People - Ancient Rome

Quintus Sertorius in Wikipedia

Quintus Sertorius (123 BC-72 BC) was a Roman statesman and general, born in Nursia, in Sabine territory, around 124 BC. His family, the gens Sertoria, was probably of Sabine origin, and was previously undistinguished.[1] Early Political Career - After acquiring some reputation in Rome as a jurist and an orator, he began a military career. His fi...

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Scaevŏla in Harpers Dictionary

Gaius Mucius Scaevŏla. When King Porsena was besieging Rome, G. Mucius went out of the city with the intention of killing him, but by mistake stabbed the king's secretary instead of Porsena himself. The king in his passion and alarm ordered him to be burned alive, upon which Mucius thrust his right hand into a fire which was already lighted fo...

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Marius in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities

Gaius, a distinguished Roman general and statesman, who was born near Arpinum in B.C. 157 of an obscure family in humble circumstances. His father's name was C. Marius, and his mother's Fulcinia; and his parents, as well as Marius himself, were clients of the noble plebeian house of the Herennii. So indigent, indeed, is the family represented ...

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Julian the Apostate in Wikipedia

Flavius Claudius Julianus (331/332[1] – 26 June 363), commonly known as Julian, Julian the Apostate or Julian the Philosopher, was Roman Emperor from 355 to 363. He is also a noted philosopher and Greek writer.[2] A member of the Constantinian dynasty, he was made Caesar by Constantius II in 355 and took command of the western provinces. During h...

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Livia in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities

Livia Drusilla, the daughter of Livius Drusus Claudianus. She was married first to Claudius Nero, and afterwards to Augustus, who compelled her husband to divorce her in B.C. 38. She had already borne her husband one son, the future emperor Tiberius, and at the time of her marriage with Augustus was six months pregnant with another, who subsequen...

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Lucullus, L. Licinius in Harpers Dictionary

A Roman celebrated as the conqueror of Mithridates. He fought on the side of Sulla in the Civil Wars with the Marian party, was praetor B.C. 77, and consul in 74. In the latter year he received the conduct of the war against Mithridates, which he carried on for eight years with great success (see Mithridates), but being unable to bring the war t...

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Nero in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities

Claudius Caesar. The sixth of the Roman emperors, born at Antium, in Latium, A.D. 37, nine months after the death of Tiberius. He was the son of Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus, and was originally named Lucius Domitius. After the death of Ahenobarbus, and a second husband, Crispus Passienus, Agrippina married her...

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Livy in Wikipedia

Titus Livius (59 BC – AD 17), known as Livy in English, was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC through the reign of Augustus in Livy'...

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Julius Caesar in Wikipedia

Gaius Julius Caesar[2] (13 July 100 BC[3] – 15 March 44 BC)[4] was a Roman general and statesman. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. During the late 60s and into the 50s BC, Caesar entered into a political alliance with Crassus and Pompey that was to dominate Roman politics for several ...

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Maecenas in Wikipedia

Gaius Cilnius Maecenas (13 April 70 BC – ? October 8 BC) was a confidant and political advisor to Octavian (who was to become the first Emperor of Rome as Caesar Augustus) as well as an important patron for the new generation of Augustan poets. During the reign of Augustus, Maecenas served as a quasi-culture minister to the Emperor. His name h...

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