FLAMINIUS, GAIUS

died 217 BC Roman political leader who repeatedly challenged the authority of the Senate. A plebeian, he held the tribunate in 232. Despite the opposition of the Senate and (according to legend) of his own father, he won passage of a measure to distribute land among the plebeians. As consul in 223 he defeated the Insubres after disobeying a senatorial order; despite opposition from the Senate, he was granted a triumph by popular vote. Flaminius was the first governor of the Roman province of Sicily. During his censorship (220) he built the Circus Flaminius on the Campus Martius and constructed the Via Flaminia to Ariminum. In 218 he was one of the chief supporters of the Lex Claudia, which barred senators from engaging in commercial activities. His election to a second consulship for 217 reflected popular criticism of the Senate's conduct of the war against the invading Carthaginians under Hannibal. Flaminius hastened to cover the western Apennines at Arretium (now Arezzo). When Hannibal slipped past, the Roman commander marched south, probably in an attempt to join his colleague Servilius, who was advancing from Ariminum. On the way Flaminius fell into Hannibal's ambush at Lake Trasimenus (now Trasimeno) and was killed.