Publius Curiatius Fistus Trigeminus

Summary

Publius Curiatius Fistus Trigeminus was a Roman politician in the 5th century BC, consul in 453 BC and decemvir in 451 BC.

Publius Curiatius Fistus Trigeminus
Consul of the Roman Republic
In office
1 August 453 BC [1] – 31 July 452 BC
Preceded byAulus Aternius Varus, Spurius Tarpeius Montanus Capitolinus
Succeeded byPublius Sestius Capitolinus Vaticanus, Titus Menenius Lanatus (consul 452 BC)
First College of Decemvirs
In office
451 BC – 450 BC
Preceded byPublius Curiatius Fistus Trigeminus, Sextus Quinctilius Varus
Succeeded by Second College of Decemvirs
Personal details
BornUnknown
Ancient Rome
DiedUnknown
Ancient Rome

Family edit

He was named Publius Curiatius by Livy, but named Publius Horatius by Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Diodorus Siculus calls him only Trigeminus.[2] He could have been part of the gens Horatii rather than the Curiatii, two gentes that had opposed each other during the Roman monarchy in the fight of the Horatii and the Curiatii.

If he was part of the gens Curiatii, he was the only member of the family to become consul.

Biography edit

Consulship edit

In 453 BC, he was consul with Sextus Quinctilius Varus.[3] Rome was ravaged in that year by a famine and an epidemic, which killed animals as well as people. It is thought to have been typhus, with the epidemic continuing on for ten or more years.[4] His colleague, Varus, and Furius Medullinus Fusus, the consul suffect who replaced him, both died of the disease that same year.[3]

Decemvirate edit

In 451 BC, he was part of the First Decemvirate which wrote the ten first tables of the Law of the Twelve Tables.[5][6][7]

References edit

  1. ^ Robert Maxwell Ogilvie, Commentary on Livy, books 1–5, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1965, pp. 404, 405.
  2. ^ Broughton 1951, p. 44.
  3. ^ a b Broughton 1951, p. 43.
  4. ^ Livy, III. 32
  5. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita, III. 33-34
  6. ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities, X. 56
  7. ^ Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, XII. 9

Bibliography edit

Ancient bibliography edit

Modern bibliography edit

  • Broughton, T. Robert S. (1951), "The Magistrates of the Roman Republic", Philological Monographs, number XV, volume I, vol. I, 509 B.C. - 100 B.C., New York: The American Philological Association
Political offices
Preceded by Roman consul
with Sextus Quinctilius
453 BC
Succeeded by