Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus

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Decimus Iunius Brutus Callaicus was an important politician of the middle Roman Republic and served in 138 BC. As consul . During his tenure and two more years he led successful campaigns against Iberian tribes on the Iberian Peninsula.

origin

Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus came from the Roman noble family of Junier . According to the ancient historian Friedrich Münzer , he was the son of the consul from 178 BC. BC, Marcus Junius Brutus . His older brother's name, like his father, was Marcus Junius Brutus, and although he did not emerge politically, he did emerge as a co-founder of Roman jurisprudence.

consulate

Nothing is known about the early life of Brutus and the first stages of his course honorum . In the sources that have survived, he is only mentioned on the occasion of his consulate in 138 BC. Mentioned BC, where he was assigned Hispania ulterior as a province. His counterpart was Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio . The two consuls initially investigated murders committed in the Silawald, but then got into a dispute with the two tribunes C. Curiatius and S. Licinius because they did not want to allow soldiers to be recruited for the fighting on the Iberian Peninsula Exceptions were made. By order of the tribunes, the consuls were imprisoned for a short time, but the people obtained their pardon. Deserters, however, were severely punished by the consuls.

Brutus now went to the theater of war on the Iberian Peninsula. He not only fought there in his year as a consulate, but also as proconsul for two more years until 136 BC. The surviving representations of his quite successful campaigns there are on the one hand the report of the war historian Appian and scattered notes of the geographer Strabo , both of which are based on Polybius , and on the other hand Florus , Orosius and other epitomators of the Roman historian Titus Livius , who for his part in the Roman annalists living in the era of Polybius used as sources. The fragments of another epitome of Livy found in Oxyrhynchos (Egypt) at the beginning of the 20th century clarified some chronological questions about the course of Brutus' Hispanic Wars.

As consul, Brutus founded the city of Valentia (now Valencia ) for veterans of the war against Viriathus , who was murdered the previous year (139 BC) and who had led the Lusitans very successfully in the fight against the Romans. Initially Brutus went victorious against the Celtics and reached the mouth of the Tagus River (today's Tagus ). Because he feared high losses if he embarked on a guerrilla war against the Lusitans in the mountains, he now devastated their villages and cultivation areas in the flat country, with which he tried to deprive them of the basis of food. From his fortress Olisipo (now Lisbon ), which served as an import port, he was able to ensure the supplies for his soldiers. With his tactics he also achieved that the Lusitans often came down from the mountains to relieve their attacked cities and had to wrestle with the Roman troops under unfavorable circumstances.

Further campaigns on the Iberian Peninsula

Brutus fought in 137 BC. BC as proconsul after crossing the Durius (today Duero / Douro) the tribes of the Callaici and Brakarer . Women who were not afraid of death were also involved in the military confrontations among the ranks of the Iberian peoples. When Brutus and his troops arrived at Limia (now Lima ), their warriors initially refused to cross the river out of superstitious fear, as it was identified with the legendary Lethe river due to its second name, Oblivio . It was only when Brutus went ahead alone and crossed the water unscathed that he was able to get his soldiers to join the offspring. His campaign of 137 BC BC is described as extremely successful, and he managed to penetrate to the Minius (today Rio Miño / Rio Minho). In his description of his war successes, he clearly emphasized a significant victory in a field battle that supposedly took place on June 9th. The Roman historians are likely to have faithfully adopted his report, as can still be inferred today from Orosius' exaggerated statement of 50,000 enemies killed. Brutus conquered the Iberian Peninsula as far as the ocean.

Presumably as a result of the shameful surrender of Gaius Hostilius Mancinus , the consul of 137 BC. BC, before Numantia it came at the beginning of 136 BC. To a new rebellion which probably broke out in Brutus' back. Brutus took action against the rebels and was able to win back the city of Talabriga in an action described in detail by Appian. Accordingly, its inhabitants were ready to surrender unconditionally. At Brutus' request, they delivered hostages, deserters and weapons and evacuated the city. But when they got out, the proconsul had them surrounded and accused them of multiple attempts at insurrection, but did not, as they feared, punish them too severely, but contented himself with taking away their food and money. Then Brutus helped his comrade Marcus Aemilius Lepidus Porcina , the governor of Hispania citerior , against the Celtiberian people of the Vaccaeans . But the two generals could not take the capital Pallantia (today Palencia ) even with combined forces.

Returning to Rome Brutus was able to hold a triumph in which he celebrated his victory over the Lusitans and Callaici. For his success over the last-named tribe, he was also allowed to take on the triumphant name Callaicus . During his wars in Spain he had vowed to build a temple to the deity Mars . With the help of booty money, he now fulfilled his vow, choosing the field of Mars as the location of the sanctuary. Brutus used two superbly crafted statues by the Greek sculptor Skopas , depicting a seated Ares and Aphrodite , to decorate this temple.

Later career

The consul Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus fought in 129 BC. In Illyria against the tribe of the Iapods at first little success, but with the help of the general talents of Brutus, who served him as a legate, he still achieved a triumph. As a supporter of the conservative aristocratic circles, Brutus supported in 121 BC. The consul Lucius Opimius , when he ruthlessly fought the supporters of the reform-oriented Gaius Sempronius Gracchus on the Aventine . The further living conditions and the year of death of Brutus are not known. Brutus was an augur .

Literary patron

Brutus possessed oratorical talents, a strong literary education and promoted the Roman tragedy poet Lucius Accius . He told the speaker Marcus Tullius Cicero about his patron. Epigrams of Accius in Saturnians were placed at the behest of Brutus in the temple of Mars he had built.

family

Brutus's wife was called Clodia. She lived much longer than her husband. From this marriage Brutus had the son Decimus Junius Brutus in a relatively old age (around 120 BC) , who was 77 BC. Became consul. In contrast to all other evidence, the Roman biographer Cornelius Nepos claimed that Gaius Sempronius Gracchus was married to a daughter of Brutus.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Cicero ( Brutus 107) gives as Brutus' Filiation M. f. to the Fasti Capitolini [M.] f. M. n . ; on this F. Münzer, RE X 1, Sp. 1021.
  2. ↑ Fasti Capitolini; Livy , Epitome from Oxyrhynchos , Book 55; among others
  3. ↑ Cicero, Brutus 85-88.
  4. ↑ Cicero ( de legibus 3,20) names only the tribune C. Curatius; the long-known Livius epitome ( periochae 55) does not use any names; the epitome found in Oxyrhynchos offers in its summary of Livius' 55th book in a heavily damaged place as the name of the second tribune S. Licinius, although the deciphering of the praenom (S. for Sextus) remains uncertain and is from the ancient historian Friedrich Münzer ( Licinius 2) , in: RE XIII 1, col. 216) is considered unlikely, so that it is only certain that it was a Licinier.
  5. ↑ Cicero, de legibus 3.20; Livy, periochae 55 and epitome from Oxyrhynchos 55.
  6. ↑ Appian, Iberica 73-75; Strabon 3, 3, 1 ff., P. 152 ff.
  7. ↑ So María Eugenia Aubet: Valentia 1) . In: Der Kleine Pauly , Vol. 5, Col. 1092, with reference to: Appian, Iberica 6.75; Diodorus 33,1,3; see. Livy, periochae 55.
  8. ↑ Florus 1, 33, 12.
  9. ↑ Appian, Iberica 73; Strabo 3,3,1, p. 152; Livy, periochae 55.
  10. ↑ Livius, periochae 55 and epitome from Oxyrhynchos 55; Florus 1,33,12; Appian, Iberica 74; among others
  11. ↑ Appian, Iberica 74.
  12. ↑ Ovid , fasti 6.461 f.
  13. ↑ Orosius 5, 5, 12; see. Velleius Paterculus 2,5,1.
  14. ↑ Florus 1, 33, 12; Livy, periochae 55, 56 and 59; among others
  15. ^ Appian, Iberica 75.
  16. ↑ Appian, Iberica 80–82 (apparently incorrectly dated to the year 137 BC).
  17. ↑ Eutropius 6.19.1; Plutarch , Tiberius Gracchus 21.1.
  18. ↑ Fasti Capitolini; Velleius 2.5.1; among others
  19. ↑ Pliny , Natural History 36:26.
  20. ^ Livy, periochae 59.
  21. ↑ Orosius 5.12.7; Ampelius 19.4 and 26.2.
  22. ^ Cicero, Laelius de amicitia 7.
  23. ^ Cicero, pro Archia poeta 27; de legibus 2.54; Brutus 107; Valerius Maximus 8,14,2.
  24. ↑ Cicero, epistulae ad Atticum 12,22,2.
  25. ↑ Cornelius Nepos , Fragment 9 ed. Peter bei Plutarch, Tiberius Gracchus 21,1 with an attempted explanation by F. Münzer (RE X, 1, Sp. 1024f.).
personal data
SURNAME Junius Brutus Callaicus, Decimus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brutus callaicus, Decimus junius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman consul 138 BC Chr.
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 2nd century BC BC or 1st century BC Chr.