Marcus Atilius Regulus

This is about the Roman general and consul; for other Romans of that name, see Marcus Atilius Regulus (disambiguation).
Marcus Atilius Regulus
Regulus returning to Carthage (1791)
by Andries Cornelis Lens
Consul of the Roman Republic
In office
267 BC – 267 BC
Preceded by Publius Sempronius Sophus and Appius Claudius Russus
Succeeded by Decimus Junius Pera and Numerius Fabius Pictor
Consul of the Roman Republic
In office
256 BC – 256 BC
Preceded by Lucius Manlius Vulso Longus and Quintus Caedicius
Succeeded by Marcus Aemilius Paullus and Servius Fulvius Paetinus Nobilior
Personal details
Born Before 307 BC
Roman Republic
Died 250 BC
Carthage
Military service
Allegiance Roman Republic
Rank General
Battles/wars First Punic War
Battle of Cape Ecnomus
Siege of Aspis
Battle of Adys
Battle of Tunis

Marcus Atilius Regulus (probably lived between 307 BC–250 BC) was a Roman statesman and general who was a consul of the Roman Republic in 267 BC and 256 BC.[1]

Life

Regulus first became consul in 267 BC, where he fought the Messapians. Elected as a consul again in 256 BC, he served as a general in the First Punic War (256 BC), where he defeated the Carthaginians in a naval battle at Cape Ecnomus near Sicily and invaded North Africa, winning victories at Aspis and Adys, until he was defeated and captured at Tunis in 255 BC. After he was released on parole to negotiate a peace, he is supposed to have urged the Roman Senate to refuse the proposals and then, over the protests of his own people, to have fulfilled the terms of his parole by returning to Carthage, where, according to Roman tradition, he was tortured to death: however Polybius does not mention it and Diodorus, (a writer hostile to the Carthaginians) implies he died from natural causes.[2] He was posthumously seen by the Romans as a model of civic virtue.[1]

Family

Atilius Regulus, the son of the eponymous consul of 294 BC, descended from an ancient Calabrian family. According to later Roman historians, he married one Marcia, who tortured several Carthaginian prisoners to death on hearing of her husband's death. He had at least two sons and one daughter by Livy's account; both sons became consuls - Marcus in 227 BC and Gaius in 225 BC (killed in battle against the Gauls).

A brother or cousin, Gaius Atilius Regulus, served as consul in 257 BC and in 250 BC.

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Marcus Atilius Regulus". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  2. ↑ Carthage and the Carthaginians, R Bosworth Smith.

References

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Regulus, Marcus Atilius". Encyclopædia Britannica. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 48.

Media related to Marcus Atilius Regulus at Wikimedia Commons

Preceded by
Publius Sempronius Sophus and Appius Claudius Russus		 Consul of the Roman Republic
with Lucius Julius Libo
267 BC		 Succeeded by
Decimus Iunius Pera and Numerius Fabius Pictor
Preceded by
Lucius Manlius Vulso Longus and Quintus Caedicius		 Consul (Suffect) of the Roman Republic
with Lucius Manlius Vulso Longus
256 BC		 Succeeded by
Marcus Aemilius Paullus and Servius Fulvius Paetinus Nobilior
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