Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul 54 BC)

Appius Claudius Pulcher (died 49 BC) was the son of another Appius Claudius Pulcher. He served as military tribune in the east under Lucullus from 72 to 70. Lucullus sent him to the Armenian king Tigranes to demand the surrender of Mithridates VI. He was praetor in 57, propraetor of Sardinia in 56, consul in 54, proconsul of Cilicia in 53, and censor in 50. He was the brother of Publius Clodius Pulcher, who changed the spelling of his name to reflect the lower class pronunciation. Claudius supported the Optimate faction and in 50 expelled Sallust, a supporter of Julius Caesar and the Populares, from the Senate. In 50 he was also accused of bribery by Publius Cornelius Dolabella, but with the support of Pompey, Cicero, Brutus and Quintus Hortensius he was acquitted. He supported Pompey against Caesar and died in Greece in 49. In Greece he also built the Lesser Propylaea in Eleusis.

He had two daughters called Claudia. The younger was married to Pompey the younger and the elder was the first wife of Marcus Junius Brutus.

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