Aulus Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus was a Roman politician active in the fifth century BC and was

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

in 469 BC.

Family

He was the son of

Aulus Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus Aulus Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus ( 494–486 BC) was a Roman Republican politician and general of the gens Verginia. He served as a Roman consul in 494 BC together with Titus Veturius Geminus Cicurinus. Family Origins Caeliomontanus ...

, consul in 494 BC, and possibly the father of

Titus Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus (consul 448 BC) Titus Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus was consul of the Roman Republic in 448 BC with Lars Herminius Aquilinus. Little is known about his life. Family background Caeliomontanus belonged to the patrician ''gens'' Verginia, which was of Et ...

, consul in 448 BC. Alternatively, Titus might have been the son of Tricostus's brother Spurius Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus, consul in 456 BC. Dionysius of Halicarnassus reports his ''

cognomen A ''cognomen'' (; plural ''cognomina''; from ''con-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became here ...

'' as ''Nomentanus'' but the inscription on the ''

Fasti Capitolini The ''Fasti Capitolini'', or Capitoline Fasti, are a list of the chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, extending from the early fifth century BC down to the reign of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Together with similar lists found at Rom ...

'' more closely resembles the name ''Caeliomontanus''.

Biography

In 469 BC, he was consul with

Titus Numicius Priscus Titus Numicius Priscus was a Roman politician active in the fifth century BC and was consul in 469 BC. Family The ''Numicii'' were a plebeian family in Rome. He was the only member of the family to achieve the consulship. Diodorus Siculus gav ...

as his colleague. At the beginning of his term, they each led separate campaigns against the

Aequi 300px, Location of the Aequi (Equi) in central Italy, 5th century BC. The Aequi ( grc, Αἴκουοι and Αἴκοι) were an Italic tribe on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains to the east of Latium in central Italy who appear in the early hist ...

and the

Volsci The Volsci (, , ) were an Italic tribe, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. At the time they inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the ...

who had both been setting fire to farmlands around Rome. Tricostus attacked the Aequi but faced difficulties, whereas Priscus fought the Volsci and captured ''Caenon'', the port of

Antium Antium was an ancient coastal town in Latium, south of Rome. An oppidum was founded by people of Latial culture (11th century BC or the beginning of the 1st millennium BC), then it was the main stronghold of the Volsci people until it was conqu ...

, which was the capital of the Volsci. He regrouped with Priscus in order to pillage the Sabine countryside in retaliation for a raid by the Sabines on Roman territory. Two years later, in 467 BC, after having taken

from the Volsci, the Romans had established a

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

there. Tricostus was, along with

Titus Quinctius Capitolinus Barbatus Titus Quinctius Capitolinus Barbatus (513 BCafter 423 BC) was a Roman statesman and general who served as consul six times. Titus Quinctius was a member of the gens Quinctia, one of the oldest patrician families in Rome. He was the son of Luc ...

and Publius Furius Medullinus Fusus, one of the three

triumvirs A triumvirate ( la, triumvirātus) or a triarchy is a political institution ruled or dominated by three individuals, known as triumvirs ( la, triumviri). The arrangement can be formal or informal. Though the three leaders in a triumvirate are ...

(the ''triumviri agro dando'') in charge of partitioning and distributing the lands of Antium to the colonists. He is possibly the same person as the legate who served under the consul

Titus Romilius Rocus Vaticanus Titus Romilius Rocus Vaticanus was a Roman politician in the 5th century BC, consul in 455 BC, and decemvir in 451 BC. Family He was the only member of the patrician family to become consul. The '' gens Romilia'' disappears after him in the an ...

against the Aequi in 455 BC.Broughton, vol i, pp.42

Notes

Bibliography

Primary sources

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, ''Roman Antiquities'', Book IX

Livy, ''The History of Rome'', Books II-III
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Secondary sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus, Aulus 5th-century BC Roman consuls Tricostus Caeliomontanus, Aulus