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Gaius Scribonius Curio (praetor 49 BC)
Gaius Scribonius Curio ( – 49 BC) was the son of Gaius Scribonius Curio, consul in 76 BC and censor in 61 BC. His political allegiances changed over the course of the 50s BC until his tribunate, when he sided with Julius Caesar after possibly receiving a massive bribe. During the civil war, he sided with Caesar and led Caesarian troops to Sicily and then to Africa, where he was killed in battle. Biography Early life Curio was the son of his homonymous father and his wife Memmia, born around 84 BC. Curio and Mark Antony had a close friendship, which was denounced by their political enemies as immoral or possibly an affair. According to Cicero, after saving Antony from prostituting himself and paying his debts, the two youths had been banned from seeing each other by Curio's father. But, Curio smuggled Mark Antony in through his father's roof. Although this charge was in a defamatory speech against Marc Antony, and shouldn't be taken as entirely truthful. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fulvia
Fulvia (; c. 83 BC – 40 BC) was an aristocratic Roman woman who lived during the Late Roman Republic. Fulvia's birth into an important political dynasty facilitated her relationships and, later on, marriages to Publius Clodius Pulcher, Gaius Scribonius Curio, and Mark Antony. All of these men would go on to lead increasingly promising political careers as ''populares'', tribunes, and supporters of Julius Caesar. Fulvia remains an important figure in ancient Roman history due to her perseverance as a woman heavily involved in politics, as well as her role in the Perusine War against Octavian (future emperor Augustus). She played an important political role behind the scenes of her three marriages. Though she is most famous for her involvement in Antony's career, there are many scholarly debates taking place over whether or not Fulvia was already involved in politics before her husbands or as a result of marrying them. However, one thing is for sure: she was highly interested ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marcus Favonius
Marcus Favonius (c. 90 BC – 42 BC) was a Roman politician during the period of the fall of the Roman Republic. He is noted for his imitation of Cato the Younger, his espousal of the Cynic philosophy, and for his appearance as the Poet in William Shakespeare's play ''Julius Caesar''. Life Favonius was born in around 90 BCDudley, Donald R''A History of Cynicism – From Diogenes to the 6th Century A.D.'' Read Books, 2008, p. 120–1, at books.google.com, accessed 29 May 2009 in Tarracina (the modern Terracina), a Roman colony on the Appian Way at the edge of the Volscian Hills.F. X. RyanThe Praetorship of Favonius at accessmylibrary.com, accessed 22 May 2009 Political career Favonius, with the support of Cato, was chosen aedile at some time between 53 and 52 BC. According to Plutarch, As well as being chosen aedile, he was also chosen quaestor and served as legatus in Sicily, "probably after his quaestorship". Although many classical reference works list Favonius as having been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lilybaeum
Marsala (, local ; la, Lilybaeum) is an Italian town located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in its province and the fifth in Sicily. The town is famous for the docking of Giuseppe Garibaldi on 11 May 1860 (the ''Expedition of the Thousand'') and for its Marsala wine. A feature of the area is the Stagnone Lagoon Natural Reserve – a marine area with salt ponds. Marsala is built on the ruins of the ancient Ancient Carthage, Carthaginian city of Lilybaeum, and includes in its territory the archaeological site of the island of Motya, an ancient Phoenician town. The modern name likely derived from the Arabic (''marsā ʿaliyy'', "Ali's harbor"), or possibly (''marsā llāh'', "God's harbor"). Geography Situated at the extreme western point of Sicily, the town was founded on Lilibeo Cape from where the Aegadian Islands and the Stagnone Lagoon can be seen. Territory The territory of Marsala, , has a rich cultura ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cato The Younger
Marcus Porcius Cato "Uticensis" ("of Utica"; ; 95 BC – April 46 BC), also known as Cato the Younger ( la, Cato Minor), was an influential conservative Roman senator during the late Republic. His conservative principles were focused on the preservation of what he saw as old Roman values in decline. A noted orator and a follower of Stoicism, his scrupulous honesty and professed respect for tradition gave him a powerful political following which he mobilised against powerful generals (including Julius Caesar and Pompey) of his day. Before Caesar's civil war, Cato served in a number of political offices. During his urban quaestorship in 63 BC, he was praised for his honesty and incorruptibility in running Rome's finances. He passed laws during his tribunate in 62 BC to expand the grain dole and force generals to give up their armies and commands before standing in elections. He also frustrated Pompey's ambitions by opposing a bill brought by Pompey's allies to transfer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corfinium
Corfinium (Greek: ) was a city in ancient Italy, on the eastern side of the Apennines, due east of Rome, near modern Corfinio, in the province of L'Aquila (Abruzzo region). History Corfinium was the chief city of the Paeligni, situated in the valley of the Aternus, near the point where that river's course suddenly makes a sharp turn and runs from southeasterly to northeasterly on towards the Adriatic Sea. It was distant 7 miles from Sulmo (modern Sulmona), and 30 from Alba Fucens by the Via Valeria. There can be no doubt that Corfinium was from an early period the capital city of the Paeligni, and one of the chief towns in this part of Italy; but no mention of its name is found in history until the outbreak of the Social War, in 90 BCE, when it was selected by the confederates to be their common capital, and the seat of their government. It was probably to the importance of its situation in a military point of view that it was mainly indebted for this distinction; but the allie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crossing The Rubicon
The phrase "crossing the Rubicon" is an idiom that means "passing a point of no return". Its meaning comes from allusion to the crossing of the river Rubicon by Julius Caesar in early January 49 BC. The exact date is unknown. Scholars usually place it on the night of 10 and 11 January, based on speeds at which messengers could travel at that time. His crossing of the river precipitated Caesar's civil war, which ultimately led to Caesar's becoming dictator for life (''dictator perpetuo)''. Caesar had been appointed to a governorship over a region that ranged from southern Gaul to Illyricum. As his term of governorship ended, the Senate ordered him to disband his army and return to Rome. As it was illegal to bring armies into Italy (the northern border of which was marked by the river Rubicon) his crossing the river under arms amounted to insurrection, treason, and a declaration of war on the state. According to some authors, he uttered the phrase ''alea iacta est'' ("the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Senatus Consultum Ultimum
The ''senatus consultum ultimum'' ("final decree of the Senate", often abbreviated to SCU) is the modern term given to resolutions of the Roman Senate lending its moral support for magistrates to use the full extent of their powers and ignore the laws to safeguard the state. The decree has been interpreted to mean something akin to martial law, a suspension of the constitution, or a state of emergency. However, it is generally accepted that the senate did not have power to make or provide exceptions to laws. No laws were actually suspended; the senate merely lent its moral authority to defend a magistrate's extra-legal acts. First used against Gaius Gracchus in 121 BC to suppress a violent protest against repeal of a colonisation law and accepted thereafter, recourse to the decree accelerated over the course of the last century of the republic. Its use was politically disputed, although usually in terms of whether a decree was justified by the challenges facing the state ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marcus Caelius Rufus
Marcus Caelius Rufus (28 May 82 BC – after 48 BC) was an orator and politician in the late Roman Republic. He was born into a wealthy equestrian family from Interamnia Praetuttiorum (Teramo), on the central east coast of Italy. He is best known for his prosecution of Gaius Antonius Hybrida in 59 BC. He was also known for his trial for public violence (''de vi publica'') in March 56 BC, when Cicero defended him in the extant speech ''Pro Caelio'', and as both recipient and author of some of the best-written letters in the ''ad Familiares'' corpus of Cicero's extant correspondence (Book 8). He may be the Rufus named in the poems of Catullus. Life and career In his twenties Caelius became associated with Crassus and Cicero, while he was also briefly connected to Catiline and his conspiracy. Caelius first achieved fame through his successful prosecution in 59 BC of Gaius Antonius Hybrida for corruption. Antonius Hybrida had served as consul with Cicero for the year 63 BC, and his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quintus Cassius Longinus
Quintus Cassius Longinus, the brother or cousin of Cassius (the murderer of Julius Caesar), was a governor in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula, comprising modern Spain and Portugal) for Caesar. Cassius was one of the ''tresviri monetales'' of the Roman mint in 55 BC. He served as a quaestor of Pompey in ''Hispania Ulterior'' in 54 BC. In 49 BC, as tribune of the people, he strongly supported the cause of Caesar, by whom he was made governor of Hispania Ulterior. He treated the provincials with great cruelty, and his appointment in 48 BC to take the field against Juba I of Numidia gave him an excuse for fresh oppression. The result was an unsuccessful insurrection at Corduba. Cassius punished the leaders with merciless severity, and made the lot of the provincials harder than ever. At last some of his troops revolted under the quaestor Marcellus, who was proclaimed governor of the province. Cassius was surrounded by Marcellus in Ulia. Bogud, king of Mauretania, and Marcus Lepidus, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaius Claudius Marcellus (consul 50 BC)
Gaius Claudius Marcellus (88 BC – May 40 BC) was a Roman senator who served as Consul in 50 BC. He was a friend to Roman senator Cicero and an early opponent of Julius Caesar. He was also noteworthy for marrying the sister of the future emperor Augustus, Octavia the Younger, with whom he fathered M. Marcellus, who was for a while Augustus' intended heir. Biography Early life He was a direct descendant of consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus. His grandfather was also named Marcus; his father was Gaius and his mother was named Junia. Family By 54 BC Marcellus had married Octavia the Younger, a great-niece of Julius Caesar (and sister of future emperor Augustus), in an arranged ceremony. Octavia bore Marcellus three known surviving children: a son, Marcus, and two daughters and Claudia Marcella Major and Claudia Marcella Minor, born in Rome. However, according to the anonymous '' Περὶ τοῦ καισαρείου γένους'' Octavia bore Marcellus four sons and four daug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul 54 BC)
Appius Claudius Pulcher (97 – 49 BC) was a Roman patrician, politician and general in the first century BC. He was consul of the Roman Republic in 54 BC. He was an expert in Roman law and antiquities, especially the esoteric lore of the augural college of which he was a controversial member. He was head of the senior line of the most powerful family of the patrician Claudii. The Claudii were one of the five leading families (''gentes maiores'' or "Greater Clans") which had dominated Roman social and political life from the earliest years of the republic. He is best known as the recipient of 13 of the extant letters in Cicero's ''ad Familiares'' corpus (the whole of book III), which date from winter 53–52 to summer 50 BC. Regrettably they do not include any of Appius' replies to Cicero as extant texts of any sort by members of Rome's ruling aristocracy are quite rare, apart from those of Julius Caesar. He is also well known for being the older brother of the infamous Clodius and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of Rome from republic to empire. He was (for a time) a student of Roman general Sulla as well as the political ally, and later enemy, of Julius Caesar. A member of the senatorial nobility, Pompey entered into a military career while still young. He rose to prominence serving the dictator Sulla as a commander in the civil war of 83–82 BC. Pompey's success as a general while young enabled him to advance directly to his first Roman consulship without following the traditional '' cursus honorum'' (the required steps to advance in a political career). He was elected as Roman consul on three occasions. He celebrated three Roman triumphs, served as a commander in the Sertorian War, the Third Servile War, the Third Mithridatic War, and in va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
