Appius Claudius Sabinus Inregillensis
Appius Claudius Sabinus Inregillensis or Regillensis (c. 500 BC) was the semi-legendary founder of the Roman gens Claudia.
He was born Attius Clausus,[1] Atta Claudius,[2] Titus Claudius[3] or a lost original name from which the other versions derive. To the Romans he was known as Appius Claudius. He was a Sabine from a now unknown town called Inregillum.[4]
In 505 BC the Romans successfully waged war against the Sabines, and in the following year, the Sabines were divided as to whether to retaliate or to make peace with the Romans. Claudius favoured peace with the Romans, and as the faction favouring war became more powerful, he fled to Rome with a large group of his clients. The followers were made citizens and were allowed to settle on the far side of the Anio river, and along with some other Sabines became known as the "Old Claudian" tribe. Claudius was made a senator and quickly became one of the leading men.[5]
He became consul of Rome in 495 BC. According to Livy's History of Rome, he was "harsh by nature" and "loved tyranny", which is said to have resulted in the Struggle of the Orders.
His harsh enforcement of debt laws forced a secession of the plebs in 494-493. They fled to the nearby Mons Sacer (the Sacred Mountain), and the patricians sent one Agrippa Menenius Lanatus to convince them to return. Shakespeare's play Coriolanus adapts this story.
His sons were Appius Claudius Sabinus, Consul in 471 BCE and Gaius Claudius Sabinus, Consul in 460 BCE
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita, 2:16
- ^ Suetonius. "Tiberius, 1". Lives of the Twelve Caesars.
- ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus. "Book V.40". Roman Antiquities.
- ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita, 2:16
- ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita, 2:16
[edit] External links
- Plutarch; Rev. Walter W. Skeat (Editor, Contributor) (2009) [1875]. "Life of Caius Martius Coriolanus, VI". Shakespeare's Plutarch: being a selection from the lives in North's Plutarch which illustrate Shakespeare's plays. London, Medford: Macmillan and Co., Tufts University: The Perseus Project.
| Preceded by Aulus Postumius Albus Regillensis and Titus Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus |
Consul of the Roman Republic with Publius Servilius Priscus Structus 495 BC |
Succeeded by Aulus Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus and Titus Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus |
