Attus Navius, in Roman legendary history, a famous augur during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus. The Augur was a priest or official in ancient Rome. ... Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (also called Tarquin I) was the legendary fifth King of Rome, said to have reigned from 616 BC to 579 BC. Tarquinius Priscus came from the Etruscan city of Tarquinii and was actually named Lucumo. ...

When the latter desired to double the number of the equestrian centuries, Navius opposed him, declaring that it must not be done unless the omens were propitious, and, as a proof of his powers of divination, cut through a whetstone with a razor. Navius's statue with veiled head was afterwards shown in the comitium; the whetstone and razor were buried in the same place, and a puteal placed over them. Hard by was a sacred fig-tree, called after him the Navian fig-tree. An Equestrian (Latin eques, plural equites) was a member of one of the two upper social classes in the Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. ... A whetstone is a stone used for sharpening knives and other cutting tools and is usually made out of ceramic or a hard mineral such as quartz or novaculite. ...

It was reported that Navius was subsequently put to death by Tarquinius. According to Schwegler, the puteal originally indicated that the place had been struck by lightning, and the story is a reminiscence of the early struggle between the state and ecclesiasticism. Albert Schwegler (February 10, 1819 _ January 5, 1857), German philosopher and theologian, was born at Michelbach in Württemberg, the son of a country pastor. ...

See Livy i. 36; Dion. Halic. iii. 70; Sextus Aurelius Victor, De viris illustribus, 6; Schwegler, Römische Geschichte, bk. xv. 16. Bust of Livy Titus Livius (around 59 BC - 17 AD), known as Livy in English, wrote a monumental history of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita, from its founding (traditionally dated to 753 BC). ... Dionysius Halicarnassensis (of Halicarnassus), Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, flourished during the reign of Augustus. ... Sextus Aurelius Victor, prefect of Pannonia about 360 ( xxi. ...

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain. The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911), contend supporters, in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...