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Novus Homo
''Novus homo'' or ''homo novus'' (Latin for 'new man'; ''novi homines'' or ''homines novi'') was the term in ancient Rome for a man who was the first in his family to serve in the Roman Senate or, more specifically, to be elected as consul. When a man entered public life on an unprecedented scale for a high communal office, then the term used was ''novus civis'' ( ''novi cives'') or "new citizen". History In the Early Republic, tradition held that both Senate membership and the consulship were restricted to patricians. When plebeians gained the right to this office during the Conflict of the Orders, all newly elected plebeians were naturally ''novi homines''. With time, ''novi homines'' became progressively rarer as some plebeian families became as entrenched in the Senate as their patrician colleagues. By the time of the First Punic War, it was already a sensation that ''novi homines'' were elected in two consecutive years (Gaius Fundanius Fundulus in 243 BC and Gaius ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italian region and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. Even after the fall of Western Rome, Latin remained the common language of international communication, science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into the 18th century, when other regional vernaculars (including its own descendants, the Romance languages) supplanted it in common academic and political usage, and it eventually became a dead language in the modern linguistic definition. Latin is a highly inflected language, with three distinct genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), six or seven noun cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative, and vocative), five declensions, four verb conjug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theodor Mommsen
Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th century. His work regarding Roman history is still of fundamental importance for contemporary research. He received the 1902 Nobel Prize in Literature for being "the greatest living master of the art of historical writing, with special reference to his monumental work, ''History of Rome (Mommsen), A History of Rome''", after having been nominated by 18 members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. He was also a prominent German politician, as a member of the Prussian and German parliaments. His works on Roman law and on the law of obligations had a significant impact on the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, German civil code. Life Mommsen was born to German parents in Garding in the Duchy of Schleswig in 1817, then ruled by the king of Denmark, and gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaius Aurelius Cotta (consul 252 BC)
Gaius Aurelius Cotta ( 252–231 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. He was consul in 252 BC, with Publius Servilius Geminus, and both consuls carried on the war in Sicily against the Carthaginians with great success. Among several other places they also took Himera, but its inhabitants had been secretly removed by the Carthaginians. Afterwards Cotta borrowed ships from Hiero, and having united them with the remnants of the Roman fleet, he sailed to Lipara, the blockade of which he left to his tribune, Quintus Cassius, with the express order not to engage in a battle; but, during the absence of the consul, Cassius notwithstanding allowed himself to be drawn into an engagement, in which many Romans were killed. On being informed of this Cotta returned to Lipara, besieged and took the town, put its inhabitants to the sword, and deprived Cassius of his office of tribune. Cotta was celebrated for the strict discipline which he maintained among his troops, and of which several instan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaius Duilius
Gaius Duilius ( 260–231 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. As consul in 260 BC, during the First Punic War, he won Rome's first ever victory at sea by defeating the Carthaginians at the Battle of Mylae. He later served as censor in 258, and was appointed dictator to hold elections in 231, but never held another command. Background Gaius Duilius, whose father and grandfather were both named Marcus Duilius, belonged to a undistinguished family. One Caeso Duilius is recorded as consul in 336 BC, but the surname is otherwise only known historically and reliably from a few minor magistrates in the fourth century BC. Career Naval victory Duilius was one of the consuls for the year 260 BC, and was initially appointed to command Rome's land forces in Sicily against Carthage, as part of the First Punic War. His colleague in office, Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio, held charge of the fleet. The Romans built 120 warships and despatched them to Sicily in 260 BC for their crews to ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manius Otacilius Crassus
Manius Otacilius Crassus was a Roman consul of Samnite origins and served during the Punic Wars. His consular colleague in 263 BC was Manius Valerius Maximus Corvinus Messalla Manius Valerius Maximus Messalla was Roman consul in 263 BC. Biography Manius Valerius Maximus was the son of Marcus Valerius Maximus Corvinus, consul in 289 BC, and grandson of Marcus Valerius Corvus. With his colleague, Manius Otacilius Crass ..., Polybius, 1.16 and in 246 BC his colleague was Marcus Fabius Licinus. See also * Otacilia gens References 3rd-century BC Roman consuls 3rd-century BC deaths Otacilii Year of birth unknown Year of death uncertain {{AncientRome-politician-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spurius Carvilius Maximus
Spurius Carvilius C. f. C. n., later surnamed Maximus, was the first member of the plebeian '' gens Carvilia'' to obtain the consulship, which he held in 293 BC, and again in 272 BC. Early career Born of equestrian rank, Carvilius served as curule aedile in 299 BC, and six years later entered upon his first consulship with Lucius Papirius Cursor. They met with great success against the Samnites, with Carvilius taking Amiternum, Cominium, Palumbinum, and Herculaneum. Carvilius was then sent into Etruria, where the Falisci had broken the peace. He took the town of Troilium and five other fortified locations, defeated the Faliscan army, and granted them peace in exchange for a large fine. Returning to Rome, Carvilius celebrated a triumph, distributed much of the booty he had captured to his soldiers, paid 380,000 pounds of bronze into the treasury, and used the remainder to pay for the erection of a temple to ''Fors Fortuna''. Using bronze armor taken from the Samnites, he ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucius Volumnius Flamma Violens
Lucius Volumnius Flamma Violens was a consul of the Roman Republic, a ''novus homo'' ("new man") who was the first consul to come from his plebeian '' gens''. Volumnius served as consul twice, in 307 BC and 296 BC, both times in partnership with the patrician Appius Claudius Caecus. He took an active role in leading Roman forces during the Third Samnite War. Background According to Roman tradition, membership of the Roman Senate, the city's magistracies, the offices of consul and various religious positions were restricted to patricians. Volumnius was a beneficiary of the Conflict of the Orders, when, during a 200-year struggle, plebeians gradually gained political equality and the right to hold all such offices.Kurt Raaflaub, ed., ''Social Struggles in Archaic Rome: New Perspectives on the Conflict of the Orders'' (University of California Press, 1986) The Lex Licinia Sextia of 367 BC had restored the consulship and sought to reserve one of the two consular offices for a plebei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Publius Decius Mus (consul 340 BC)
Publius Decius Mus, son of Quintus, of the plebeian gens Decia, was a Roman consul in 340 BC. He is noted particularly for sacrificing himself in battle through the ritual of ''devotio'', as recorded by the Augustan historian Livy. Career Decius Mus first enters history in 352 BC as an appointed official, one of the '' quinqueviri mensarii,'' public bankers charged with relieving citizen debts to some extent. He served with distinction in the First Samnite War under Aulus Cornelius Cossus Arvina. In 343 BC, Cossus, leading his army through the mountain fastnesses of Samnium, became trapped in a valley by the Samnites. Decius, taking 1,600 men, seized a strong point through which the Samnites were obliged to pass, and held it against them until nightfall; breaking through their lines, he re-joined the main body of the army, which had gained the summit of the mountain and relative safety. The army then swept into the Samnites, gaining a complete victory and the spoils of the e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaius Marcius Rutilus
Gaius Marcius Rutilus (also seen as "Rutulus") was the first plebeian dictator and censor of ancient Rome, and was consul four times. He was first elected consul in 357 BC, then appointed as dictator the following year in order to deal with an invasion by the Etruscans which had reached as far as the ancient salt-works on the coast. He surprised the enemy's camp, captured 8,000 of the enemy and drove the rest out of Roman territory, Antony Kamm, ''The Romans, An Introduction'', p. 13. for which he was granted a triumph by the people, against the Senate's wishes. Rutilus was again elected consul in 352 BC. At the end of his term, he ran for censor and won, despite patrician opposition. He was also consul in 344 BC and 342 BC, when he led the army in the Samnite Wars. His son of the same name was tribune of the plebs in 311 BC and consul in 310 BC. According to Fergus Millar, this son was one of the first plebeian augurs under the Lex Ogulnia and also held the position of cens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaius Plautius Proculus
Gaius Plautius Proculus was the first member of the gens Plautia to achieve consular rank. Little is known of his life before becoming consul with Gaius Fabius Ambustus in 358 BC, although there is some archaeological evidence that his family came from Privernum.Nicola Terrenato, "Private Vis, Public Virtus: Family agendas during the early Roman expansion", in ''Roman Republican Colonization New Perspectives from Archaeology and Ancient History'', edited by Tesse D. Stek and Jeremia Pelgrom (Rome: Papers of the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome, 2014), pp. 48f At the same time Gaius Sulpicius Peticus was made consul to deal with a Gaulish threat. The two consuls led their armies against other opponents, Fabius against the Etruscans and Plautius against raids made by the Privernates and the Hernici. Although Fabius suffered a defeat in Etruria, Plautius was successful over his opponents, and after a second defeat in the following year, Privernum entered an alliance with Rome.Te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marcus Popillius Laenas
Marcus Popillius Laenas was a four-time consul of the Roman Republic. In the year (according to Varro) 359 BC, he defeated a Gallic army. Near the end of his consulship with Gnaeus Manlius Capitolinus Imperiosus, the Tarquinians invaded the Roman territories on the Etruscan border, if this Gallic war took place 30 years after the occupation of Rome by the Gauls (in 386/5 BC). Dio Cassius apparently identifies this war with the one in Camillus's fifth dictatorship when the election of the consuls was resumed. Those events took place in 364 BC, about a decade earlier, according to Livy. He is named by Cicero as ''flamen Carmentalis'', the flamen of Carmenta In ancient Roman religion and myth, Carmenta was a goddess of childbirth and prophecy, associated with technological innovation as well as the protection of mothers and children and a patron of midwives. She was also said to have invented the ..., in 359 BC.Cicero, ''Brutus'' 56. References {{DEFAUL ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaius Licinius Stolo
Gaius Licinius Stolo, along with Lucius Sextius, was one of the two tribunes of ancient Rome who opened the consulship to the plebeians. A member of the plebeian '' Licinia gens'', Stolo was tribune from 376 BC to 367 BC, during which he passed the ''lex Licinia Sextia'' restoring the consulship, requiring a plebeian consul seat, limiting the amount of public land that one person could hold, and regulating debts. He also passed a law stipulating that the ''Sibylline Books'' should be overseen by ''decemviri'', of whom half would be plebeians in order to prevent any falsification in favor of the patricians. The patricians opposed these laws, though they finally were passed. Licinius was then elected consul for 361 BC (). He was later charged with violating his own laws concerning the ownership of land and was forced to pay a heavy fine. Although Livy describes the activities of Gaius Licinius in great detail, it is likely that his description is not accurate; much of it is su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
