Gaius Marcius Figulus (Consul 162 BC)

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Gaius Marcius Figulus came from the Roman family of Marcier and was 162 and 156 BC. Chr. Consul .

Family classification

According to the testimony of the Fasti Capitolini , the father of Gaius Marcius Figulus also carried the prenomen Gaius , while his grandfather carried the prenomen Quintus . The ancient historian Friedrich Münzer considers Gaius Marcius Figulus to be a grandson of the consul from 281 BC. BC, Quintus Marcius Philippus , and thus for a cousin of the consul from 186 and 169 BC. BC, who was also called Quintus Marcius Philippus . The father of Gaius Marcius Figulus had adopted the cognomen Figulus (ie "the potter") instead of the nickname Philip and passed it on to his children. A by the Roman historian Titus Livius for the year 169 BC. Titus Marcius Figulus attested to in BC was probably a brother of Gaius Marcius Figulus treated here.

Role in the war against Perseus

Gaius Marcius Figulus is mentioned for the first time in the sources in 169 BC. When he was elected praetor , while his cousin Quintus Marcius Philippus was able to hold the highest office of state again 17 years after reaching the consulate. Both Marcier played an important role in the Third Macedonian-Roman War that Rome waged against Perseus that year. During this campaign Figulus directed the military operations of the Romans at sea, Philip those on land. Overall, however, the war against Perseus took place in 169 BC. BC not particularly happy and Figulus in particular did not achieve any success.

Beginning of 169 BC The two Marcians sailed with their army from Brundisium in southern Italy via Korkyra to the western Greek port city of Actium . There Figulus separated from the consul and drove past the island of Leukas , then crossed the Gulf of Corinth and landed at Kreusis , a city by the sea of Boeotia . Through this Greek region he reached Chalkis on a land march , where the Roman ships to be taken over by him were stationed. The consul had meanwhile advanced to Thessaly , where Figulus also came and took part in a council of war in which a simultaneous attack on Macedonia on land under the command of Philip and at sea under the direction of Figulus was decided.

When Philip had succeeded in advancing into enemy territory over difficult mountain paths, he and his troops were provided with provisions from ships of Figulus. At that time Figulus received a delegation from Rhodes who had arrived under the leadership of the Agepolis in an extremely courteous manner . After helping the land army to conquer Herakleion , he tried in vain to take various other cities such as Thessalonica and Antigoneia and had to limit himself to the devastation of the open country. As a next step, he planned to storm the Kassandreia polis on the Pallene peninsula , where he could count on the reinforcements of King Eumenes II of Pergamon, who had arrived with 20 ships to support the Romans . The Bithynian King Prusias II had also sent five ships as an ally of Rome. However, even after a long siege, the praetor did not succeed in conquering the city, which was defended by a strong garrison, especially since an attempt by the Romans to penetrate through a gap in the city wall was successfully repulsed by the besieged. An attack by Eumenes was also unsuccessful. When a fleet of Perseus appeared and brought further supplies to the trapped, the allied Romans and Pergamen gave up the company.

Also unsuccessful for Figulus was the attempt to win the town of Torone not far from Kassandreia . Now the praetor sailed together with the Pergamene king to Iolkos in order to take the important port city of Demetrias in cooperation with parts of the Roman army . The consular legate Marcus Popillius Laenas attacked the city of Meliboia north of Demetrias with 5000 soldiers on behalf of the consul Philip , but was defeated by a relief army of the Macedonian king, which then marched into the threatened Demetrias. This caused the Romans and Pergamener to leave.

Eumenes now traveled home after congratulating the consul Philip on his successful penetration into Macedonia. During the winter Figulus had part of his fleet take up position at Skiathos , while he himself anchored with the rest of the ships at the city ​​of Oreos on the island of Evia . At the beginning of the next year, 168 BC He received a successor as naval commander in Gnaeus Octavius . Eumenes in particular was held responsible for the unsuccessful conduct of the war at sea; the unreliable Roman annalist Valerius Antias even reported that the Pergamene king would not have given the praetor any support.

Further career

162 BC Figulus came together with Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum to the highest office of the state. However, he could not enjoy a long period of office because the consul of the previous year, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus , who held the comitia for 162 BC. Had held, had the election revoked as invalid due to an alleged violation of sacred law . Therefore, Figulus , who was already in his province of Gaul, had no choice but to resign like his fellow consul.

Six years later, 156 BC. BC, Figulus was elected consul again, this time together with Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Lupus . Now it fell to him to fight the tribe of the Dalmater that had advanced into Illyria . At the beginning of the campaign he was unsuccessful and was defeated; he was also unable to conquer the chief town of the enemy, the heavily fortified delminium on a mountain . To this end, he now occupied smaller places and in winter set about a comprehensive containment of delminium, which he had attacked with burning projectiles and thus triggered a conflagration in the city. However, it was not until 155 BC that he succeeded. Chr. Replacing the new consul, his former counterpart Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum, happily bring the conquest of the Dalmatian fortress to an end.

Nothing has come down to us in the surviving sources about the subsequent life of Figulus. His son of the same name was a lawyer and unsuccessful consulate applicant.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Fasti Capitolini: Gaius Marcius Figulus C. f. Q. n.
  2. ^ Friedrich Münzer: Marcius 61). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XIV, 2, Stuttgart 1930, Col. 1557 f.
  3. ↑ Livy 43:11, 7.
  4. ↑ Livy 43:15, 1.
  5. ↑ Livy 44, 1, 3f. and 44, 2, 1-4.
  6. ^ Livy 44, 7, 10.
  7. ↑ Polybios 28, 16, 3f .; 28, 17, 1; 28, 17, 10f.
  8. ↑ Livy 44, 9, 2 and 44, 10, 5–11.
  9. ↑ Livy 44:10, 12-12 , 7.
  10. ^ Livy 44, 12, 7--13, 9.
  11. ↑ Livy 44, 13, 10f.
  12. ↑ Livy 44, 30, 1.
  13. ↑ Livy 44:20, 7; Valerius Antias in Livy 44, 13, 12.
  14. ↑ Fasti Capitolini; Cicero , de natura deorum 1, 10f .; de divinatione 2, 74; Valerius Maximus 1, 1, 3; Plutarch , Marcellus 5, 1-3; among others
  15. ↑ Fasti Capitolini; Cicero, Brutus 79; Obsequens 16; among others
  16. ↑ Appian , Illyrica 11; Livy, periochae 47; Florus 2, 25, 11; Obsequens 16.
personal data
SURNAME Marcius Figulus, Gaius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Figulus, Gaius Marcius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman consul (162 and 156 BC)
DATE OF BIRTH before 169 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 156 BC Chr.