits. When assigned to provincial governors, the duties were mainly administrative and logistical, but also could expand to encompass military leadership and command. It was the lowest ranking position in the ' (course of offices); by the first century BC, one had to have been quaestor to be eligible for any other posts. In the Roman Empire, the position initially remained as assistants to the magistrates with financial duties in the provinces, but over time, it faded away in the face of the expanding imperial bureaucracy. A position with a similar name (the ') emerged during the Constantinian period with judicial responsibilities. Etymology ''Quaestor'' derives from the Latin verb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. His extensive writings include treatises on rhetoric, philosophy and politics. He is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists and the innovator of what became known as "Ciceronian rhetoric". Cicero was educated in Rome and in Greece. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and served as consul in 63 BC. He greatly influenced both ancient and modern reception of the Latin language. A substantial part of his work has survived, and he was admired by both ancient and modern authors alike. Cicero adapted the arguments of the chief schools of Hellenistic philosophy in Latin and coined a large portion of Latin philosophical vocabulary via ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sicilia (Roman Province)
Sicilia (; ; ) was the first province acquired by the Roman Republic, encompassing the island of Sicily. The western part of the island was brought under Roman control in 241 BC at the conclusion of the First Punic War with Carthage. A praetor was regularly assigned to the island from . The Kingdom of Syracuse under Hieron II remained an independent ally of Rome until its defeat in 212 BC during the Second Punic War. Thereafter the province included the whole of the island of Sicily, the island of Malta, and the smaller island groups (the Egadi islands, the Lipari islands, Ustica, and Pantelleria). During the Roman Republic, the island was the main source of grain for the city of Rome. Extraction was heavy, provoking armed uprisings known as the First and Second Servile Wars in the second century BC. In the first century, the Roman governor, Verres, was famously prosecuted for his corruption by Cicero. In the civil wars which brought the Roman Republic to an end, Sic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Promagistrate
In ancient Rome, a promagistrate () was a person who was granted the power via ''prorogation'' to act in place of an ordinary magistrate in the field. This was normally ''pro consule'' or ''pro praetore'', that is, in place of a consul or praetor, respectively. This was an expedient development, starting in 327 BC and becoming regular by 241 BC, that was meant to allow consuls and praetors to continue their activities in the field without disruption. By allowing veteran commanders to stay in the field rather than being rotated out for someone who may not have had much experience in the theatre, the practice helped increase the chances of victory. Whether a commander, however, would be kept was largely decided politically and often motivated by Dignitas (Roman concept), commanders' ambitions. However, the effect of prorogation was to allow commanders to retain their positions as long as political support existed, weakening the republican check of the annual magistracy (a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Praetor
''Praetor'' ( , ), also ''pretor'', was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge various duties. The functions of the magistracy, the ''praetura'' (praetorship), are described by the adjective itself: the ''praetoria potestas'' (praetorian power), the ''praetorium imperium'' (praetorian authority), and the ''praetorium ius'' (praetorian law), the legal precedents established by the ''praetores'' (praetors). ''Praetorium'', as a substantive, denoted the location from which the praetor exercised his authority, either the headquarters of his ''castra'', the courthouse (tribunal) of his judiciary, or the city hall of his provincial governorship. The minimum age for holding the praetorship was 39 during the Roman Republic, but it was later changed to 30 in the early Empire. History of the title The status of the ''pra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Censor
The censor was a magistrate in ancient Rome who was responsible for maintaining the census, supervising public morality, and overseeing certain aspects of the government's finances. Established under the Roman Republic, power of the censor was limited in subject matter but absolute within his sphere: in matters reserved for the censors, no magistrate could oppose his decisions, and only another censor who succeeded him could cancel those decisions. Censors were also given unusually long terms of office; unlike other elected offices of the Republic, which (excluding certain priests elected for life) had terms of 12 months or less, censors' terms were generally 18 months to 5 years (depending on the era). The censorate was thus highly prestigious, preceding all other regular magistracies in dignity if not in power and reserved with rare exceptions for former Roman consul, consuls. Attaining the censorship would thus be considered the crowning achievement of a Roman politician on the ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Caspar Von Orelli
Johann Caspar von Orelli (Latin ''Iohannes Caspar Orellius''; 13 February 1787 – 6 January 1849), was a Swiss classical scholar. Life He was born at Zürich of a distinguished Italian-speaking family from Locarno which had taken refuge in German-speaking Switzerland at the time of the Protestant Reformation. His cousin, Johann Conrad Orelli (1770–1826), was the author of several works in the department of later Greek literature. From 1807 to 1814 Orelli worked as preacher in the reformed community of Bergamo, where he acquired the taste for Italian literature which led to the publication of ''Contributions to the History of Italian Poetry'' (1810) and a biography (1812) of Vittorino da Feltre, his ideal of a teacher. In 1814 he became teacher of modern languages and history at the cantonal school at Chur; in 1819, professor of eloquence and hermeneutics at the Carolinum, Zürich, and in 1833 professor at the new University of Zürich, the foundation of which was largel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucius Cassius Longinus Ravilla
Lucius Cassius Longinus Ravilla was a Roman politician. He served as consul in 127 BC and censor at the following lustrum in 125 BC. His first recorded office was that of tribune of the plebs in 137 BC. As a tribune of the plebs, he successfully proposed in the ''concilium plebis'' a law to introduce secret ballot for all trials before the Assemblies except those related to ''perduellio'' (treason); the bill was supported by Scipio Aemilianus but opposed by the then-consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus Porcina and his tribunician colleague Marcus Antius Briso. He served in the praetorship some time before 130 BC, and was elected to the consulship for 127 BC with Lucius Cornelius Cinna. After his consulship, he was elected as censor for 125 BC with Gnaeus Servilius Caepio; during their censorship, they constructed the Aqua Tepula and named Publius Cornelius Lentulus as ''princeps senatus''. He was renowned for severity as a iudex and gained fame for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
