Gnaeus Aufidius was a nobleman of ancient Rome, a member of the Aufidia gens, who lived in the 2nd century BC.
[1] The writer Pliny the Elder mentions a "Gnaeus Aufidius" who was a tribune of the plebs who was responsible for a Senatus consultum overturning the Roman law against importing African wildlife into Rome, allowing their use in the circus.
This seems to align with an anecdote described by Livy, in which 63 imported African animals (probably lions) featured in a spectacle in 169 BC.
[4] Still others, such as Giovanni Battista Pighi [it], believe the Senatus Consultum dates to 140 BC, which would seem to rule out both of these men as the same Gnaeus Aufidius.
[7][8] Regardless of which specific Gnaeus Aufidius this was, historians have noted a possible profit motive in either Aufidius's actions here, as the Aufidia gens was known to have significant business interests in North Africa, primarily in grain, but perhaps also in the wild animal trade.