Appius Herdonius (died 460 BC) was a

Sabine The Sabines (, , , ; ) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains (see Sabina) of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines divided int ...

who led an uprising against

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

at the head of slaves and exiles. With his troops, he managed, in 460 BC, to seize the

Capitoline Hill The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; ; ), between the Roman Forum, Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn (mythology), Saturn. The wo ...

and Arx at night. According to

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 ...

, Herdonius appeared from the top of the Capitoline walls and appealed to all the slaves and uprooted of Rome. Its objective would be to "return their homeland to the exiles unjustly banished and to take away from the slaves their overwhelming yoke”. The tribunes of the plebs opposed the consuls who wanted to end the uprising and who had distributed weapons to the people. According to the tribunes, the capture of the Capitol was only an invention of the patricians intended to avoid the vote of the ''Lex Terentilia'', which provided for the creation of a commission to put consular rights in writing in order to limit the arbitrariness of the power of consuls and which would ultimately lead to the Law of the

Twelve Tables The Laws of the Twelve Tables () was the legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law. Formally promulgated in 449 BC, the Tables consolidated earlier traditions into an enduring set of laws.Crawford, M.H. 'Twelve Tables' in Simon Hornbl ...

. The consul Publius Valerius Publicola in a long speech exhorted the plebeians to help the patricians defeat Herdonius, playing to the religiosity of the Romans by stating that the temples of the gods were being held hostage by hostile marauders as well as promising to push for their desired reforms if their aid was granted. His speech appeased the plebeians and most soon vowed to combat the revolt. At the announcement of the capture of the citadel of Rome at

Tusculum Tusculum is a ruined Classical Rome, Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable dist ...

, its dictator Lucius Mamilius, sent a detachment to support the Romans. The consul Poplicola formed an army; the other consul, Gaius Claudius Sabinus, was charged with guarding the gates of Rome. The Romans and their Tusculan allies then launched the assault and regained control of the Capitol and the citadel of the Arx. Publicola and Herdonius were slain in the fighting. A good number of the insurgents were captured and executed.

References

* Livy, ''

Ab urbe condita ''Ab urbe condita'' (; 'from the founding of Rome, founding of the City'), or (; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as AUC or AVC, expresses a date in years since 753 BC, 753 BC, the traditional founding of Rome. It is ...

'', book III, 15-29 {{DEFAULTSORT:Herdonius, Appius 460 BC deaths Sabine people 5th-century BC people Year of birth unknown