Publius Cornelius Cethegus, Roman statesman, 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...

 Cornelia of the branch with the cognomen Cethegus

Cethegus

Cethegus is the name of a Roman patrician family of the Cornelian gens. Like the younger Cato its members kept up the old Roman fashion of dispensing with the tunic and leaving the arms bare . The following individuals are of some importance:*Marcus Cornelius Cethegus, curule aedile, 213 BC...

.

Cethegus was elected curule aedile

Aedile

Aedile was an office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public order. There were two pairs of aediles. Two aediles were from the ranks of plebeians and the other...

 in 187 BC

187 BC

Year 187 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lepidus and Flaminius...

, 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...

 in 185 BC

185 BC

Year 185 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Pulcher and Puditanus...

 and consul

Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...

 in 181 BC

181 BC

Year 181 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Cethegus and Tamphilus...

. During his consulship, the grave of the legendary Roman king Numa Pompilius

Numa Pompilius

Numa Pompilius was the legendary second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus. What tales are descended to us about him come from Valerius Antias, an author from the early part of the 1st century BC known through limited mentions of later authors , Dionysius of Halicarnassus circa 60BC-...

 was discovered. He and his colleague Marcus Baebius Tamphilus

Marcus Baebius Tamphilus

Marcus Baebius Tamphilus was a consul of the Roman Republic in 181 BC along with P. Cornelius Cethegus. Baebius is credited with reform legislation pertaining to campaigns for political offices and electoral bribery...

 were awarded a triumph over the Ligurians although no battle had been actually fought. In 173 BC

173 BC

Year 173 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Albinus and Laenas...

Cethegus was appointed as one of ten commissioners to divide the Ligurian and Gallic lands in Italy.