ETRUSCAN

Gaius Cilnius Maecenas (70-8 BCE)

Confidant and political advisor to Augustus, the

first Roman Emperor. Maecenas was a political advisor
and confidant to Emperor Augustus. He arranged
Augustus’ marriage to Scribonia. It appears Maecenas
later fell out of the Emperor's favor, some said because
Augustus coveted Maecenas’ own wife Terentia.

616-579 B.C. - L. Tarquinius Priscus

Tarquin, Latin in full Lucius Tarquinius

Priscus, original name Lucomo, (flourished 6th
century BC), traditionally the fifth king of Rome.

578-535 B.C. - Servius Tullius

He was succeeded by Servius Tullius, who was

probably not related to him. Tarquin's mother Tanaquil
had a vision in which she saw the boy Servius as their
hope and protector.

He divided the Roman citizens into tribes and

continued to expand and conquer. He enlarged the city
and built a city wall enclosing all 7 hills of Rome.
 Lucius Tarquinius Superbus

('Tarquin the Proud') was traditionally the seventh

and last king of ancient Rome before it became a republic.
He belonged to the Etruscan Tarquinii clan, reigned from
534 to 510 BCE, and was infamous for his tyrannical rule.

Lars Porsenna

He was the semi-legendary Etruscan king

of Chiusi who famously attacked and probably
occupied Rome c. 508 BCE when the city had just exiled its
last king and was moving towards becoming a republic. His
extravagant tomb is described by Pliny but has never been
found.

ROMAN NOTABLE ARCHITECTS

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio

Vitruvius was not just a Roman architect, he was the

Roman architect.vVitruvius was the architect of Julius
Caesar from 58 to 51 BCE. Not only did he build several
structures, but he also traveled extensively around the
Mediterranean and studied architecture from a theoretical
perspective. The result was a major text entitled De
Architectura, written between 30 and 20 BCE.

De Architectura was the first major Roman treatise

on architecture, and in it Vitruvius tackles several issues.
 Apollodorus of Damascus

After Vitruvius, there were many architects who

helped Rome grow. Only one, however, can really be said
to rival Vitruvius's fame. Apollodorus of Damascus was a
2nd century CE architect from Damascus, then part of the
Roman Empire (today part of Syria). Apollodorus was the
favored architect of the emperor Trajan, who ruled from
98-117 CE. Under Trajan, Rome stretched its imperial
borders further than ever before. Trajan celebrated the
success and wealth of Rome by commissioning a large
number of building projects, most of them executed by
Apollodorus.

ROMAN NOTABLE LEADERS

Crassus (Marcus Licinius Crassus: 115-53 B.C.).

In 60 B.C. he became part of the first triumvirate with Caesar

and Pompeius and was appointed consul in 55 B.C. While
proconsul in Syria, he organized a military expedition against
the Parthians. This ended with a disastrous defeat in Carrhae
(today known as Harran, Turkey) in which the ensigns of the
legions were lost and where he himself lost his life.

Caesar (Gaius Julius Caesar: 100-44 B.C.).

He led a brilliant political career and formed the first

triumvirate with Crassus and Pompey in 60 B.C.

He became consul in 59 B.C. and conquered Gaul

and up as far as Britannia. The Senate and Pompey deprived
him of his military power. In 49 B.C. he crossed the Rubicon
River (at that time the frontier of Italy) with his legions and
waged a bloody civil war against Pompeius.
Mark Antony (Marcus Antonius: 82-30 BC).

Caesar’s grandson and lieutenant. He was the principal

figure involved in the vendetta against Caesar’s assassins, Brutus
and Cassius. In 43 BC he constituted the second triumvirate with
Lepidus and Octavian.

He fell in love with Cleopatra and married her giving her

many Roman possessions and entering into open conflict with
the Senate and Octavian. The civil war ended with the naval
battle held in Actium in 31 BC: Mark Antony committed suicide
in Alexandria in 30 BC.

Cleopatra (69-30 BC).

Daughter of the king of Egypt, Tolomeus Auletes. Upon her

father’s death, she was dispossessed by her husband and brother,
Tolomeus Dionysius. In 46 BC she was once again placed on the throne
thanks to Julius Caesar, from whom she had a son, Cesarean. Upon the
dictator’s death she married Mark Antony, with the ambitious project
of creating a powerful reign throughout the Eastern Mediterranean
and fought directly with Octavian.Following the defeat in Actium (31
BC) she committed suicide by allowing herself to be bit by a venomous
serpent.

Augustus (Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus:

63 BC-14 AD):
Octavian, who was born in a plebeian family, was designated by
his uncle Julius Caesar as son and heir. Therefore, he changed his
name to Caius lulius Caesar Octavianus. Upon the dictator’s death,
together with Mark Antony and Aemilius Lepidus, he formed the
second triumvirate.

Agrippa (Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa: 63-12 BC).

A follower of Octavian, he led the principle civil war battles

with great determination, among which the final clash in Actium
against Mark Antony and Cleopatra (31 BC).
Tiberius (Tiberius Claudius Nero: 42 EC-37 AD).
The second Roman emperor, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and
Livia Drusilla (Augustus’s second wife). He was an able military leader, but
Augustus appointed him as his successor only following the premature
death of the emperor’s closest blood relatives. His rule was filled with
conspiracies and suspicion to the point that the emperor retired to his villa.

Claudius (Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus: 10 BC-54

AD).
Acclaimed emperor by the Praetorians upon Caligula’s death (41
AD), the elderly Claudius succeeded in restoring order despite the pressure
of his wives, Messalina and Agrippina.During his rule, Britannia was
conquered and Mauritania, Thracia and Licia were added to the empire.

Caligula (Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus: 12-41 AD).

The son of Agrippina (Augustus’s niece) and of Germanicus.He was
nicknamed Caligula (from the term “caliga” meaning military shoe) since
his childhood was spent in legionary camps. In 37 AD he became emperor
and his rule was marked by absolutism and by dissolute behavior until he
was killed in a conspiracy.

Nero (Nero Claudius Drus us Germanicus Caesar: 37-68

AD).
The son of Agrippina Minor who was adopted by Claudius and
became emperor in 54 AD Following an initial period of peaceful
leadership, the young emperor changed political line and accentuated his
tyrannical tendencies aimed towards an absolutist monarchy.His name is
linked with extravagance, but above all with the serious fire in 64 AD which
destroyed most of Rome and to his attempt to blame the Christians for the
fire.
 Vespasian (Titus Flavins Vespasianus: 9-97 AD). Born
in Sabina,
Vespasian was supported by the legions appointed in the Orient
and defeated Vitellius thus marking an end to a year of civil wars and
becoming the first emperor of the Flavian dynasty.Vespasian’s
political line was aimed at replenishing the state treasury by
favouring the middle classes and eliminating Nero’s absolutist trend.

Titus (Titus Flavius Vespasianus: 39-81 AD).

Successor to his father Vespasian in 79 AD, Titus reigned for

only two years during which took place the eruption of the Vesuvius
which buried Pompeii and neighboring cities (79 AD) and a huge fire
which destroyed many parts of Rome (80 AD).

Domitian (Titus Flavius Domitianus: 51-96 AD).

Following the premature death of Titus in 81 AD, his brother
Domitian was made emperor, the last of the Flavian dynasty.

Trajan (Marcus Ulpius Traianus: 53-117 AD).

Following Domitian’s death, Nerva was nominated emperor (96-
98 AD) who chose Trajan as his successor, a military leader of
established experience loved both by the army and the Senate.Born in
Spain, Trajan was one of the greatest Roman emperors.
Antoninus Pius (Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius:
86-161 AD).
Chosen by Hadrian as his heir, Antoninus became emperor in
138 AD, the first of the Antonine dynasty. His lengthy rule was a time of
peace and prosperity troubled only by sporadic unrest in the provinces.

Hadrian (Publius Aelius Hadrianus: 76-138 AD). Hadrian

became emperor in 117 AD.
He was adopted by Trajan and was also Spanish.The new
emperor’s political orientation soon revealed to be completely different
from the orientation of his predecessor.

Marcus Aurelius (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus: 121-180

AD)
who ruled together with his adopted brother Lucius Verus who
died in 169 AD.In spite of his peaceful nature and his stoic character,
Marcus Aurelius had to face lengthy wars in the Orient against the
Parthians and sustain pressure by the Quads and the Marcomanns
along the northern borders.

Diocletian (Caius Aurelianus Valerius Diocletianus: 240-

316 AD).
Acclaimed emperor in 284 AD, Diocletian marked the end to a
lengthy period of uncertainty and serious economic and military crisis.In
286 AD he joined power with Maximianus, dividing the empire into two
parts governed respectively by an emperor (named Augustus) and his
deputy (defined as Caesar).
Appius Claudius Caecus. A Roman politician (IV-III
BC),
censor and consul, writer and orator, he owed his blindness
(according to ancient sources) to the punishment of the gods inflicted
on him for his religious reforms. He appointed the building of the
aqueduct and street that are both named after him. He promoted
electoral reforms in favor of the lower classes.

Constantine/ Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus

Augustus

Son of the tetrarch Costantius Chlorus and Helena, he was

emperor from 306 to 377 AD. He was acclaimed emperor by the
troops in Britannia and this radically changed the mechanism of
succession devised by Diocletian with the Tetrarchy.

In 313 he legalized Christianity and in 330 he moved the

capital to Byzantium, renamed Constantinople.A great emperor that
maintained a difficult balance between late paganism and growing
Christianity.