Regillum

Last updated May 04, 2019

Regillum or Inregillum was a town in ancient Sabinum, north of Rome, known chiefly as the original home of Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis. [1]

Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis or Inregillensis was the legendary founder of the Roman gens Claudia, and consul in 495 BC. He was the leading figure of the aristocratic party in the early Roman Republic.

According to tradition, during the early years of the Roman Republic, the Sabines were debating whether to declare war against Rome. One of the leading members of the faction urging peace was Attius Clausus, a wealthy merchant of Regillum. In 504 BC, as the majority of the Sabines seemed ready to vote for war, Clausus and his retainers migrated to Rome, where they were warmly received. Clausus, who took the Latin name "Appius Claudius", was admitted to the patriciate, and given a seat in the Roman Senate. His followers, numbering some five hundred men capable of bearing arms, were granted land north of the Anio, where they later formed the basis of the tribus Claudia. For centuries, Claudius' descendants were among the most powerful and influential of all Roman families. [2] [3] [4]

The Roman Republic was the era of classical Roman civilization beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom, traditionally dated to 509 BC, and ending in 27 BC with the establishment of the Roman Empire. It was during this period that Rome's control expanded from the city's immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world.

The Sabines were an Italic people that lived in the central Apennine Mountains of ancient Italy, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome.

The patricians were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the early Republic, but its relevance waned after the Conflict of the Orders, and by the time of the late Republic and Empire, membership in the patriciate was of only nominal significance.

The precise location of Regillum is not known, but it must have been in the neighborhood of Lake Regillensis, which was presumably named after it. The Battle of Lake Regillus was one of the most important events in the early Republic, as a Roman army under the command of the dictator Aulus Postumius Albus defeated an alliance of Latin towns, led by Octavius Mamilius, the dictator of Tusculum, which aimed to restore Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the seventh and last King of Rome, to the throne. Postumius obtained the surname Regillensis as a result of his victory; Claudius presumably received it as a native of the town, although it is possible that he also participated in the battle. [5]

The Battle of Lake Regillus was a legendary Roman victory over the Latin League shortly after the establishment of the Roman Republic and as part of a wider Latin War. The Latins were led by an elderly Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last King of Rome, who had been expelled in 509 BC, and his son-in-law, Octavius Mamilius, the dictator of Tusculum. The battle marked the final attempt of the Tarquins to reclaim their throne. According to legend, Castor and Pollux fought on the side of the Romans.

Aulus Postumius Albus Regillensis was an ancient Roman who, according to Livy, was Roman dictator in 498 or 496 BC, when he conquered the Latins in the great Battle of Lake Regillus and subsequently celebrated a triumph. Many of the coins of the Postumii Albi commemorate this victory of their ancestor, as in the one pictured. Roman folklore related that Castor and Pollux were seen fighting in this battle on the side of the Romans, whence the dictator afterwards promised a temple to Castor and Pollux in the Roman Forum.

Octavius Mamilius was princeps of Tusculum, an ancient city of Latium. He was the son-in-law of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last king of Rome. According to tradition, the gens Mamilia was descended from Mamilia, reputedly a granddaughter of Ulysses (Odysseus) and Circe. Titus Livius described Octavius as head of one of the most distinguished families of Latium, and thus an important ally of Tarquinius.

Many years later, Claudius' son, Gaius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis, who had been consul in 460 BC, is said to have retired to Regillum after failing to dissuade his nephew, Appius, the decemvir, from abusing the power of the Roman state; but he returned to defend Appius when the latter was impeached, and afterward remained at Rome. [6] [7] [1]

The decemviri or decemvirs were any of several 10-man commissions established by the Roman Republic.

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References

1 2 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 765–767.
↑ Livy, ii. 16.
↑ Dionysius, v. 40.
↑ Suetonius, "The Life of Tiberius", 1.
↑ Livy, ii. 19, 20.
↑ Livy, iii. 40.
↑ Dionysius, xi. 7–11.

Bibliography

Titus Livius (Livy), Ab Urbe Condita (History of Rome).
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum (Lives of the Caesars, or The Twelve Caesars).
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Romaike Archaiologia.
"Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis" (no. 1) in the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology , William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).

Titus Livius – simply rendered as Livy in English – was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people – Ab Urbe Condita Libri – covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional foundation in 753 BC through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own lifetime. He was on familiar terms with members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and even in friendship with Augustus, whose young grandnephew, the future emperor Claudius, he exhorted to take up the writing of history.

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius, was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire.

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[DGRBM-1] 1 2 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 765–767.

[2] Livy, ii. 16.

[3] Dionysius, v. 40.

[4] Suetonius, "The Life of Tiberius", 1.

[5] Livy, ii. 19, 20.

[6] Livy, iii. 40.

[7] Dionysius, xi. 7–11.