Marcus Minucius Augurinus

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Marcus Minucius Augurinus
Consul of the Roman Republic 497 BC
Consul of the Roman Republic 491 BC

Marcus Minucius Augurinus (Latin, Marcus Minucius Augurinus ) was a Roman Republican politician of the patrician gens Minucia during the beginning of the 5th century BC. He served as Consul of Rome in 497 BC and 491 BC, both times serving together with Aulus Sempronius Atratinus.

Family Origins[edit]

Although the Minucia gens has been traditionally known as a plebeian family, the family's origins are indeed of the patrician class and it is from that branch of the family from which Minucius Augurinus is descended.

He was the brother of Publius Minucius Augurinus, who later served as consul in 492 BC.


Minucius Augurinus was the first of his gens to become a Roman consul, serving in the years 497 BC and 491 BC respectively. On both occasions, he served together with Aulus Sempronius Atratinus. During his first tenure as consul, he was charged with the consecration of the newly constructed Temple of Saturn in the Roman forum. It was during this consulship that the festivities surrounding Saturnalia first began.[1][2]

He was again elected consul for 491 BC. There had been a famine in Rome in the previous year, and in 491 BC a significant quantity of corn was imported from Sicily, and the question of how it should be distributed amongst the Roman citizens, together with tensions arising from the recent secession of the plebs, led to the exile and defection of Gaius Marcius Coriolanus after he unsuccessfully advocated the reversal of the reforms which arose from the secession, including the creation of the office of the tribunes.[3] Dionysius of Halicarnassus gives credit to Minucius as having been the speaker at the trial of Coriolanus, acting as Coriolanus' defender and also as the mitigatory ambassador sent to the Volsci camp commanded by the same Coriolanus in 488 BC.[citation needed]

See also[edit]

Preceded by
Quintus Cloelius Siculus and
Titus Lartius
Consul of the Roman Republic
with Aulus Sempronius Atratinus

497 BC
Succeeded by
Aulus Postumius Albus Regillensis and
Titus Verginius Tricostus Caelimontanus
Preceded by
Titus Geganius Macerinus and
Publius Minucius Augurinus
Consul of the Roman Republic
with Aulus Sempronius Atratinus

491 BC
Succeeded by
Quintus Sulpicius Camerinus Cornutus and
Spurius Lartius


  1. ^ Titus Livius, Historia romana, libro II, 21
  2. ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Historia Antigua de Roma, book VI, 1
  3. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita, 2.34