Marcus Aufidius Lurco or known as Aufidius Lurco, was a Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 magistrate who lived in the 1st century BC. Lurco was a member of the gens

Gens

In ancient Rome, a gens , plural gentes, referred to a family, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a stirps . The gens was an important social structure at Rome and throughout Italy during the...

 Aufidia

Aufidia (gens)

The gens Aufidia was a plebeian family at Rome, which is not known till the later times of the Republic. The first member to obtain the consulship was Gnaeus Aufidius Orestes, in 71 BC.-Praenomina used by the gens:...

, a Roman family of Plebs

Plebs

The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...

 status, who appeared in the Roman Republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

 and Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

. They became a family of consular rank. Lurco originally came from Fundi (modern Fondi

Fondi

Fondi is a city and comune in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy, halfway between Rome and Naples. Before the construction of the highway between the latter cities in the late 1950s, Fondi had been an important settlement on the Roman Via Appia, which was the main connection from Rome to...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

).

High office

According to Suetonius

Suetonius

Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius , was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order in the early Imperial era....

, Lurco held a high office at Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

. In 61 BC

61 BC

Year 61 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Calpurnianus and Messalla...

, he was a Tribune

Tribune

Tribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...

 of the Plebs

Plebs

The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...

. During his time as Tribune, he was the author of the Lex Aufidia or Lex Aufidia de Ambitu. The Lex Aufidia was a law concerning the Roman assemblies

Roman assemblies

The Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Republic were political institutions in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the contemporary historian Polybius, it was the people who had the final say regarding the election of magistrates, the enactment of new statutes, the carrying out of capital...

 or Comitia. If a candidate, promised and paid money to a tribe at the Comitia, he should pay yearly 3,000 sesterces during his life. However, if the candidate, merely promised and did not pay, the candidate should be exempt. This caused a witted argument between Lurco and Publius Clodius Pulcher

Publius Clodius Pulcher

Publius Clodius Pulcher was a Roman politician known for his popularist tactics...

.

Lurco in 59 BC

59 BC

Year 59 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caesar and Bibulus...

, was one of the witnesses called for the defence at the impeachment of Lucius Valerius Flaccus. Between 52 BC

52 BC

Year 52 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pompeius and Scipio...

-51 BC

51 BC

Year 51 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marcellus and Sulpicius...

, Lurco prosecuted and procured for the acts of violence and the conviction of Sextus Clodius Pulcher for bringing the corpse of Publius Clodius Pulcher

Publius Clodius Pulcher

Publius Clodius Pulcher was a Roman politician known for his popularist tactics...

 into the Curia Julia

Curia Julia

The Curia Hostilia was one of the original senate houses or 'curia' of the Roman Republic. It is believed to have begun as an Etruscan temple where the warring tribes laid down their arms during the reign of Romulus . During the early kingdom, the temple was for the use of the Senators who acted as...

.

Family

Lurco was the first person in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 to fatten peacocks (see peafowl

Peafowl

Peafowl are two Asiatic species of flying birds in the genus Pavo of the pheasant family, Phasianidae, best known for the male's extravagant eye-spotted tail, which it displays as part of courtship. The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen, and the offspring peachicks. The adult female...

) for sale and from this he became wealthy. The wife of Lurco is unknown. We know, he had a daughter called Aufidia

Aufidia

Aufidia or Alfidia was a woman of Ancient Rome. She was a daughter to Roman Magistrate Marcus Aufidius Lurco and an unknown mother. She was a member of the gens Aufidia, a Roman family of Plebs status which appeared in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire, and became a family of consular rank...

, who married Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus

Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus

Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus was a senator of the Roman Republic. He was born with the name Appius Claudius Pulcher, into the patrician family of the Claudii. According to Suetonius, Drusus was a direct descendant of the consul and censor Appius Claudius Caecus...

, a future praetor

Praetor

Praetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...

. He was therefore the maternal grandfather of their children, Roman Empress Livia

Livia

Livia Drusilla, , after her formal adoption into the Julian family in AD 14 also known as Julia Augusta, was a Roman empress as the third wife of the Emperor Augustus and his adviser...

 Drusilla and consul Marcus Livius Drusus. Lurco was the great-grandfather to Roman Emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

 Tiberius

Tiberius

Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...

 and Roman General Nero Claudius Drusus

Nero Claudius Drusus

Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus , born Decimus Claudius Drusus also called Drusus, Drusus I, Nero Drusus, or Drusus the Elder was a Roman politician and military commander. He was a fully patrician Claudian on his father's side but his maternal grandmother was from a plebeian family...

.

Sources

• Suetonius
  Suetonius
  Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius , was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order in the early Imperial era....
  
  , The Twelve Caesars, Caligula
  Caligula
  Caligula , also known as Gaius, was Roman Emperor from 37 AD to 41 AD. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula's father Germanicus, the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, was a very successful general and one of Rome's most...
  
  
• http://www.roman-emperors.org/livia.htm
• http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0427.html
• http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1949.html