The Porticus Catuli (Latin for the "Portico of Catulus") was a portico on the Palatine Hill in ancient Rome. It was a local landmark (monumentum). [1] It was built by Quintus Lutatius Catulus (consul 102 BC) to commemorate his joint victory with Gaius Marius over the Cimbri at Vercellae.
The portico was adjacent to Catulus's house ( domus ), which Pliny the Elder regarded as one of the grandest built in the late 2nd century BC. [2] The practice of expanding a family's home from the relatively modest structures of the mid-Republic began at this time. [3] The Porticus Catuli became known for the display of artwork there. [4] Its impressiveness rivaled that of the Temple of Honor and Virtue built by Marius also to commemorate the victory, for which both men earned a triumph. [5]
The Porticus Catuli was located on a prominent piece of real estate that had already been highly politicized. It had formerly been the site of the house of M. Fulvius Flaccus, one of the supporters of the popularist Gaius Gracchus who were condemned to death and had their property confiscated and destroyed. [6] In the mid-1st century BC, the Porticus Catuli was involved in the feud between Cicero and Clodius. When Cicero was condemned to exile for putting Roman citizens to death without allowing them right of appeal, Clodius razed Cicero's house and perhaps also the Porticus Catuli to build a shrine (aedes) to Libertas. If the portico was razed rather than incorporated into the new religious complex, it was rebuilt along with Cicero's house when the orator was restored to Rome. [7]
Lucius Sergius Catilina, known in English as Catiline, a Roman politician and soldier, has become best known for instigating the Catilinarian conspiracy, a failed attempt to violently seize control of the Roman state in 63 BC.
Quintus Lutatius Catulus was a consul of the Roman Republic in 102 BC. His consular colleague was Gaius Marius. During their consulship the Cimbri and Teutones marched south again and threatened the Republic. While Marius marched against the Teutones in Gaul, Catulus had to keep the Cimbri from invading Italy. In this he failed; the Cimbri succeeded in invading the Po Valley. In 101 BC Catulus, as proconsul, continued the war against the Cimbri. Marius, elected consul for the fifth time, joined him and together they campaigned against the Germanic invaders in the Po Valley. At the Battle of Vercellae Marius and Catulus decisively defeated the Cimbri and ended the Germanic invasion. After Vercellae the two feuded, and Catulus consequently committed suicide following Marius's victory in the civil war of 87 BC.
The Curia Hostilia was one of the original senate houses or "curiae" of the Roman Republic. It was believed to have begun as a temple where the warring tribes laid down their arms during the reign of Romulus. During the early monarchy, the temple was used by senators acting as a council to the king. Tullus Hostilius was believed to have replaced the original structure after fire destroyed the converted temple. It may have held historic significance as the location of an Etruscan mundus and altar. The Lapis Niger, a series of large black marble slabs, was placed over the altar where a series of monuments was found opposite the Rostra. This curia was enlarged in 80 BC by Lucius Cornelius Sulla during his renovations of the comitium. That building burned down in 52 BC when the supporters of the murdered Publius Clodius Pulcher used it as a pyre to cremate his body.
Novus homo or homo novus was the term in ancient Rome for a man who was the first in his family to serve in the Roman Senate or, more specifically, to be elected as consul. When a man entered public life on an unprecedented scale for a high communal office, then the term used was novus civis or "new citizen".
The gens Papiria was a patrician family at ancient Rome. According to tradition, the Papirii had already achieved prominence in the time of the kings, and the first Rex Sacrorum and Pontifex Maximus of the Republic were members of this gens. Lucius Papirius Mugillanus was the first of the Papirii to obtain the consulship in 444 BC. The patrician members of the family regularly occupied the highest offices of the Roman state down to the time of the Punic Wars. Their most famous member was Lucius Papirius Cursor, five times consul between 326 and 313 BC, who earned three triumphs during the Samnite Wars. Most of the Papirii who held office under the later Republic belonged to various plebeian branches of the family. Although the most illustrious Papirii flourished in the time of the Republic, a number of the family continued to hold high office during the first two centuries of the Empire.
The Porticus Octaviae is an ancient structure in Rome. The colonnaded walks of the portico enclosed the Temples of Juno Regina (north) and Jupiter Stator (south), as well as a library. The structure was used as a fish market from the medieval period up to the end of the 19th century.
The Porticus Octavia, also known as the Portico of Octavius, was a portico in ancient Rome built by Gnaeus Octavius in 168 BC to commemorate his capture of Perseus of Macedonia during the Third Macedonian War. It stood between the Theatre of Pompey and the Circus Flaminius beside the Porticus Metelli. Pliny describes it as a double portico with bronze Corinthian capitals, for which it was also called the Corinthian Portico. It may have been the earliest use of this architectural order in Rome and is possibly to be identified with remains on the Via S. Nicola ai Cesarini, represented in the Severan Marble Plan. Velleius Paterculus called it "by far the loveliest" of the porticoes of his time.
The lex Manilia was a Roman law passed in 66 BC granting Pompey the military command in the East against Mithridates VI of Pontus.
The Temple of Concord in the ancient city of Rome refers to a series of shrines or temples dedicated to the Roman goddess Concordia, and erected at the western end of the Roman Forum. The earliest temple is believed to have been vowed by Marcus Furius Camillus in 367 BC, but it may not have been built until 218 BC by L. Manlius. The temple was rebuilt in 121 BC, and again by the future emperor Tiberius between 7 BC and AD 10.
The gens Lutatia, occasionally written Luctatia, was a plebeian family of ancient Rome. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Lutatius Catulus in 242 BC, the final year of the First Punic War. Orosius mentions their burial place, the sepulchrum Lutatiorum, which lay beyond the Tiber.
Marcus Marius Gratidianus was a Roman praetor and supporter of Gaius Marius during the civil war between the followers of Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla. As praetor, Gratidianus is known for his policy of currency reform during the economic crisis of the 80s BC.
Lucius Valerius Flaccus was the suffect consul who completed the term of Gaius Marius in 86 BC. In the Roman Republic, Marius had fought a series of civil wars against Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, both leaders of their respective factions. Flaccus was considered a staunch supporter of Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna, the latter of whom shared his consulate and succeeded Marius as faction leader.
The gens Caecilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are mentioned in history as early as the fifth century BC, but the first of the Caecilii who obtained the consulship was Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter, in 284 BC. The Caecilii Metelli were one of the most powerful families of the late Republic, from the decades before the First Punic War down to the time of Augustus.
The gens Maria was a plebeian family of Rome. Its most celebrated member was Gaius Marius, one of the greatest generals of antiquity, and seven times consul.
The career of Julius Caesar before his consulship in 59 BC was characterized by military adventurism and political persecution. Julius Caesar was born on 12 July 100 BC into a patrician family, the gens Julia, which claimed descent from Iulus, son of the legendary Trojan prince Aeneas, supposedly the son of the goddess Venus. His father died when he was just 16, leaving Caesar as the head of the household. His family status put him at odds with the Dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who almost had him executed.
Fortuna Huiusce Diei was an aspect of the goddess Fortuna, known primarily for her temple in the Area Sacra di Largo Argentina at Rome. Cicero lists her among the deities who should be cultivated in his ideal state, because "she empowers each day". She thus embodies an important aspect of time as it figures in Roman religion: every day of the year had a distinct and potent nature, which the public priests were responsible for knowing and aligning the community with by means of the religious calendar.
The gens Fannia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, which first appears in history during the second century BC. The first member of this gens to attain the consulship was Gaius Fannius Strabo, in 161 BC.
The gens Tarquitia was a patrician family at ancient Rome. Few members of this gens appear in history, of whom the most illustrious was Lucius Tarquitius Fiaccus, who was magister equitum in 458 BC. Other Tarquitii are mentioned toward the end of the Republic, but were probably plebeians, rather than descendants of the patrician Tarquitii.
The gens Procilia, sometimes written Procillia, was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned during the final century of the Republic, but few of them obtained any position of importance in the Roman state, and they are best known as a result of the historian Procillius, a contemporary of Cicero, whose work has been lost, but who was cited as a source by the Roman antiquarians.
The gens Saufeia was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the final century of the Republic, and from then to the early Empire their name occurs regularly in history, but none of them ever attained the consulship.