Publius Villius Tappulus

Publius Villius Tappulus was a politician of the Roman Republic.^[1]

Publius Villius Tappulus
Plebeian Aedile
In office 204 BCE – 204 BCE
Praetor
In office 203 BCE – 203 BCE
Preceded by	Lucius Scribonius Libo
Succeeded by	Gnaeus Tremellius Flaccus
Consul
Preceded by	Gaius Aurelius Cotta
Succeeded by	Sextus Aelius Paetus Catus
Personal details
Nationality	Roman Republic
Military service
Allegiance	Roman Republic
Years of service	199-196 BCE
Rank	Legate
Commands	Legiones Cannenses

Biography

In 204 BC Tappulus was appointed plebeian aedile. In the following two years, he was elected as a praetor and then served as a propraetor in Sicily. After his time as a Praetor he would lend Cneius Tremellius two legions for the Second Punic War.^[2] In 201 BC he held the decemvirate (decemvir agris dandis adsignandis) for distributing ager publicus in Samnium and Apulia.

He became consul in 199 BC and went to Macedon to take over the command after Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus.^[3] However, before it came to major battles, he had been replaced by the next consul Titus Quinctius Flamininus. In 199 BCE the legions Publius was commanding mutinied. They mutinied because they believed they were being illegally forced against their will to fight. Publius caved in, saying that after the campaign the soldiers would retire.^[4] Pausanias states that during the war with Macedon Villius destroyed the Greek cities of Histiaia on Euboia and Antikyra in Phokis and it was for this reason Flamininus replaced him.^[5]

During 197 BC he was still in Macedon as a legatus. A year later he served as an envoy for peace negotiations with Philip V of Macedon and Antiochus III the Great.^[6][7] During the cold war with the Seleucid Empire he served again as an envoy to Antiochus.^[8] The only reference to him exists on the triumphal arch of Augustus, fragments of which are called the Fasti Capitolini, and Horace's Satires.

References

1. J. C. Yardley (30 July 2009). The Dawn of the Roman Empire. Oxford University Press. pp. 1752–. ISBN 978-0-19-162328-8.
2. Horne, Charles Francis (1905). 5867 B.C.-1906 A.D. National Alumni.
3. Varro
4. Rocca, Samuele (2019-03-18). The legiones Cannenses. Soldiershop Publishing. ISBN 978-88-9327-413-5.
5. Pausanias. Description of Greece, 7.7.9
6. Livy 33, 24, 7.
7. Livy 33, 35 and 33, 39. Polybius 18, 48, 3 and 18, 50, 3.
8. Livy 34, 59; 35, 13–15; 35, 23; 35, 39, 4–8.

Political offices
Preceded by Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus and Gaius Aurelius Cotta	Consul of the Roman Republic with Lucius Cornelius Lentulus 199 BC	Succeeded by Titus Quinctius Flamininus and Sextus Aelius Paetus Catus