Gnaeus Flavius (''
fl.
''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...
'' 4th century BC) was the son of a
freedman
A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom ...
(''libertinus'') and rose to the office of
aedile
''Aedile'' ( ; la, aedīlis , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to ...
in the
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...
.
Flavius was secretary (''
scriba'') to the
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 ...
Appius Claudius, a
civil service
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
job paid from the
public treasury. The position allowed him to gain a thorough knowledge of
Roman law
Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...
, which had traditionally been a prerogative of the elite. He became the first person to publish an account of legal procedures ("actions in law" or ''legis actiones''). These actions came as part of the wider struggle between the Plebeians and Patricians in the Republic of Rome; when the Plebeians, in 451 BC, succeeded in requesting a codification of the law of Rome (which then became
the Law of the 12 Tables, or the ''lex duodecim tabularum''), so that they had access to legal certainty, the patrician judges still kept the interpretation of these laws secret from the plebeians.
As a result of his high profile, he was elected aedile for 304 BC, one of two
magistrates
The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...
responsible for the maintenance of public buildings, purchase of grain, and regulation of festivals, despite the fact that at the time the sons of freedmen were also regarded merely as ''libertini''. His election shocked the traditional governing elite into enacting
voter registration
In electoral systems, voter registration (or enrollment) is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll, which is usually a prerequisite for being entitled or permitted to vote.
The r ...
"reforms" designed to curtail the growing voting power of freedmen in Rome. As aedile, Flavius also displayed in the
Forum a calendar indicating the ''
dies fasti
In ancient Rome, the ''fasti'' (Latin plural) were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events. After Rome's decline, the word ''fasti'' continued to be used for simil ...
,'' those days on which legal business was permitted.
Univ. Chicago, Encyclopaedia Romana
/ref>
References
Ancient Roman jurists
4th-century BC Romans
Republican era slaves and freedmen
Civil law notaries
Flavii
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