Marcus Claudius Glicia or Glycias was a subordinate of the consul Publius Claudius Pulcher who briefly 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 tim ...

in 249 BC.

Family

Glicia was a client of

gens Claudia The gens Claudia (), sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at ancient Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain the consulship was Appius ...

, an influential

patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

family that had held the highest offices in the Roman state since the early 5th century BC. His father was named

Gaius Gaius, sometimes spelled ''Gajus'', Kaius, Cajus, Caius, was a common Latin praenomen; see Gaius (praenomen). People * Gaius (jurist) (), Roman jurist *Gaius Acilius *Gaius Antonius *Gaius Antonius Hybrida *Gaius Asinius Gallus *Gaius Asinius P ...

and the ''

nomen gentilicium The (or simply ) was a hereditary name borne by the peoples of Roman Italy and later by the citizens of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. It was originally the name of one's (family or clan) by patrilineal descent. However, as Rome exp ...

'' of his patron, one of the Claudii. Extremely unusually, the do not mention his grandfather's name. The epitome of

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a 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 traditional founding in ...

mentions that he was ("a man of the lowest order"). Mark Wilson, in ''Dictator'' (2021), notes that Livy's words can be read two ways. If is read to mean "rank", he could have been a freedman, son of a freedman, or otherwise a member of the poor . But if is read to mean "kind", it could be reflection of Glicia's lack of character, with "Livy... suggesting his inferencefrom his observation that subsequently Glicia shamelessly wore a purple stripe to games like any other ex-dictator". Suetonius renders Glicia's name as "Glycias", however, which could indicate that he was a freedman or the freeborn son thereof. However, the 's use of rather than indicates that it is more likely that Glicia was freeborn.

Dictatorship

Background

Glicia served as 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 ...

Publius Claudius Pulcher's (messenger). The records that Glicia had been a "scribe" – – it is unclear whether the pluperfect form means he was a former scribe at his appointment or that he was a scribe immediately before his appointment. The epitome of Livy's 19th book records that in 249 BC: The engagement mentioned was a naval engagement called the

Battle of Drepana The naval Battle of Drepana (or Drepanum) took place in 249 BC during the First Punic War near Drepana (modern Trapani) in western Sicily, between a Carthaginian fleet under Adherbal and a Roman fleet commanded by Publius Claudius Pulch ...

off the coast of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

during the First Punic War; Claudius' sacred chickens were used for auguries. "Unused to the pitching decks of a Roman trireme", they refused to eat: a bad omen. Plucher infamously responding by ordering that they should be thrown into the sea with the phrase "If they will not eat, let them drink!". The tale was mentioned by the first century AD historian

Valerius Maximus Valerius Maximus () was a 1st-century Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes: ''Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX'' ("Nine books of memorable deeds and sayings", also known as ''De factis dictisque memorabilibus'' ...

as an example of the need to take auguries seriously.

Appointment

Pulcher's impious actions were blamed for the subsequent defeat, in which the navally-unaccustomed Romans lost almost their entire fleet. Upon hearing of the result of the battle, the Senate recalled him to Rome, charged Pulcher with treason for his treatment of the chickens, and ordered him to appoint a dictator to resume operations in his place. In response to the senatorial request for a dictator and "apparently out of spite" and in jest, Pulcher nominated as dictator "the most inappropriate man he could think of": Glicia. The dictator's tenure was extremely short-lived; the senate induced him – via unknown means – to resign immediately. It is possible that he resigned the dictatorship before formally taking office by passage of a ''lex curiata'' that would have granted him

imperium In ancient Rome, ''imperium'' was a form of authority held by a citizen to control a military or governmental entity. It is distinct from '' auctoritas'' and '' potestas'', different and generally inferior types of power in the Roman Republic a ...

. No '' magister equitum'' is recorded for his dictatorship. The more suitable

Aulus Atilius Calatinus Aulus Atilius Caiatinus (or Calatinus; 258–241 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who achieved prominence for his military activities during the First Punic War against Carthage. As consul in 258 BC, he enjoyed several successes in Sicily, ...

was appointed in his stead and became the first dictator to lead a Roman army outside of Italy. After laying down the office, Glicia furthered the controversy by attending the Roman games wearing a purple-bordered

toga The toga (, ), a distinctive garment of ancient Rome, was a roughly semicircular cloth, between in length, draped over the shoulders and around the body. It was usually woven from white wool, and was worn over a tunic. In Roman historical tra ...

, a symbol of the dictatorship and something that he was not considered entitled to.

Legacy

Glicia's appointment was picked up by Suetonius to show the dishonourable side of the patrician Claudian family's history, down to the emperor

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...

. Similarly – it appears for literary effect – Livy also endowed the Claudians of the republican period in his history with an overbearing and contemptuous arrogance, of which Pulcher's joke appointment was supposed to be an example; his characterisation may indicate an uncomfortableness between the historian and the Julio-Claudian imperial family of his time. Wilson also suggests that after Glicia's appointment, an understanding emerged that any person nominated to the dictatorship should be a former consul.

References

Citations Modern sources * * * Ancient sources * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Claudius Glicia, Marcus Ancient Roman dictators People of the Roman Republic 3rd-century BC Romans Claudii