Lucius Sempronius Atratinus was a Roman politician and the suffect consul in 444 BC along with

Lucius Papirius Mugillanus The gens Papiria was a patrician family at ancient Rome. According to tradition, the Papirii had already achieved prominence in the time of the kings, and the first Rex Sacrorum and Pontifex Maximus of the Republic were members of this gens. L ...

. The consulship was mostly peaceful, including renewing treaty with Ardea.

Family

Lucius Sempronius Atratinus belonged to the

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same Roman naming conventions#Nomen, nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (p ...

Sempronia. His father is probably Aulus Sempronius Atratinus, consul in 497 BC. The consular tribune Lucius replaced in 444, Aulus Sempronius Atratinus, was most likely his brother. Filiations indicate that he had a son, Aulus Sempronius Atratinus, consular tribune in 425.

Consul

Lucius Sempronius Atratinus and

were both elected consul in 444 BC after the three

consular tribunes A consular tribune was putatively a type of magistrate in the early Roman Republic. According to Roman tradition, colleges of consular tribunes held office throughout the fifth and fourth centuries BC during the so-called " Conflict of the O ...

, Aulus Sempronius Atratinus,

Lucius Atilius Luscus The gens Atilia, sometimes written Atillia, was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, which rose to prominence at the beginning of the fourth century BC. The first member of this gens to attain the consulship was Marcus Atilius Regulus, in 335 BC. ...

and

Titus Cloelius Siculus Titus Cloelius Siculus was a Roman statesman of the early Republic, and one of the first consular tribunes in 444 BC. He was compelled to abdicate after a fault was found during his election. Two years later he was one of the founders of the colon ...

were forced to abdicate because of flaws in the

auspices Augury is the practice from ancient Roman religion of interpreting omens from the observed behavior of birds. When the individual, known as the augur, interpreted these signs, it is referred to as "taking the auspices". "Auspices" (Latin ''au ...

performed during their election. During their tenure, the consuls extended their treaty with Ardea. According to Livy this is the only reason why we know that they were consuls for that year, because they have not been found in other ancient text.

Censor

The year after their consulship both he and his consular colleague, Papirius, were elected as the first

censors Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

. The magistracy was created as no

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

had been held for seventeen years and to free the consuls (who previously had held the census) for military duties. The authenticity of this office is doubted by some modern scholars.Broughton, vol I, pp. 53–54 (note 1).

References

Bibliography

Ancient sources

Marcus Tullius Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

, ''

Epistulae ad Familiares ''Epistulae ad Familiares'' (''Letters to Friends'') is a collection of letters between Roman politician and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero and various public and private figures. The letters in this collection, together with Cicero's other letter ...

''. *

Dionysius of Halicarnassus Dionysius of Halicarnassus ( grc, Διονύσιος Ἀλεξάνδρου Ἁλικαρνασσεύς, ; – after 7 BC) was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary sty ...

, ''Romaike Archaiologia'' (Roman Antiquities). *

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...

, ''

Ab Urbe Condita ''Ab urbe condita'' ( 'from the founding of the City'), or ''anno urbis conditae'' (; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as AUC or AVC, expresses a date in years since 753 BC, the traditional founding of Rome. It is an exp ...

'' ( English translation by Rev. Canon Roberts on Wikisource).

Modern sources

* T. Robert S. Broughton, ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', American Philological Association, 1951–1952. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sempronius Atratinus, Lucius (consul 310 AUC) 5th-century BC Roman consuls Atratinus, Lucius (consul 310 AUC)