Appius Claudius Caecus

Definition:

Appius Claudius Caecus is on the list of famous Romans:
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TJ Cornell (The Beginnings of Rome) calls Appius Claudius the first living personality in Roman history. Filippo Coarelli (Rome and Environs) echoes this when he says Appius Claudius Caecus, the man for whom the major Roman road known as the Appian Way was named, is the first public figure in Rome about whom we know a good deal.

Appius Claudius Followed the Cursus Honorum

A 4th-3rd century Roman statesman, he was:

• praetor,
• curule aedile,
• quaestor,
• military tribune,
• censor (in 312),
• consul (twice),
• dictator, and
• interrex.

Appius Claudius Was a Military Leader

He led victories over neighboring:

• Samnites,
• Sabines, and
• Etruscans.

Appius Claudius' Name Was Immortalized

Appius Claudius also built a road (the 132-mile-long Appian Way), an aqueduct (also named for him) and a temple to Bellona. He may have opened membership in the Roman tribes to the landless proletarians.

Appius Claudius earned the nickname Caecus 'the blind' in old age, A renowned orator and writer of aphorisms and father of Latin prose, Appius Claudius Caecus blocked peace between Rome and Pyrrhus (279/8 B.C.) with a speech.

• Tarentum and the Pyrrhic War: Tarentum Hires King Pyrrhus of Epirus to Defend It Against Rome
• Pyrrhic Wars

Family of Appius Claudius

The family of Appius Claudius was originally Sabine, from Regillum. Its first consulship, held by Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis, was in 495. Its first exceptional member was in 450, the Decemvir Appius Claudius who was involved in the writing of the 12 Tables. The Pulchri and Nerones traced their ancestry to two sons of Appius Claudius Caecus, Claudius the Fair and Claudius the Brave.

Sources:

• _{"Appius Claudius Caecus and the Via Appia," by Bruce MacBain The Classical Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 30, No. 2 (1980), pp. 356-372.}
  
• _{"Claudius" The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Ed. M.C. Howatson and Ian Chilvers. Oxford University Press, 1996.}
  
• _{Tiberius the Politician, by Levick B Staff, Barbara Levick}