Lucius Annius was a nobleman of

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...

of the

Annia gens The gens Annia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Livy mentions a Lucius Annius, praetor of the Roman colony of Setia, in 340 BC, and other Annii are mentioned at Rome during this period. Members of this gens held various positions of au ...

who lived in the 4th century BCE. Annius lived in Setia, a Roman colony (modern Sezze), and was

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...

of the

Latins The Latins were originally an Italic tribe in ancient central Italy from Latium. As Roman power and colonization spread Latin culture during the Roman Republic. Latins culturally "Romanized" or "Latinized" the rest of Italy, and the word Latin ...

in 340, at the time of the

Latin War The (Second) Latin War (340–338 BC)The Romans customarily dated events by noting the consuls who held office that year. The Latin War broke out in the year that Titus Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus and Publius Decius Mus were consuls and ended ...

. He was sent as ambassador to Rome to demand for the Latins political equality with the Romans. According to the popular Roman story, Annius dared to say, in the capitol, that he defied the Roman god

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

. The historian

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 ...

relates this story, but his recounting contradicts itself on several points (notably on whether or not Annius was even impious toward Jupiter) for reasons that are unclear. As Annius hurried down the steps of the temple, he fell from the top to the bottom, and knocked himself senseless, possibly dying in the process, though Livy is uncertain on this point as well. The Roman consul Titus Manlius Torquatus took the fall of Annius to be evidence that the divine power of Jupiter -- ''

numen Numen (plural numina) is a Latin term for " divinity", "divine presence", or "divine will." The Latin authors defined it as follows:For a more extensive account, refer to Cicero writes of a "divine mind" (''divina mens''), a god "whose numen eve ...

''—was in fact a real phenomenon.

Notes

Roman Republican praetors 4th-century BC Romans Annii {{AncientRome-politician-stub