Marcus Aemilius Lepidus

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (died 152 bc) was a Roman statesman who held the highest offices of the republic.

As ambassador to Greece, Syria, and Egypt in 200, he delivered to Philip V at Abydos the Senate’s ultimatum warning Macedonia not to make war on any Greek state. Consul in 187 and 175, censor in 179, pontifex maximus from 180 onward, and princeps senatus from 179 to 152, Lepidus fought against the Ligurians, directed the construction of the Via Aemilia from Ariminum (modern Rimini) to Placentia (modern Piacenza), and founded colonies at Mutina (modern Modena) and Parma in 183. The district of northern Italy called Emilia still preserves his name.