C. Atilius M. f. M. n. Regulus Serranus (fl.

Floruit

Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...

 250 BC) was a Roman Republican consul who twice held the consulship in the middle of the 3rd century BC. His elder brother, father, and grandfather were all consuls.

Regulus was consul for the first time in 257 BC, with the patrician Gnaeus Cornelius Blasio, and prosecuted the First Punic War

First Punic War

The First Punic War was the first of three wars fought between Ancient Carthage and the Roman Republic. For 23 years, the two powers struggled for supremacy in the western Mediterranean Sea, primarily on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters but also to a lesser extent in...

 against the Carthaginians. He defeated the Carthaginian fleet off the Liparaean islands, though not without considerable loss. He then obtained possession of the islands of Lipara and Melite

Melite

Melite was one of the naiads, daughter of the river god Aegaeus, and one of the many loves of Zeus and his son Hercules. Given the choice, she chose Hercules over Zeus who went off in search of other pursuits...

, which he laid waste with fire and sword. On his return to Rome, he received the honour of a naval triumph

Roman triumph

The Roman triumph was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the military achievement of an army commander who had won great military successes, or originally and traditionally, one who had successfully completed a foreign war. In Republican...

 (Polyb. i. 25 ; Zonar. viii. 12 ; Oros. iv. 8 ; Fasti Capitol.).

Regulus was consul a second time in 250 BC, with his patrician colleague being Lucius Manlius Vulso. In this year the Romans gained a brilliant victory at Panormus, under the proconsul Metellus

Lucius Caecilius Metellus (died 221 BC)

Lucius Caecilius Metellus was the son of Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter. He was Consul in 251 BC and 247 BC, Pontifex Maximus in 243 BC and Dictator in 224 BC....

. Thinking that the time had now come to bring the war to a conclusion, they sent both the consuls to Sicily with an army of four legions and two hundred ships. Regulus and his colleague undertook the siege of Lilybaeum, the most important possession of the Carthaginians in Sicily ; but they were foiled in their attempts to carry the place by storm, and after losing a great number of men, were obliged to turn the siege into a blockade. (Polyb. i. 39, 41—48 ; Zonar. viii. 15 ; Oros. iv. 10 ; Diod. Fragm. xxiv.)

According to William Smith

William Smith (lexicographer)

Sir William Smith Kt. was a noted English lexicographer.-Early life:Born at Enfield in 1813 of Nonconformist parents, he was originally destined for a theological career, but instead was articled to a solicitor. In his spare time he taught himself classics, and when he entered University College...

, this Regulus is the first Atilius who bears the surname Serranus, which afterwards became the name of a distinct family in the gens. The praetor Caius Atilius Serranus, praetor in 218 BC and a failed candidate for the consulship in 216 BC, was his son and ancestor of all subsequent praetors and consuls from this family. One of his descendants Sextus Atilius Serranus became consul in 136 BC with Lucius Furius Philus

Lucius Furius Philus

Lucius Furius Philus was a consul of ancient Rome in 136 BC. He was a member of the Scipionic circle, and particularly close to Scipio Aemilianus. As consul he was involved with the foedus Mancinum, and offered Mancinus to the Numantines...

 (wrongly called Publius by Smith).

Sources

• William Smith
  William Smith (lexicographer)
  Sir William Smith Kt. was a noted English lexicographer.-Early life:Born at Enfield in 1813 of Nonconformist parents, he was originally destined for a theological career, but instead was articled to a solicitor. In his spare time he taught himself classics, and when he entered University College...
  
  , Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
  Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
  The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary.- Characteristic :...
  
  , 1870, "G. Atilius M. f. M. n. Regulus Serranus"
• William Smith
  William Smith (lexicographer)
  Sir William Smith Kt. was a noted English lexicographer.-Early life:Born at Enfield in 1813 of Nonconformist parents, he was originally destined for a theological career, but instead was articled to a solicitor. In his spare time he taught himself classics, and when he entered University College...
  
  , Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
  Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
  The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary.- Characteristic :...
  
  , 1870, "Serranus"