Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis (consul 471 BC)

Appius Claudius Ap. f. M. n. Sabinus Regillensis (or Inregillensis), was a member of the great patrician house of the Claudii at Ancient Rome. He held the consulship in 471 BC.

Appius was the son of Attius Clausus, a wealthy Sabine merchant who emigrated to Rome with a large following in 504 BC, and was admitted to the patriciate under the name of Appius Claudius Sabinus. The elder Claudius became a senator, and held the consulship in 495; he distinguished himself as the leading figure in the aristocratic party, and the fiercest opponent of the plebeians. He had at least two sons: Appius, the consul of 471, and Gaius, who was consul in 460.

The younger Appius is usually regarded as the father of Appius Claudius Crassus, the decemvir, and is so described by both Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus. However, in the Capitoline Fasti, the decemvir is described as consul for the second time in BC 451 (before he resigned to join the decemvirate), and is given the filiation Ap. f. M. n., explicitly identifying him with the consul of 471.

If the two men were the same, instead of father and son, then the decemvir must have been an older man, since he had been a candidate for the consulship in 482, and was thus probably born before 510 BC; but Livy calls Appius the youngest of the decemvirs, and he is generally supposed to have been the father of Appius Claudius Crassus, consular tribune in 424 BC. In addition, Appius, the consul of 471, was well known for his severity and hatred of the plebeians; while Appius the decemvir was thought to be mild and fair toward the plebeians, until his true nature was revealed during the second year of the decemvirate. The matter cannot be definitively answered at this time.

Appius was a candidate for the consulship of 482 BC, but his election was blocked by the tribunes of the plebs. Nine years later, the patricians succeeded in electing him consul, with the goal of preventing the law proposed by the tribune Volero Publilius, transferring the election of the tribunes of the plebs from the comitia curiata to the comitia tributa. Appius' colleague was Titus Quinctius Capitolinus Barbatus.

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