Gaius Cassius Longinus (conspirator)
Gaius Cassius Longinus (* before 85 BC; † 42 BC ), along with his friend and brother-in-law Marcus Junius Brutus, is considered the head of the conspiracy against Gaius Iulius Caesar . A group of senators disapproved of Caesar's attempts to unite power in his hand after he had already been made dictator for life and murdered Caesar on the Ides of March (March 15) 44 BC. Chr.
Life
Not much is known about Cassius' early life. He was a member of the old Senatorial Cassier family , which had existed since the 3rd century BC. Had provided several consuls . His father was perhaps the consul of the same name in 73 BC. Chr.
Shortly before 53 BC Cassius was Treasurer . In this office or as Proquaestor he took part in the campaign of Marcus Licinius Crassus against the Parthians . After the devastating defeat of the Romans at Carrhae and the death of Crassus in 53 BC. In BC Cassius was able to withdraw with the rest of the Roman legions to the Roman province of Syria and defend Syria against the enemies.
For the year 49 BC Cassius was elected tribune of the people . The outbreak of civil war prevented him from being held responsible for exploitation and blackmail in Syria. During the civil war he initially stood on the side of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus . As a fleet commander he had good success in the Mediterranean. After the battle of Pharsalus (August 9, 48 BC), he was reconciled with Caesar, who gave him 47 BC. Appointed one of his legates . In 44 BC He became Praetor peregrinus with the promise to receive the province of Syria in the following year.
Cassius was already considered the driving force behind the conspiracy against Caesar in antiquity. It was fed primarily by the dissatisfaction of numerous senators with Caesar's increasingly clear claim to sole power, which was incompatible with the Roman Republic , especially the leading role of the Senate. Some of the conspirators killed Caesar in a Senate meeting shortly before Caesar's planned departure for a war against the Parthians.
But they had failed to make plans for the time after Caesar's murder. Cassius had to leave Italy and went to Syria, although the province had been temporarily withdrawn from him. He raised a large army with which he defeated Publius Cornelius Dolabella , who had been sent to Syria in his place as governor, in the battle of Laodikeia .
After the Caesar testamentary adopted Octavian (later Augustus ), Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and Mark Antony to the Second Triumvirate had joined forces were united Cassius and Marcus Junius Brutus and moved with their legions across the Hellespont through Thrace to the vicinity of Philippi in Macedonia. They wanted to starve the legions of the triumvirate, but were forced to fight. The first battle at Philippi took place on October 3, 42 BC. Brutus was able to defeat Octavian's troops, but Cassius was defeated by Marcus Antonius. Since Cassius did not know about the success of his comrade Brutus, he let himself be killed by a freed slave.
Brutus was defeated on October 23rd in the second Battle of Philippi . He managed to escape and was killed shortly afterwards.
Cassius with Dante
In his work The Divine Comedy, for the poet Dante Alighieri Cassius, together with Marcus Junius Brutus and the disciple and traitor Judas Iscariot, is one of the three greatest traitors of mankind, who are being eaten away by Lucifer in the innermost ring of Hell, enclosed in eternal ice become.
family tree
literature
- Yasmina Benferhat: Longinus (C. Cassius). In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques . Volume 4, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-271-06386-8 , pp. 113-116
- Catherine J. Castner: Prosopography of Roman Epicureans from the Second Century BC to the Second Century AD 2nd edition, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-8204-9933-4 , pp. 24–31
- Maria H. Dettenhofer : Cicero and C. Cassius Longinus: Political correspondence a year before Caesar's murder (Cic. Fam. 15: 16-19). In: Historia . Vol. 39, 1990, pp. 249-256a.
- Maria H. Dettenhofer: Perdita Iuventus. Between the generations of Caesar and Augustus (= Vestigia . Volume 44). Beck, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-406-35856-X .
- Karl-Ludwig Elvers : Cassius [I 10]. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 2, Metzler, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-476-01472-X .
Fiction
- Walter Jens : The conspiracy. Radio play. Piper 1974, DN No. 241.
- Thornton Wilder : The Ides of March . Novel. 1948, German 1949 (German The Ides of March )
- Dietrich Oldenburg : death of a lead wolf. Historical novel. Haag and Herchen, 2007, ISBN 978-3-89846-439-0 .
Remarks
- ↑ On the dating cf. Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton : The magistrates of the Roman republic. Volume 3: Supplement . Atlanta 1986, p. 51.
- ↑ Plutarch , Brutus 7-10 ; Appian , Civil Wars 2, 113.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cassius Longinus, Gaius |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Longinus, Gaius Cassius |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Roman politician and, alongside Brutus, the head of the conspiracy against Caesar |
| DATE OF BIRTH | before 85 BC Chr. |
| DATE OF DEATH | 42 BC Chr. |
| Place of death | Philippi |