Quintus Ogulnius Gallus was a Roman politician in the fourth and third centuries BC.

Career

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 pow ...

together with his brother Gnaeus Ogulnius Gallus in 300 BC, he created the

Lex Ogulnia The ''lex Ogulnia'' was a Roman law passed in 300 BC. It was a milestone in the long struggle between the patricians and plebeians. The law was carried by the brothers Quintus and Gnaeus Ogulnius, tribunes of the plebs in 300 BC. For the first ...

, a law that opened the priesthoods to

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. Et ...

. The Collegium Pontificum was extended to nine Pontificates, four of which belonged to the plebeians. The number of

Augurs An augur was a priest and official in the classical Roman world. His main role was the practice of augury, the interpretation of the will of the gods by studying events he observed within a predetermined sacred space (''templum''). The ''tem ...

was also extended to nine, five of them being plebeians.Titus Livius X, 6 He became famous for sending an embassy to

Epidaurus Epidaurus () was a small city (''polis'') in ancient Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula at the Saronic Gulf. Two modern towns bear the name Epidavros: ''Palaia Epidavros'' and ''Nea Epidavros''. Since 2010 they belong to the new municipality of Epi ...

in 292 BC. The reason for the embassy was a severe epidemic that had been raging in Rome for several years, which, according to the instructions of the

Sibylline Books The ''Sibylline Books'' () were a collection of oracular utterances, set out in Greek hexameter verses, that, according to tradition, were purchased from a sibyl by the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, and consulted at momentous cri ...

, could only be defeated by obtaining the blessing of

Asclepius Asclepius (; ''Asklēpiós'' ; ) is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Religion in ancient Greece, Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis (lover of Apollo), Coronis, or Arsinoe (Greek myth), Ars ...

, whose shrine was in Epidaurus. Ogulnius Gallus was said to have brought the god on his ship in the form of a snake. In Rome, the snake has swum from the ship to the

Tiber Island The Tiber Island (, Latin: ''Insula Tiberina'') is the only river island in the part of the Tiber which runs through Rome. Tiber Island is located in the southern bend of the Tiber. The island is boat-shaped, approximately long and wide, and ha ...

, where a sanctuary was then built for Asclepius and thus the plague ended.Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities. In 273 BC, he participated in the embassy led by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges to the Egyptian king

Ptolemy II Ptolemy II Philadelphus (, ''Ptolemaîos Philádelphos'', "Ptolemy, sibling-lover"; 309 – 28 January 246 BC) was the pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt from 284 to 246 BC. He was the son of Ptolemy I, the Macedonian Greek general of Alexander the G ...

, with which Rome and Egypt made diplomatic contact for the first time.Pseudo-Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustrious 22. In 269 BC, he served as consul with Gaius Fabius Pictor as his colleague. His main achievement was the introduction of silver currency into Rome. The first silver coins minted in southern Italy showed

Romulus and Remus In Roman mythology, Romulus and (, ) are twins in mythology, twin brothers whose story tells of the events that led to the Founding of Rome, founding of the History of Rome, city of Rome and the Roman Kingdom by Romulus, following his frat ...

. The silver coins, created in the

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

style, favoured the rise of Rome as an important trading centre of the ancient world.Titus Livius, X, 23.

References

Tribunes of the plebs 3rd-century BC Roman consuls {{AncientRome-politician-stub

Career

See also

References