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Marcus Aurelius Claudius Quintillus was a short-lived Roman emperor. He took power after the death of his brother, Emperor Claudius Gothicus, in 270 CE. After reigning for a few weeks Quintillus was overthrown by Aurelian, who had been proclaimed rival emperor by the legions he commanded. The ancient sources variously report him to have killed himself, to have fallen in battle against Aurelian, or to have been murdered by his own soldiers.
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Sextus Aurelius Victor was a historian and politician of the Roman Empire. Victor was the author of a short history of imperial Rome, entitled De Caesaribus and covering the period from Augustus to Constantius II. The work was published in 361. Under the emperor Julian (361-363), Victor served as governor of Pannonia Secunda; in 389 he became praefectus urbi, senior imperial official in Rome.
The Historia Augusta is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the similar work of Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, it presents itself as a compilation of works by six different authors, collectively known as the Scriptores Historiae Augustae, written during the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine I and addressed to those emperors or other important personages in Ancient Rome. The collection, as extant, comprises thirty biographies, most of which contain the life of a single emperor, but some include a group of two or more, grouped together merely because these emperors were either similar or contemporaneous.
Gaius Pius Esuvius Tetricus was a Gallo-Roman nobleman who ruled as emperor of the Gallic Empire from 271 to 274 AD. He was originally the praeses of Gallia Aquitania and became emperor after the murder of Emperor Victorinus in 271, with the support of Victorinus's mother, Victoria. During his reign, he faced external pressure from Germanic raiders, who pillaged the eastern and northern parts of his empire, and the Roman Empire, from which the Gallic Empire had seceded. He also faced increasing internal pressure, which led him to declare his son, Tetricus II, caesar in 273 and possibly co-emperor in 274, although this is debated. The Roman emperor Aurelian invaded in 273 or 274, leading to the Battle of Châlons, at which Tetricus surrendered. Whether this capitulation was the result of a secret agreement between Tetricus and Aurelian or that surrender was necessary after his defeat is debated. Aurelian spared Tetricus, and made him a senator and the corrector (governor) of Lucania et Bruttium. Tetricus died of natural causes a few years after 274.
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Festus was a Late Roman historian. His name appears in some manuscripts as Rufius Festus, Rufus Festus, Sextus Rufus or Sextus Festus, but they appear to be corruptions. He is mainly known as the author of an epitome titled Breviarium rerum gestarum populi Romani, written around AD 370 and commissioned by the Eastern emperor Valens in preparation for his war against Persia. The Breviarium covers the entire history of the Roman state from the foundation of the city. The book consists of 30 chapters treating Roman events in a terse overview, mainly focused on military and political conflicts. It is estimated to be a work of very low quality.
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Charles François Lhomond was a French priest, grammarian, and educator who was a native of Chaulnes, Somme.
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The gens Messia was a plebeian family at Rome. The first person of this name to appear in history is Vettius Messius, a Volscian soldier whose courage inspired his comrades in a desperate battle against the Romans in 431 BC. It is not known when the Messii first obtained Roman citizenship. Members of the family appear in the lists of annual magistrates during the final decades of the Republic. In imperial times, some of the Messii achieved the highest offices of the Roman state.
The gens Ogulnia was an ancient plebeian family at ancient Rome. The gens first came to prominence at the beginning of the third century BC, when the brothers Quintus and Gnaeus Ogulnius, tribunes of the plebs, carried a law opening most of the Roman priesthoods to the plebeians. The only member of the family to obtain the consulship was Quintus Ogulnius Gallus in 269 BC. However, Ogulnii are still found in imperial times.
The gens Opellia, also spelled Opelia and Opilia, was a minor family of imperial Rome, which briefly emerged from obscurity when Marcus Opellius Macrinus was proclaimed emperor following the murder of Caracalla in AD 217. The only members of this gens who appear in history are the emperor and his son, Marcus Opellius Diadumenianus, who ruled briefly as co-emperor in 218, but other Opellii are found in inscriptions, particularly from Dacia.
The anonymous work De viris illustribus urbis Romae is the only work in Latin literature to offer an outline of Roman history in the form of 86 short biographies from the founding of the city to the Principate of Augustus. Contrary to what the title suggests, however, not only famous commanders and politicians are included, but also illustrious female figures and outstanding enemies of Rome. There is no discernible difference between Romans and non-Romans or positive and negative figures. In terms of type and structure, the writing fits best into the context of the late antique breviaries of the 4th century, so that a writing in the 4th century seems plausible.
References
- Alexander Enmann, Eine verlorene geschichte der römischen Kaiser und das buch de viris illustribus urbis romae. Philologus, no. Supplement-Band 4, Heft 3. (1884). p. 337-501.
- Bleckmann, Bruno; Nickbakht, Mehran A.; Scardino, Carlo (2022). Enmannsche Kaisergeschichte. Rufius Festus, Breviarium. Kleine und fragmentarische Historiker der Spätantike. Vol. B1/B4. Paderborn: Brill Schöningh. pp. 3–216. ISBN 978-3-506-70832-8.
- Willem den Boer, Some Minor Roman Historians. Leiden, 1972.
- Timothy David Barnes, The Sources of the Historia Augusta. Collection Latomus v. 155. Bruxelles: Latomus, 1978.
- Burgess, R. W. (1995). "On the Date of the Kaisergeschichte". Classical Philology. 90 (2): 111–128. doi:10.1086/367453. JSTOR 270485. S2CID 162872345. (with bibliography).
