Curated category
Optimates
- CiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero was born on the 3rd of January 106 BC in the hill town of Arpinum. His family belonged to the wealthy equestrian order, yet his name…
- Marcus Junius BrutusMarcus Junius Brutus was born in late 85 BC into the illustrious plebeian gens Junia. His father, also named Marcus Junius Brutus, served as tribune of the…
- Gnaeus Octavius (consul 87 BC)Gnaeus Octavius entered the Roman political arena as a member of the Plebeian gens Octavia. His father held the consulship in 128 BC, establishing a family…
- Cato the YoungerMarcus Porcius Cato Uticensis was born in 95 BC, the son of a father who shared his name and Livia. His childhood ended abruptly when he and his sister…
- Quintus Caecilius Metellus NumidicusQuintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus traveled to Athens in his youth. There he studied under Carneades, a celebrated philosopher and master of oratory.
- SullaLucius Cornelius Sulla Felix was born in Rome around 138 BC into a branch of the patrician gens Cornelia that had fallen to poverty.