Marcus Fulvius Nobilior (M. Fulvius M. f. Ser. n. Nobilior), Roman general, a member of one of the most important families of the patrician Fulvius

Fulvius

Fulvius was the nomen of the gens Fulvia, a patrician gens of ancient Rome that originally came from Tusculum. They were originally a plebeian family but were upgraded to patricians soon after the Roman Republic was formed...

 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...

.

He started his political career as curule aedile in 195 BC

195 BC

Year 195 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Flaccus and Cato...

. When 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...

 (193 BC

193 BC

Year 193 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Merula and Thermus...

) he served with distinction in Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, and as consul in 189 BC

189 BC

Year 189 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Nobilior and Vulso...

 he completely broke the power of the Aetolian League

Aetolian League

The Aetolian League was a confederation of tribal communities and cities in ancient Greece centered on Aetolia in central Greece. It was established, probably during the early Hellenistic era, in opposition to Macedon and the Achaean League. Two annual meetings were held in Thermika and Panaetolika...

. On his return to 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...

, Nobilior celebrated a triumph (of which full details are given by Livy

Livy

Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...

) remarkable for the magnificence of the spoils exhibited. On his Aetolian campaign he was accompanied by the poet Ennius

Ennius

Quintus Ennius was a writer during the period of the Roman Republic, and is often considered the father of Roman poetry. He was of Calabrian descent...

, who made the capture of Ambracia

Ambracia

Ambracia, occasionally Ampracia , was an ancient Corinthian colony, situated about 7 miles from the Ambracian Gulf in Greece, on a bend of the navigable river Arachthos , in the midst of a fertile wooded plain.-History:...

, at which he was present, the subject of one of his plays. For this Nobilior was strongly opposed by Cato the Censor

Cato the Elder

Marcus Porcius Cato was a Roman statesman, commonly referred to as Censorius , Sapiens , Priscus , or Major, Cato the Elder, or Cato the Censor, to distinguish him from his great-grandson, Cato the Younger.He came of an ancient Plebeian family who all were noted for some...

, on the ground that he had compromised his dignity as a Roman general. In 179 BC

179 BC

Year 179 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Flaccus and Fulvianus...

 he was appointed censor together with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.

He restored the temple of Hercules

Hercules

Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...

 and the Muses in the Circus Flaminius

Circus Flaminius

The Circus Flaminius was a large, circular area of land in Rome that contained a small race-track reserved for mysterious games, and various other buildings and monuments. It was located in the southern end of the Campus Martius, near the Tiber River. It was ‘built,’ or sectioned off, by Flaminius...

, placed in it a list of Fasti

Fasti

In ancient Rome, the fasti were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events...

 drawn up by himself, and endeavoured to make the Roman calendar

Roman calendar

The Roman calendar changed its form several times in the time between the founding of Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire. This article generally discusses the early Roman or pre-Julian calendars...

 more generally known. He was a great enthusiast for Greek art and culture, and introduced many of its masterpieces into Rome, amongst them the picture of the Muses by Zeuxis from Ambracia.

Fulvius was grandson of Servius Fulvius Paetinus Nobilior (consul in 255 BC) and he had two sons, both of whom obtained the consulship: Marcus Fulvius Nobilior

Marcus Fulvius Nobilior (consul 159 BC)

Marcus Fulvius Nobilior was a Roman politician. He is not to be confused with his father who was also called Marcus Fulvius Nobilior and who also served as consul....

 (in 159 BC) and Quintus Fulvius Nobilior

Quintus Fulvius Nobilior

Quintus Fulvius Nobilior was a Roman consul who obtained the consulship in 153 BC.His father Marcus Fulvius Nobilior and his brother Marcus Fulvius Nobilior were also consuls.Nobilior and his father were patrons of the writer Quintus Ennius....

(in 153 BC).