Gaius Duilius
Gaius Duilius | |
---|---|
Consul of Rome | |
In office 260 BC | |
Personal details | |
Nationality | Roman |
Awards | Triumph |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Rome |
Branch/service | Roman navy |
Battles/wars | |
Gaius Duilius (fl. 260–231 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. As consul in 260 BC, during the First Punic War, he won Rome's first ever victory at sea by defeating the Carthaginians at the Battle of Mylae. He later served as censor in 258, and was appointed dictator to hold elections in 231, but never held another command.
Background
Gaius Duilius, whose father and grandfather were both named Marcus Duilius,[1] belonged to an undistinguished family. One Caeso Duilius is recorded as consul in 336 BC, but the surname is otherwise only known historically and reliably from a few minor magistrates in the fourth century BC.[2]
Career
Duilius was one of the consuls for the year 260 BC, and was initially appointed to command Rome's land forces in Sicily against
Manoeuvring galleys at sea required long and arduous training.
Duilius, hearing that a Carthaginian squadron under
Further successes
Following his victory at sea, Duilius resumed his command of the legions in Sicily.[note 3] Landing probably at the gulf of Termini, he relieved Segesta of its siege by the Carthaginian Hamilcar, and then stormed the fortress of Macella (possibly Macellaro near Camporeale).[18][19][20] As his term as consul neared its end, Duilius returned to Rome to hold elections and to celebrate, in early 259, the first Roman triumph for a naval victory. With part of the spoils, Duilius built a temple to Janus at the Forum Holitorium, and a column adorned with the ramming beaks (rostra) of captured warships was erected in the Forum to celebrate his victory.[18][19] He was also accorded the special honour of being accompanied by a torchbearer and flute-player while returning home from dinner at night.[21][22]
Duilius went on to hold the office of
Legacy
In the Twentieth Century, the Italian Navy named several warships after Duilius, including the battleship Duilio.
Due to Duilius' victory being commemorated with a column adorned with the ramming beaks (rostra) of captured warships being erected in the Forum, behind where speakers were standing when delivering a speech, the word "Rostrum" gained in Latin - and thence to various modern languages - the meaning of referring to a dais.
Notes, citations and sources
Notes
- ^ A commemorative inscription claims Duilius oversaw the construction of the fleet, although the consuls may have seen to it jointly.[4]
- ^ The figures for Carthaginian losses are taken from Polybius. Other ancient sources give 30 or 31 ships captured and 13 or 14 sunk.[14]
- ^ Literary sources place Duilius's operations on land after the victory at sea, but commemorative inscriptions mention the former first. The literary evidence is usually preferred, and inscriptions may not, in any case, have recorded events in chronological order. .[16][17]
Citations
- ^ Münzer 1905, col. 1777.
- ^ Kondratieff, p. 1.
- ^ Caven, p. 28
- ^ Walbank 1990, p. 76.
- ^ Harris 1979, pp. 184–185.
- ^ Miles 2011, p. 181.
- ^ Lazenby 1996, p. 70.
- ^ Lazenby 1996, p. 67.
- ^ Casson 1995, pp. 278–280.
- ^ Casson 1995, p. 121.
- ^ Miles 2011, p. 178.
- ^ Lazenby 1996, pp. 70–71.
- ^ a b Bagnall 1999, p. 63.
- ^ Lazenby 1996, pp. 73–74.
- ^ Lazenby 1996, p. 16.
- ^ Lazenby 1996, pp. 67–68.
- ^ Walbank 1990, pp. 79–80.
- ^ a b Caven, p. 30.
- ^ a b Münzer 1905, col. 1780.
- ^ Walbank 1990, p. 80.
- ^ a b Lazenby 1996, p. 72.
- ^ a b Münzer 1905, col. 1781.
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-7126-6608-4.
- Casson, Lionel (1995). Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-5130-8.
- Caven, Brian (1980). The Punic Wars. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-77633-9.
- Harris, William (1979). War and Imperialism in Republican Rome, 327–70 BC. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-814866-1.
- Kondratieff, Eric (2004). "The Column and Coinage of C. Duilius: Innovations in Iconography in Large and Small Media in the Middle Republic". Scripta Classica Israelica. 23: 1–39.
- Lazenby, John (1996). The First Punic War: A Military History. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-2673-3.
- ISBN 978-0-14-101809-6.
- Münzer, Friedrich (1905). "Duilius 3". Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. Vol. 5, part 2.
- Walbank, F.W. (1990). Polybius. Vol. 1. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-06981-7.