Gnaeus Manlius Vulso

Who is Gnaeus Manlius Vulso?

Gnaeus Manlius Vulso was a Roman consul for the year 189 BC, together with Marcus Fulvius Nobilior. He led a victorious campaign against the Galatian Gauls of Asia Minor in 189 BC during the Galatian War. He may have been awarded a triumph in 187BCE. Florus has the senate turn down his application, but Livy describes his triumphal procession in elaborate detail, including its captives, wagonloads of booty and even the celebratory songs of the soldiery, then uses this triumph to frame a lesson in morality. The Fasti Triumphales has a lacuna in what could be the relevant position.

Vulso was a patrician who belonged to the ancient gens Manlia, but his connection with the better known Torquatus branch is unknown. He may have been descended from Aulus Manlius Cn.f. Vulso, consul in 474 BC; or from Lucius Manlius A.f. Vulso Longus, consul in 256 and 250 BC.

Aulus Manlius Cn.f. Vulso, consul eleven years later in 178 BC, may have been his younger brother.