Manius Valerius Maximus Corvinus Messalla

In this year, with his colleague Manius Otacilius (or Octaciius) Crassus, he gained a brilliant victory over the Carthaginians and Syracusans; the honour of a triumph was decreed to him alone. His relief of Messana obtained him the cognomen Messalla, which remained in the family for nearly 800 years. To commemorate his Sicilian victory, he caused ii to be pictorially represented on the wall of the Curia Hostilia the first example of an historical fresco at Rome.

He is said also to have brought the first sun-dial from Catana to Rome, where it was set up on a column in the forum.

Polybius i. 16’; Diod. Sic xxiii. 4; Zonaras viii. Pliny, Nat. Hist., vii. 60, xxxv. 4 (7).

Reference

• This entry incorporates public domain text originally from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.