Caecus, Appius Claudius (lived 4th-3rd century BC)

Roman politician, the most famous member of the Appii Claudii, one of the great patrician families of the Republic. As censor 312 BC and consul 307 and 296 BC, he was responsible for reforms giving more privileges to the plebeians.

Caecus constructed Rome's first aqueduct, the Aqua Appia, which brought water to Rome from Tusculum, and he began construction of the Appian Way (312 BC), connecting Rome with Capua, the first stage in the main line between Rome, southern Italy, and Greece.

Caecus was elected to the censorship without having previously been consul (deviating from the usual sequence of the cursus honorum). He retained the censorship for four years, although normally according to Roman law no man might be censor for longer than 18 months. In the war with Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus, the terms of peace were rejected by the Senate largely because of Appius's opposition to them.