Quintus Servilius Priscus Fidenas (prior to 463 BC390 BC) was a political figure and military leader 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 Kin ...

who served as

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times ...

in 435 BC and in 418 BC.

Family

Servilius belonged to the large and influential

Servilia gens The gens Servilia was a patrician family at ancient Rome. The gens was celebrated during the early ages of the Republic, and the names of few gentes appear more frequently at this period in the consular Fasti. It continued to produce men of influ ...

and through his filiation he was the son of Publius Servilius Priscus, consul in 463 BC and possibly grandson of

Spurius Servilius Structus Spurius Servilius Structus was a Roman consul in 476 BC.Titus Livius, ''Ab Urbe Condita'', ii. 51. Following their defeat of the Roman army at the Battle of the Cremera in 477 BC, the Veientes marched on Rome and had occupied the Janiculum. T ...

, consul in 476 BC. He is most likely the father of

Quintus Servilius Fidenas Quintus Servilius Fidenas was a prominent early Roman politician who achieved the position of Consular tribune six times throughout a sixteen-year period. Quintus Servilius was a member of the illustrious gens Servilia, a patrician family which h ...

who was elected six times as

consular tribune 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 Or ...

Career

Augur/Pontifex

Servilius was appointed to replace

Spurius Postumius Albus Regillensis Spurius Postumius Albus Regillensis (died 439 BC) was a patrician politician of Ancient Rome. His filiation as reported in the ''Fasti Capitolini'' suggests he was the son of Aulus Postumius Albus Regillensis, consul 496 BC, and brother of Aul ...

in his religious functions, when the later died in 439 BC. As the only two sources mentioning this event are in disagreement if the office was that of an

Augur An augur was a priest and official in the classical Roman world. His main role was the practice of augury, the interpretation of the will of the gods by studying the flight of birds. Determinations were based upon whether they were flying i ...

or that of a Pontifex maximus it remains unclear which religious office Servilius held.

First Dictatorship

Although he had never held the consulship Servilius was appointed as dictator in 435 BC. The year had seen the escalation of the war with the

Fidenates Fidenae ( grc, Φιδῆναι) was an ancient town of Latium, situated about 8 km north of Rome on the ''Via Salaria'', which ran between Rome and the Tiber. Its inhabitants were known as Fidenates. As the Tiber was the border between Etru ...

and a dictator was deemed necessary to finish the war. He selected the former consul

Postumus Aebutius Helva Cornicen Postumus Aebutius Helva Cornicen ( 442–435 BC) was consul at Rome in 442 BC, and magister equitum in 435. Consulship Aebutius was elected consul for the year 442, with Marcus Fabius Vibulanus. Their year of office was peaceful, and commission ...

as his ''

magister equitum The , in English Master of the Horse or Master of the Cavalry, was a Roman magistrate appointed as lieutenant to a dictator. His nominal function was to serve as commander of the Roman cavalry in time of war, but just as a dictator could be nomi ...

,'' or vice-dictator, and successfully defeated and captured Fidenae.

Commission of 428 BC

Servilius career would remain closely attached to Fidenae and when the Fidenates were suspected of having supported the Veientane in raids against Rome in 428 BC, Servilius were appointed by the senate to be part of a special commission sent to investigate the matter. He was joined in this commission by former consul

Lucius Sergius Fidenas Lucius Sergius Fidenas was a Roman politician during the 5th century BC, and was elected consul in 437 and 429 BC. In 433, 424, and 418 BC he was military tribune with consular power. Family He was a member of the ''Sergii Fidenates'', branch of t ...

and another former dictator,

Mamercus Aemilius Mamercinus Mamercus Aemilius Mamercinus was a political figure in the Roman Republic, serving as consular tribune in 438 BC and dictator three times in 437, 434, and 426 BC. Prior to gaining the imperium Aemilius was, in 446 BC, elected Quaestor together wit ...

Second Dictatorship

In 418 BC Servilius was appointed to his second dictatorship. The appointment came after his former commission colleague, Lucius Sergius Fidenas, had been defeated by the combined forced of 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 his ...

and Labicani. Servilius appointed a relative and consular tribune of this year,

Gaius Servilius Axilla Gaius Servilius Axilla (or Servilius Structus; 427–417 BC) was a Roman aristocrat and statesman during the early Republic. He held the senior executive offices of consul in 427 BC and consular tribune in 419, 418 and 417 BC. He also served as ...

, as his ''magister equitum''. This dictatorship, like his first, was a great success, and Servilius went on to defeat the Aequi and capture

Labici Labici or Labicum or Lavicum ( la, Lăbīcī or ) was an ancient city of Latium, in what is now central Italy, lying in the territory of the modern Monte Compatri, about 20 km SE from Rome, on the northern slopes of the Alban Hills. Exact loca ...

Death

He is listed as having died in 390 BC and that he was succeeded by

Marcus Furius Fusus Marcus Furius Fusus was a Tribuni militum consulari potestate, consular tribune of the Roman Republic in 403 BC. Furius belonged to the Furia gens, an old and powerful Patrician (ancient Rome), patrician Gens, gentes of the Republic which had ris ...

in his religious office as augur or pontifex.Broughton, vol i, pp.96 Considering that 390 BC was in the close aftermath of the semi-legendary

Battle of Allia The Battle of the Allia was a battle fought between the Senones – a Gallic tribe led by Brennus, who had invaded Northern Italy – and the Roman Republic. The battle was fought at the confluence of the Tiber and Allia rivers, 11 Roman mile ...

, it is possible that Servilius was killed in the conflict or the following sack/siege of Rome, or that he simply died of unrelated causes in the same year as the events.

References

Citations

Sources

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 ...

", Book IV Dessau, Hermann, ''

Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae ''Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae'', standard abbreviation ''ILS'', is a three-volume selection of Latin inscriptions edited by Hermann Dessau. The work was published in five parts serially from 1892 to 1916, with numerous reprints. Supporting mat ...

'', 9338 ''

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum The ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (''CIL'') is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw ...

'', 6.37161 ''

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 ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Servilius Priscus, Quintus, Fidenas 390 BC deaths 5th-century BC Romans Ancient Roman dictators Priscus, Quintus, Fidenas Year of birth unknown