Appius Claudius Pulcher

Appius Claudius Pulcher was the name of several members of the Claudii during the Roman Republic The first was active in the Second Punic War. He was governor of Sicily in 214 BC and co-commanded an expedition to the island in 213 with Marcus Claudius Marcellus when the Carthaginians landed there. Claudius was also consul in 212 BC, and was the father of Publius Claudius Pulcher. The second Appius Claudius Pulcher was consul in 185 BC. The third was consul 143 BC, censor in 136, and was also princeps senatus. He was a rival of Scipio the younger and allied with Tiberius Gracchus, who married his daughter Claudia. Claudius backed Tiberius' land reform bill and with Tiberius and his brother Gaius formed a triumvirate to survey the ager publicus, publicly owned land that Tiberius wanted to distribute among veterans of the Punic War. Another faction in the Senate opposed them and Tiberius was assassinated in 132. Claudius died soon after, probably in 130. The fourth was a supporter of Sulla and served as praetor in 88 BC. He was exiled in that year by Marius while Sulla was away in the east. He returned to Rome after Cinna died in 84, and served as consul in 79 and as governor of Macedon from 78 to 76. The fifth, son of the fourth, served as military tribune in the east under Lucullus from 72 to 70. Lucullus sent him to the Armenian king Tigranes to demand the surrender of Mithridates VI. He was praetor in 57, propraetor of Sardinia in 56, consul in 54, proconsul of Cilicia in 53, and censor in 50. He was the brother of Publius Clodius Pulcher, who changed the spelling of his name to reflect the lower class pronunciation. Claudius supported the Optimate faction and in 50 expelled Sallust, a supporter of Julius Caesar and the Populares, from the Senate. In 50 he was also accused of bribery by Publius Cornelius Dolabella, but with the support of Pompey, Cicero, and Quintus Hortensius he was acquitted. He supported Pompey against Caesar and died in Greece in 49. In Greece he also built the Lesser Propylaea in Eleusis. The sixth, adopted nephew of the fifth, was consul in 38 BC. Category:Ancient Romans