People - Ancient Rome

Valerian in Wikipedia

Publius Licinius Valerianus[1] (193/195/200 – 260 or 264), commonly known as Valerian or Valerian the Elder, was Roman Emperor from 253 to 260. He was taken captive by Persian king Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa, becoming the only emperor to do so and causing wide range instability across the empire. Life - Origins and rise to power - U...

Read More

Spartăcus in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities

A famous fighter, by birth a Thracian, and successively a shepherd, a soldier, and a chief of banditti. On one of his predatory expeditions he was taken prisoner, and sold to a trainer of gladiators. In B.C. 73 he was a member of the gladiatorial company of Lentulus, and was detained in his school at Capus, in readiness for the games at Rome. ...

Read More

Tarquin the Proud in Wikipedia

Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (535 B.C. – 496 B.C.) was the seventh King of Rome, reigning from 535 until the Roman revolt in 509 B.C. which would lead to the establishment of the Roman Republic. He is more commonly known by his cognomen Tarquinius Superbus (literally, Tarquin the Proud[1]) and was a member of the Etruscan dynasty of Rome. The hist...

Read More

Valeriānus in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities

P. Licinius, a Roman emperor, A.D. 253-260. He was entrapped into a conference by the Persians, taken prisoner (260 A.D.) by Sapor, and passed the remainder of his life in captivity, subjected to every insult which Oriental cruelty could devise. His skin was stuffed after his death and hung in one of the Persian temples for many years....

Read More

Tullus Hostilius in Wikipedia

Tullus Hostilius (r. 673 BC – 642 BC) was the third of the Kings of Rome. He succeeded Numa Pompilius, and was succeeded by Ancus Marcius. Unlike his predecessor, Tullus was known as a warlike king. Tullus Hostilius was the grandson of Hostus Hostilius who had fought with Romulus and died during the Sabine invasion of Rome [1]. The principal featu...

Read More

Ovidius Naso, Publius in Harpers Dictionary

A very popular Roman poet, born March 21, B.C. 43, at Sulmo (now Solmona), in the country of the Paeligni, son of a wealthy Roman of an old equestrian family. He came at an early age to Rome, to be educated as a pleader, and enjoyed the tuition of the most famous rhetoricians of the time-Porcius Latro and Arellius Fuscus. It was not long before t...

Read More

Pompēius in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities

Cn. Pompēius Magnus , the Triumvir, son of No. 9, was born on the 30th of September, B.C. 106, in the consulship of Atilius Serranus and Servilius Caepio, and was consequently a few months younger than Cicero (who was born on the 3d of January in the same year) and six years older than Caesar. He fought under his father in 89 against the Italians...

Read More

Paulus in Wikipedia

Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus (229 BC-160 BC) was a two-time consul of the Roman Republic and a noted general. Family - His father was Lucius Aemilius Paullus, the consul defeated and killed in the battle of Cannae. Lucius Aemilius was, in his time, the head of his branch of the Aemilii Paulli, an old and aristocratic patrician family. The...

Read More

Petronius in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities

Gaius, or (possibly) Titus. A Roman novelist probably to be identified with an accomplished voluptuary at the court of Nero. He was one of the chosen companions of Nero, and was regarded as director-in-chief of the imperial pleasures, the judge whose decision upon the merits of any proposed scheme of enjoyment was held as final (elegantiae arbite...

Read More

Romulus and Remus in Wikipedia

Romulus and Remus are Rome's twin founders in its traditional foundation myth. They are descendants of the Trojan prince and refugee Aeneas, and are fathered by the god Mars or the demi-god Hercules on a royal Vestal Virgin, Rhea Silvia (also known as Ilia), whose uncle exposes them to die in the wild. They are found by a she-wolf who suckles ...

Read More