Euphranor (Admiral)

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Euphranor († February 47 BC ) was a Rhodian naval commander. During the Alexandrian War he commanded the Rhodian ships that belonged to the naval forces of Gaius Julius Caesar . Shortly before the end of the war, he was killed in a sea battle off Kanopos .

Role in the Alexandrian War

Euphranor is mentioned in the sources only on the occasion of his use in the Alexandrian War (48/47 BC). The author of the book Alexandrian War (Bellum Alexandrinum) , which is part of the corpus of Caesar's writings , probably Aulus Hirtius , particularly praises Euphranor's bravery and courage. Caesar was in this war because of his support for Cleopatra in their controversy for the throne with her brother Ptolemy XIII. got involved. For the Roman general, the fight developed into a protracted and dangerous military conflict, as he had much fewer armed forces than his opponents. So he had to wait for relief from outside.

When the legion of reinforcement troops sent by Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus on a fleet had been driven past Alexandria , Caesar escorted them personally with his ships to the capital and was attacked by opposing naval forces, in whose successful defense the Rhodian units excelled.

The general of the Alexandrians, Ganymedes , had the heavily decimated Egyptian fleet at least partially restored and stationed in the port of Eunostus. Caesar attacked Ganymedes' ships with his squadron, with Euphranor commanding the Rhodian contingent positioned on the right wing. Of the Ptolemaic fleet, 22 four-oars were positioned in front, while a large number of other vessels were positioned in the background. The attack on the Egyptian navy was a daring undertaking for Caesar due to the shallows in the port entrance. Euphranor was the first to cross the shallows with his Rhodian ships and, despite their great numerical superiority, withstood the enemy offensive until the rest of Caesar's fleet could catch up and intervene in the battle. Overall, the Romans won a clear victory; the Egyptians lost five ships, but Caesar allegedly lost none.

Because part of the remaining Ptolemaic fleet crossed off the mouth of the Canobe arm of the Nile to intercept the supplies for the Romans sent from Asia to sea, Caesar sent his naval forces under the command of Tiberius Claudius Nero , the father of the later Emperor Tiberius , to clean up the situation according to Kanopos. Euphranor also took part in the deployment of the Roman squadron with his Rhodian naval units. When he first attacked the enemy fleet again, he sank an enemy ship, but eventually went under due to insufficient support with his Quadrireme in the course of the fight. The author of the Alexandrian War does not report anything about the outcome of the battle, but the historian Cassius Dio speaks of a victory for Claudius Nero. In any case, soon afterwards, after his union with the relief army brought up by Mithridates from Pergamon , Caesar achieved the decisive victory over the troops of Ptolemy XIII. and won the Alexandrian War.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Date of death according to the pre-Julian Roman calendar; according to the Julian calendar, Euphranor died around the end of November 48 BC. Chr.
  2. ↑ Alexandrian War 9-11.
  3. ↑ Alexandrian War 12-16; Cassius Dio 42, 40, 1–3 is also greatly abbreviated .
  4. ↑ Alexandrian War 25.
  5. ↑ Cassius Dio 42, 40, 6; see. Suetonius , Tiberius 4, 1.
personal data
SURNAME Euphranor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Rhodian admiral
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH February 47 BC Chr.