Gaius Rabirius Postumus

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Gaius Rabirius (Curtius) Postumus was a Roman knight (later senator ) of the 1st century BC. As a major banker he lent the Egyptian king Ptolemy XII. large sums of money and later drove them as finance minister of the Nile country (55/54 BC) so ruthlessly that he had to flee. In Rome he was 54/53 BC. Accused and defended by Cicero , probably with success. In the Roman Civil War of the early 1940s BC He stood on the side of Caesar .

Life

Gaius Rabirius Postumus, for whose biography Cicero's defense speech Pro C. Rabirio Postumo is the main source, was a son of the respected Roman knight and wealthy tax farmer Gaius Curtius and his wife Rabiria. His father died before he was born and he was adopted by his maternal uncle, Gaius Rabirius , and made the heir.

Major banker and main creditor of Ptolemy XII.

Rabirius became a major banker and made connections with important personalities throughout the Roman Empire . Through his banking business he came into contact with the Egyptian king Ptolemy XII. Neos Dionysus , to whom he advanced large sums. Ptolemy XII probably took this credit from Rabirius at the time when he was negotiating with the Senate about the recognition of his ruler position in Egypt by Rome, i.e. before 59 BC. BC, in which year he was accepted among the "Friends and Allies of Rome".

58 BC Was Ptolemy XII. expelled from Alexandria by an uprising and traveled to Rome in order to obtain his reinstatement on the Egyptian throne by bribing leading politicians through a Roman military intervention. In addition, he again incurred large debts with Roman bankers. In this context, Rabirius had the financial transactions between Ptolemy XII. and Roman statesmen and, in addition, to lend the king further significant sums of his own and other people's money, in order not to lose his earlier loans. He was Ptolemy's main believer and saw his existence threatened if the king were unable to pay his debts. Therefore he was very interested in his return to Egypt.

When the Senate around September 57 BC BC Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther with the reinstatement of Ptolemy XII. entrusted in whose former rulership, Rabirius sought out Lentulus. But Lentulus could not carry out his mission and the king had to wait on. In the spring of 55 BC Rabirius joined the proconsul of Syria, Aulus Gabinius , as a private citizen , who was then Ptolemy XII. helped to regain the throne through a military expedition to Egypt, as the king had promised him the immense sum of 10,000 talents for it.

Egyptian Finance Minister

The deeply indebted king now felt compelled - perhaps under pressure from Gabinius' friend Pompeius - to appoint his main believer Rabirius as finance minister ( dioiketes ). Rabirius controlled the economy of the Nile country and had direct access to its financial resources. Under the protection of Roman troops stationed in Egypt, he ruthlessly recovered the bribe he had promised Gabinius and the debts the king had owed him and other Roman creditors. He also exported papyrus, linen fabrics, and glassware to Puteoli , making the profits.

Although the big banker "denied" his Roman origins and wore Greek costume and the insignia of his office, his harsh regime nevertheless aroused the anger of many Egyptians. With his relentless policy of looting, he almost drove the country into bankruptcy. The heavy burdens led to revolts and rural exodus. A newly discovered papyrus reveals that the finance minister fired experienced local administrators and replaced them with unsuitable people; He also sold carefully guarded treasures for a long time. Because of this behavior, he was often threatened, and at one point he almost became a victim of Alexandrian lynching.

Ptolemy XII finally let Rabirius and his henchmen at the end of 54 BC To protect against an outraged crowd. However, the Roman managed to escape, probably with the secret support of the king. Thereupon, mindful of his own safety, he left the Nile land very quickly and returned to Rome. His greedy demeanor had probably not failed to impress the king's precocious second eldest daughter, the famous Cleopatra .

Process and later life

Rabirius was tried in Rome after Gabinius had been sentenced. Gaius Memmius , who had successfully accused Gabinius, resigned at the end of 54 BC. BC or early 53 BC Before the same court as the accuser of Rabirius. The latter was supposed to have to pay the fine that the convicted and exiled Gabinius had not been able to afford. Rabirius was further charged that the loans he gave to Ptolemy XII. had been used by the latter to bribe the Senate; and the un-Roman behavior and imperious behavior of the big banker in Egypt were also discussed. Cicero took over the defense of the accused.

Rabirius denied the prosecution's charge that he was hiding his property from state control; rather he had become poor because Ptolemy XII. did not pay his debts to him. Just because Caesar advanced him part of the amount owed by the Egyptian king, he was not bankrupt. Egyptians who had traveled there and who were called as witnesses compromised him with their testimony. If Rabirius was found guilty, he was threatened with exile. The outcome of his trial is unknown, but he appears to have obtained an acquittal.

In the civil war between Pompey and Caesar, Rabirius fought on the side of Caesar, who made him 49 BC. In the Senate. Maybe he was 48 BC. BC Praetor (to be developed because he was considering an application for the consulate in 45 BC). In 47 BC He is attested as proconsul of the province of Asia . 46 BC BC he had the task of Caesar to take part in the supply of troops from Sicily to the North African theater of war.

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Cicero, Pro C. Rabirio Postumo 3 f .; 38; 45; 47.
  2. ↑ Cicero, Pro C. Rabirio Postumo 4; on this Friedrich von der Mühll : Rabirius 6. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume IA, 1, Stuttgart 1914, Col. 25-28 (here: 26).
  3. ^ Cicero, Pro C. Rabirio Postumo 4 f .; 6; 25 f .; 38 f .; 43; Suetonius , Claudius 16, 2.
  4. ↑ Cicero, Pro C. Rabirio Postumo 1; 26; 28 f.
  5. ↑ Cicero, Pro C. Rabirio Postumo 21; Cicero, Epistulae ad familiares 1, 12, 4 and 1, 18, 4; Cassius Dio , Roman History 39, 12, 3.
  6. ↑ Cicero, Pro C. Rabirio Postumo 19; 21; 28; Suetonius, Claudius 16, 2.
  7. ↑ Christoph Schäfer : Cleopatra . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2006, ISBN 3-534-15418-5 , p. 28.
  8. ^ Cicero, Pro C. Rabirio Postumo 4 f .; 22 and 28; P. Med. Inv. 68. 53 recto.
  9. ↑ Cicero, Pro C. Rabirio Postumo 30 f .; Ciceor, Epistulae ad familiares 1, 31, 1; Suetonius, Claudius 16, 2.
  10. ^ Cicero, Pro C. Rabirio Postumo 40.
  11. ↑ Cicero, Pro C. Rabirio Postumo 25 ff.
  12. ↑ P. Med. Inv. 68, 53 recto; Cicero, Pro C. Rabirio Postumo 22 and 39; in addition Christoph Schäfer, Cleopatra . P. 29.
  13. ^ Cicero, Pro C. Rabirio Postumo 22 and 39.
  14. ^ Joachim Brambach: Cleopatra . 2nd edition Munich 1996, ISBN 3-424-01239-4 , p. 58.
  15. ^ Cicero, Pro C. Rabirio Postumo 7 f .; 10; 36 f.
  16. ↑ Cicero, Pro C. Rabirio Postumo 6; 25 ff .; 39.
  17. ↑ Cicero, Pro C. Rabirio Postumo 2; 38 f .; 41; 43; 45 f .; 48.
  18. ^ Cicero, Pro C. Rabirio Postumo 31 f .; 34 f.
  19. ↑ So z. B. Werner Huss : Egypt in the Hellenistic Period 332-30 BC Chr. , CH Beck, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-47154-4 , p. 697, note 11.
  20. ↑ Cicero, Epistuale ad familiares 2, 16, 7 (mentioned as Curtius and probably equated with Rabirius).
  21. ↑ Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum 12, 49, 2.
  22. ↑ CIL I 2 773.
  23. ↑ Bellum Africanum 8, 1 and 26, 4.
personal data
SURNAME Rabirius Postumus, Gaius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Postumus, Gaius Rabirius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman knight and senator
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century BC BC or 1st century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 1st century BC Chr.