Manius Valerius Maximus Messalla was

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 thro ...

in 263 BC with

Manius Otacilius Crassus Manius Otacilius Crassus was a Roman statesman and general of Samnite origins who served during the middle era of the Roman Republic. He was one of the two consuls of 263 BCE, serving with Manius Valerius Maximus Corvinus Messalla. During their ...

as his consular collegae. Messalla served as censor in

252 BC __NOTOC__ Year 252 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Cotta and Geminus (or, less frequently, year 502 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 252 BC for this year has been us ...

Biography

Manius Valerius Maximus was the son of Marcus Valerius Maximus Corvinus, consul in 289 BC, and grandson of

Marcus Valerius Corvus Marcus Valerius Corvus (c. 370–270 BC), also sometimes known as Corvinus, was a military commander and politician who served in the early-to-middle period of the Roman Republic. During his career he was elected consul six times, beginning at the ...

. With his colleague,

, he gained a brilliant victory over the

Carthaginians The Punic people, usually known as the Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians), were a Semitic people, Semitic people who Phoenician settlement of North Africa, migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Iron ...

and Syracusans: more than sixty of the Sicilian towns acknowledged the supremacy of Rome, and the consuls concluded a peace treaty with Hieron of Syracuse, which lasted the remainder of his ieronlong life. This acknowledgment proved equally advantageous to both Syracuse and Rome. He was awarded the triumph ''De Paeneis et Rege Siculorum Hierone''. His relief of

Messana Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants in the city p ...

obtained him the

cognomen A ''cognomen'' (; : ''cognomina''; from ''co-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditar ...

Messalla, which remained in the family for nearly 800 years. To commemorate his Sicilian victory, he arranged for it to be pictorially represented (painted) on the wall of the ''

Curia Hostilia The Curia Hostilia was one of the original senate houses or "curiae" of the Roman Republic. It was believed to have begun as a temple where the warring tribes laid down their arms during the reign of Romulus (r. c. 771–717 BC). During the early ...

'', the first example of an historical

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

(it still hung there two centuries later).

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

, ''Natural History'', 35.2. He is also said to have brought the first

sundial A sundial is a horology, horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the position of the Sun, apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the ...

from

Catana Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

to Rome, where it was set up on a column in the

forum Forum or The Forum may refer to: Common uses *Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States *Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city **Roman Forum, most famous example * Internet forum, discussion board ...

. Messalla was censor in 252 BC, when he degraded 400

equites The (; , though sometimes referred to as " knights" in English) constituted the second of the property/social-based classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the senatorial class. A member of the equestrian order was known as an (). Descript ...

to aerarians for neglect of duty in.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Valerius Maximus Messalla, Manius 3rd-century BC Roman consuls Catania Ancient Roman censors Ancient Roman generals Ancient Roman patricians Ancient Roman triumphators Manius