Gaius Iulius Vindex

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Gaius Iulius Vindex (* around 25; † 68 at Vesontio, today Besançon ) was a Roman senator of the 1st century AD. He came from Aquitaine , but his father had already been a senator.

The Vindex uprising

In 67 Vindex became governor of the province of Gallia Lugdunensis . In the spring of 68 he rose against Emperor Nero . Other contingents joined him, especially tribes from the center of the country. He himself had no legions at his disposal. Nevertheless, he gathered a force around him that is estimated at 100,000 men. Vindex publicly complained about the excesses of the emperor, but did not strive for the Roman throne himself, but sought the over seventy-year-old governor of the province of Hispania Terraconensis , Servius Sulpicius Galba , as an ally. Galba hesitated for a long time, but then decided to revolt. On April 3, 68 he officially declared in Carthago Nova that he was against Nero. At that time he did not want to be proclaimed his successor. He called himself only legatus senatus populique Romani (governor of the Senate and people of Rome), which he referred to the republican tradition and evidently did not swear on the princeps .

Vindex and Galba were supported by the governor in Lusitania, Marcus Salvius Otho , who at the time had to cede his wife Poppaea to Nero. But even together they did not have enough legions to carry out an effective military uprising. Efforts were now made to find the commanders of the Rhine armies in Germania inferior and Germania superior . The commander in Lower Germany, Gaius Fonteius Capito, was evidently unwilling or unable to make a decision; his colleague in the Upper Germanic Province, Lucius Verginius Rufus , needed two months to get his troops in motion. But after negotiations with Vindex, Verginius decided - for what reasons cannot be said with certainty today - to campaign against the rebels. Vindex was defeated and committed suicide at the Battle of Vesontio .

When Galba learned of Vindex 'defeat, he retired to the Spanish city of Clunia . Even if Nero had never seen himself with his legions and recently even had the commanders of the Rhine armies executed, the high-ranking officer Verginius Rufus and his legionaries did not fall away from the emperor, but remained loyal to their princeps. Verginius presumably turned down the offer to proclaim himself emperor and instead withdrew to his province.

At this point the Princeps was still in Neapolis , but then returned to Rome. When Nero finally found out about the Galba’s public declaration, he is said to have fainted, with the result that after the initial shock he wrote mocking verses on Galba and went to the theater. In the end, it was the Senate that reacted: It declared Galba hostis populi Romani (enemy of the Roman people).

After other governors and military leaders defected to him, Galba became emperor, but was only able to hold out for a few months before he was replaced by Otho and Vitellius soon afterwards . With his uprising, Vindex ushered in the Roman year of four emperors , which Vespasian could only end in December 69.

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literature

  • Horst Callies: Rome from the classical republic to the beginning of the Great Migration . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-12-915620-8 .
  • Karl Christ : The Romans. An introduction to their history and civilization . 3. Edition. CH Beck, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-406-38504-4 .
  • SA Cook, FE Adcock, MP Charlesworth (Eds.): Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. X. The Augustan empire. 44 BC-AD 70 . 3rd edition, Cambridge 1963.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Iulius Vindex, Gaius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Julius Vindex, Gaius; Vindex, Gaius Julius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Governor of the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis
DATE OF BIRTH at 25
DATE OF DEATH 68
Place of death Vesontio