Gaius Matius
Gaius Matius († after 44 BC ) was a friend of Gaius Iulius Caesar and Marcus Tullius Ciceros .
He belonged to the gens Matia . Matius mediated between Cicero, who often mentioned him in his letters (a letter from Matius has also survived among them), and Caesar. He did not hold any political office, but worked for Caesar during the civil war.
He was probably the addressee of the letter in which Caesar 47 BC. His victory over the Bosporan king Pharnakes II with the famous words Veni Vidi Vici "I came, saw, won" reported. His biographer Plutarch passed down the name Amintus, but a person of this name is not prosopographically verifiable. The German classical philologist Conrad Cichorius proposed the conjecture Matius , which has since established itself in research.
After Caesar's death, Matius joined first Marcus Antonius , then Octavian .
A Gaius Matius, who, according to Pliny the Elder, wrote three cookbooks, was probably his son.
literature
Overview display
- Yasmina Benferhat: Matius (G.). In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques . Volume 4, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-271-06386-8 , pp. 303-305
Investigations
- Alfred Heuss : Cicero and Matius. In: Historia . Volume 5, 1956, pp. 53-73
- Alfred Heuss: Matius as a witness of Caesar's statesmanlike greatness. In: Historia. Volume 11, 1962, pp. 118-122
- Bernhard Kytzler : Matius and Cicero. In: Historia. Volume 9, 1960, pp. 96-121
Web links
- Letter from Cicero to Matius from the year 44 BC Chr. ( Ad familiares 11, 27) , letter from Matius ( ad familiares 11, 28)
- Proverbs
Remarks
- ^ Conrad Cichorius: Roman Studies. Historical, epigraphic, literary history from four centuries of Rome. Leipzig and Berlin 1922, p. 248.
- ↑ See for example Matthias Gelzer : Caesar, the politician and statesman. Franz Steiner, Wiesbaden 1960, p. 240.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Matius, Gaius |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Friend of Caesar and Cicero |
| DATE OF BIRTH | before 44 BC Chr. |
| DATE OF DEATH | after 44 BC Chr. |