Antinous (Molossian)

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Antinous († 167 BC in Passaron , Epirus ) was a native of the 1st half of the 2nd century BC. Molossian politician living in Epirus. He was an ally of the Macedonian king Perseus in his war against the Romans .

Life

As of 171 BC When the war between Perseus and Rome was about to break out, the Molossians Antinous and Cephalos were at the head of the political faction in Epirus that was on friendly terms with the Macedonian royal family. They had all power in the country firmly in their hands. At that time, however, a young man named Charops , who had been brought up in Rome and then returned to Epirus, tried to win the favor of the Romans. He observed the aforementioned Molossian politicians closely, interpreted their words and actions slanderously and tried to portray their agreement with Perseus as treacherous hostility towards Rome.

In reality, Antinous and Cephalus advocated the continuation of peace between Macedonia and Rome; should the war be inevitable, however, they were willing to maintain proper relations with the Romans within the existing alliance obligations, but not to cadaver obedience . Because of their upright disposition, they believed that they had not committed any violations of the agreements with Rome and therefore initially paid little attention to the intrigues of Charops. However, when they learned that several moderate Aetolian politicians, similarly slandered by Lykiskos, had been taken prisoner to Rome after the battle on Kallinikos (summer 171 BC), they thought it wiser to be wary to be. After all, they considered themselves so endangered that, contrary to their previous political orientation, they openly joined the Macedonians.

When the propaetor Lucius Anicius Gallus in 167 BC BC, one year after the Battle of Pydna , which ended with a decisive victory for the Romans, advanced into Epirus to subdue the rebellious cities there and punish the Molossian politicians for their alliance with Perseus, Antinous fell together with Theodotos in the defense the city of Passaron against the Romans. Although the description of the Greek historian Polybios clearly shows that Antinous and his party comrades were forced to take the side of the Macedonians, contrary to their original intention, the Roman historian Titus Livius describes them as a traitor and a Roman hater without explaining their behavior.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Polybios , Historíai 27, 15, 4-9; Diodor , Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 30, 5.
  2. ↑ Jürgen Deininger : The political resistance against Rome in Greece 217–86 BC. , Walter de Gruyter, 1971, p. 173 f. ( online on Google Books).
  3. ↑ Polybios, Historíai 27, 15, 10-16; Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 30, 5.
  4. ↑ Jürgen Deininger: The political resistance against Rome in Greece 217–86 BC. , Walter de Gruyter, 1971, p. 174 f. ( online on Google Books).
  5. ↑ Polybios, Historíai 30, 7, 1-4; Livy, Ab urbe condita 45, 26.
  6. ^ Samuel Friedrich Wilhelm Hoffmann: The Greeks in antiquity. The Greek mainland , Leipzig 1841, p. 145 ( online on Google Books).
personal data
SURNAME Antinous
BRIEF DESCRIPTION epirotic politician
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 167 BC Chr.
Place of death Passaron , Epirus