Appius Nicomachus Dexter (''floruit'' before 432 AD) was a

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

of the

Western Roman Empire In modern historiography, the Western Roman Empire was the western provinces of the Roman Empire, collectively, during any period in which they were administered separately from the eastern provinces by a separate, independent imperial court. ...

Biography

Dexter belonged to the ''Nicomachi'', an influential family of senatorial rank. Among his ancestors there was evidently Appius Claudius Tarronius Dexter; his grandfather was the

praetorian prefect The praetorian prefect (; ) was a high office in the Roman Empire. Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders becoming the Emperor's chief ai ...

Virius Nicomachus Flavianus Virius Nicomachus Flavianus (334–394 AD) was a grammarian, a historian and a politician of the Roman Empire. A pagan and close friend of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, he was Praetorian prefect of Italy from 390–392. Under the usurper Eugenius ...

, his father might be identified with his relative Clementianus, while he was probably a nephew of Nicomachus Flavianus. Continuing the tradition of his family (he claims to follow the example set by Clementianus), he edited a manuscript containing the first ten books of

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 ...

' ''

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 ...

'', initially corrected by some Victorinus, then bought by

Quintus Aurelius Symmachus Quintus Aurelius Symmachus Nickname, signo Eusebius (, ; c. 345 – 402) was a Roman statesman, orator, and intellectual. He held the offices of governor of proconsular Africa (province), Africa in 373, urban prefect of Rome in 384 and 385, and R ...

, and finally emended by Nichomachus before arriving into the hands of Dexter; all of the manuscripts of the first ten books of Livy's ''Ab Urbe condita'' that were subsequently copied through the Middle Ages into modern times are derived by this single manuscript, thanks to whom those books have survived. Subscriptions with his name are found at the end of books 3, 4 and 5.Charles W. Hedrick, ''History and Silence: Purge and Rehabilitation of Memory in Late Antiquity'', University of Texas Press, 2000, , p. 181-182 At the time of the praetorian prefecture of Nicomachus Flavianus (431-432) he set up a statue in honour of his grandfather

, in which he styles himself former ''

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, an ...

'' of

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, ...

.CIL
VI, 1783
/ref>

Notes

Bibliography

* Arnold Hugh Martin Jones, John Robert Martindale, J. Morris, "Appius NicomachusDexter 3", ''

The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...

'', Cambridge University Press, 1971, , pp. 357–358. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dexter, Appius Nicomachus 5th-century Romans Urban prefects of Rome 5th-century writers in Latin