Tigellinus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ofonius Tigellinus (* in Agrigento ; † 69 ) was Praetorian prefect and favorite of the Roman emperor Nero . He was of humble, possibly Greek origin.

Life

During the reign of Caligula , Tigellinus was exiled to Greece for adultery with Iulia Agrippina Minor , the emperor's sister (39), but was recalled by Claudius in 41.

When he became wealthy through an inheritance, he bought land in Apulia and Calabria and started breeding racehorses. This enabled him to win the favor of Nero, whom he later helped with his vices and atrocities and whom he incited to do so.

Tigellinus was made prefect of the vigiles and then in 62 as prefect of the Praetorian Guard . He was involved in the murder of Nero's wife Octavia . He succeeded in pushing the philosopher Seneca out of his position as advisor to the emperor. In 64 he was suspected of having started the fire in connection with the great fire of Rome , which, after it had already been extinguished, broke out again in his gardens.

In 65, during the investigation into the unsuccessful conspiracy of Piso , he and Poppaea formed a kind of council of state; Tigellinus received the awards of a triumphator ( ornamenta triumphalia ). During the long journey through Greece that Nero undertook in 66, Tigellinus was one of the Roman monarchs' companions. When Nero's downfall was looming, Tigellinus left him and, together with Nymphidius Sabinus, brought the Praetorian Guard also to drop him.

Under Galba he was forced to give up his command, but he managed to save his life with lavish gifts to Vinius , the favorite of the emperor and his daughter. Otho, on the other hand, determined on his accession to the throne that someone who was so universally abhorred by the people must be removed. Tigellinus learned in the baths of Sinuessa that he was about to die and cut his throat after making little effort to delay it.

Tigellinus had a daughter who became the wife of the Roman senator Cossutianus Capito .

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Tacitus , Historien 1, 72.
  2. ^ Cassius Dio 59, 23, 9.
  3. ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 14, 51, 2; Scholien to Juvenal 1, 155.
  4. ^ Tacitus, Historien 1, 72.
  5. ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 14, 60, 3; Cassius Dio 62, 13, 4.
  6. ^ Tacitus, Annalen 15, 58ff .; 15, 72.
  7. ^ Cassius Dio 63, 12, 3.
  8. ↑ Plutarch , Galba 17; Suetonius , Galba 15, 2.
  9. ↑ Plutarch, Otho 2.
  10. ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 14, 48, 1; 16, 17, 5.
personal data
SURNAME Tigellinus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tigellinus, Ofonius; Ofonius Tigellinus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman politician
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC BC or 1st century
PLACE OF BIRTH Agrigento
DATE OF DEATH 69