Marcus Atilius Regulus (consul 227 BC)

Part of a series on the
Military of ancient Rome 753 BC – AD 476
Structural history Army Unit types and ranks Decorations and punishments Legions Auxilia Generals Navy Fleets Admirals
Campaign history Wars and battles
Technological history Military engineering Castra Siege engines Triumphal arches Roads
Political history
Strategy and tactics Infantry tactics
Frontiers and fortifications Limes Walls Limes Britannicus Antonine Wall Hadrian's Wall Saxon Shore Limes Germanicus Alb Limes Lauter Valley Limes Lower Germanic Limes Main Limes Neckar-Odenwald Limes Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes Wetterau Limes Danube–Iller–Rhine Limes Norican Limes Claustra Alpium Iuliarum Pannonian Limes Limes Alutanus Limes Moesiae Trajan's Wall Anastasian Wall Limes Sarmatiae Limes Arabicus Limes Tripolitanus Limes Mauretaniae
Ancient Rome portal
v t e

Marcus Atilius Regulus (fl. 227–214 BC) was a Roman politician and statesman. He was consul in 227 and 217 BC and later censor in 214 BC. He was the son of his homonymous father who was consul in 267 and 256 BC.^[1]

He was first elected consul in 227 BC; nothing is known of this first consulship. He was later elected to a suffect consul in 217 BC, in place of Gaius Flaminius, who had been killed at the Battle of Lake Trasimene. Later in the year, he took command of the army that had been under the dictator that year, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, and avoided any major engagement with Hannibal.^[2] His command was prorogued into 216 BC, when he returned to Rome and was elected triumvir mensarius (a public banker).^[3]

Livy reports that he laid down his command before the new consuls of 216 BC, citing old age.^[4] However, Polybius reports that Regulus and his consular colleague of 217 BC, Gnaeus Servilius Geminus, were killed as part of the army defeated at Cannae.^[5] However, it is clear that Regulus survived the battle, if he even took part, because he was elected censor two years later in 214 BC.^[6][7]

During his censorship, he was strict towards those who attempted to evade military service after Cannae and those who had broken oaths to rejoin the Romans after being captured by Hannibal. With the support of donations from businessmen, he was able to find the funds needed to maintain various temples that the state treasury – being empty – could not support.^[8] He and his colleague probably appointed Marcus Fabius Buteo as princeps senatus. However, Regulus was compelled to abdicate before completing the lustrum when his colleague, Publius Furius Philus, died unexpectedly.^[9]

Klaus Zmeskal, in Adfinitas, notes no familial relation between this Regulus and the Gaius Atilius Regulus who was consul in 225 BC.^[1] Another Marcus Atilius Regulus is noted as praetor urbanus in 213 BC, but T.R.S. Broughton notes this as a separate person.^[10] In notes, Broughton further explains that the textual tradition is unclear: this Atilius may in fact be an Aemilius and others have suggested Serranus as cognomen rather than Regulus.^[11]