Gaius Aurelius Cotta (Consul 252 BC)

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Gaius Aurelius Cotta († after 231 BC) came from the Roman plebeian family of the Aurelians . During the First Punic War he was in 252 and 248 BC. Chr. Consul . 241 BC He exercised the office of a censor .

Life

Gaius Aurelius Cotta, who introduced his gens into the Roman nobility, was the son of a Lucius Aurelius according to the filiation information of the Fasti Capitolini , while his grandfather led the same prenom as himself, namely Gaius .

Nothing is known about the early offices of Cotta's cursus honorum . He reached the highest office (consulate) for the first time in 252 BC. BC, where he received Publius Servilius Geminus as an official. Both consuls were supposed to continue the fight against the Punians in Sicily . Cotta first conquered Thermae Himerae on this island . He then borrowed ships from Hieron II of Syracuse , united them with the remains of the Roman fleet and sailed to Lipara . There he went to the siege of the city of the same name. When he went to Messana , he left the tribune Publius Aurelius Pecuniola behind to continue the siege and instructed it not to carry out military operations under any circumstances. Nevertheless, the tribune wanted to take Lipara in the absence of the consul, but this attempt failed and many Romans lost their lives. After his return, Cotta had the disobedient tribunes flogged and demoted. Thereupon he managed to storm the city himself. Otherwise he also practiced strict discipline among his troops. For his military achievements, according to the acts of triumph , he was granted a triumph over the Carthaginians and Sikeliots, which he held at the end of his year in office.

Four years after his first consulate, Cotta was born in 248 BC. Once again consul, again with his former colleague Publius Servilius Geminus. Once again, both consuls were given control of the war in Sicily without doing any remarkable deeds. So their siege of the towns of Lilybaeum and Drepana on the western tip of the island was unsuccessful.

241 BC Cotta officiated together with Marcus Fabius Buteo as censor. Finally he acted in 231 BC. As Magister equitum of the already very old dictator for holding the elections, Gaius Duilius . Thereafter there is no longer any record of Cotta.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Fasti Capitolini ad annum 252 BC. Chr .; Zonaras 8, 14; among others
  2. ↑ Thus Valerius Maximus (2, 7, 4) and Frontinus ( Strategemata 4, 1, 31), whose common source is the now lost report of Titus Livius ; Zonaras (8, 14), who draws from Cassius Dio , calls the tribune Quintus Cassius .
  3. ↑ Polybios 1, 39, 13; Diodorus 23, 20; Zonaras 8, 14; Valerius Maximus 2, 7, 4; Frontinus, Strategemata 4, 1, 31.
  4. ^ Frontinus, Strategemata 4, 1, 22 and 4, 1, 30.
  5. ↑ Fasti Capitolini ad annum 248 BC Chr .; Zonaras 8, 16; among others
  6. ↑ Zonaras 8:16.
  7. ↑ Fasti Capitolini ad annum 241 BC BC and ad annum 231 BC Chr.
personal data
SURNAME Aurelius Cotta, Gaius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cotta, Gaius Aurelius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman consul 252 and 248 BC BC and censor 241 BC Chr.
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century BC BC or 3rd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 231 BC Chr.