Gaius Sosius

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Gaius Sosius († after 17 BC) was a general and politician at the end of the Roman Republic . He was a partisan of the triumvir Marcus Antonius and helped Herod 37 BC. When regaining power in Judea . 32 BC BC he became consul , supported Antonius in his fight against Octavian and took 31 BC. In the battle of Actium . After the defeat of Antony, he was pardoned.

Life

Bursary; Governorship of Syria; Triumphal procession

Gaius Sosius was perhaps a son of the praetor of the same name in 49 BC. Nothing is known about his youth. In any case, during the time of the Second Triumvirate he was a supporter of Mark Antony and one of his most important generals. After the reorganization of the situation on the Balkan Peninsula, he was probably 39 BC. BC or a little earlier quaestor (perhaps in Macedonia ), as coins minted by him show. He was given his own position on Zakynthos , which was linked to the right to mint coins for several years . This assumption is supported by the discovery of a coin minted by Sosius with the inscription "ZA" (probably for Zakynthos), on the obverse side of which his name appears with the title of a quaestor, while an inscription on the reverse side designates Mark Antony as emperor . In addition, a picture on the reverse side shows an eagle standing on a lightning bolt with closed wings, evidently based on coins of the Ptolemies . Apparently, Sosius was paying homage to the Egyptian queen Cleopatra , Antony's lover. Regarding the regulations of 39 v. The treaty of Misenum concluded in BC included the designation of Sosius and Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus as consuls for one of the next few years. On a between 39 and 33 BC Sosius bears this title on the coin minted on Zakynthos.

38 BC As the successor to Publius Ventidius Bassus with a proconsular empire , Sosius became governor in Syria and perhaps also in Cilicia . He owed this appointment to Antonius. When Antony lifted the siege of Samosata , he ordered Sosius to provide military support to Herod in the conquest of Jerusalem . Sosius initially took action against the rebellious city of Arados , whose inhabitants had to capitulate, exhausted from hunger and disease, and in the meantime sent two legions to Judea as auxiliary troops for Herod. Herod moved quickly, without waiting for Sosius, at the beginning of 37 BC. Against Jerusalem. After the fall of Arados, Sosius joined Herod with the main Roman army, and after a five-month siege they probably succeeded in July 37 BC. The capture of Jerusalem. Herod's opponent, Antigonus the Hasmonean , had to surrender. He was led to Antioch in chains by Sosius . Anthony had Antigonus executed. Rich in gifts from Herod, Sosius was proclaimed emperor by his soldiers for his military successes in Judea. He bears this title on a coin minted in Zakynthos. The reverse side of the coin shows the trophy with a Jew and a Jewess kneeling on the floor.

How Sosius spent the next few years is not known. Maybe he was 36 BC. Involved in the battle of the triumvirs against Sextus Pompeius . On September 3, 34 BC He celebrated his triumphal procession in Rome. He had the Temple of Apollo restored on the southern edge of the Marsfeld (next to the Marcellus Theater ) and decorated it with works of art from his spoils of war made in Seleukia in Cilicia (a cult statue of Apollo made of cedar wood and a niobid group of Skopas or Praxiteles ). The work was probably only in the 20s BC. Completed. The temple has since been named after Sosius ( templum Apollinis Sosiani ) .

Consulate; Battle against Octavian

On January 1, 32 BC BC Sosius became the first of his family ( homo novus ) together with Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus consul. Not only Sosius, but also Domitius Ahenobarbus was a staunch supporter of Antonius. By the time they took up the consulate, tensions between the two most important rulers of the Roman Empire, Antony and Octavian (who later became Emperor Augustus ), were reaching a climax. Sosius opened his consulate in the first Senate meeting of the new year with a speech in which he sharply attacked Octavian. Despite a written order from Antonius, according to Cassius Dio, he did not dare to ask the Senate for confirmation of the decrees made by Antonius in the Orient, especially those regarding Cleopatra and Antonius' children of hers. On the other hand, Sosius asserted that Antonius would resign his triumvirate if Octavian was ready to take this step. The senators supported this proposal, which they hoped would restore the republic , but the tribune Nonius Balbus, acting in the interests of Octavian, blocked a corresponding resolution with his veto. The ancient historian Helmut Halfmann considers Cassius Dio's report on the Senate session to be distorted by Octavian's propaganda later directed against Antonius. Antonius wanted to celebrate a triumph over Armenia in Rome , and Sosius did give a lecture on the measures taken in the eastern half of the empire; Octavian, however, was anxious to prevent his competitor from returning triumphantly and thwarted the acceptance of Antonius' report and his proposal for the resignation of the triumviral title by the Senate majority with the help of Nonius Balbus.

Octavian had previously left Rome and had not attended the Senate session, but on his return went to the Senate with a group of secretly armed friends and gave a speech of indictment against Antonius and Sosius. In view of Octavian's show of power, Sosius, his consular colleague and around 300 senators fled from Rome to see Antony in Ephesus . In the ensuing war between Antony and Octavian in Greece, Sosius commanded naval units. Antony's great force was formed during the year 31 BC. Trapped near the Gulf of Ambrakia and suffered from hunger and epidemics. Around the end of August 31 BC BC Sosius and his naval division attempted to break out of the Gulf, attacked an enemy squadron commanded by Lucius Tarius Rufus under cover of dense morning mist and drove them to flight. But then Octavian's outstanding general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa intervened and pushed Sosius back again. During this maneuver, Sosius' fleet suffered considerable losses.

In the decisive naval battle at Actium (September 2, 31 BC), Sosius commanded the left wing of Antony's fleet and, perhaps forced by the wind, was the first to advance with his ships against Octavian's fleet. Antony and Cleopatra made their breakthrough with great losses; however, many of their ships could not escape and were sunk or surrendered. After the battle, Sosius hid for a while, but was later captured and only pardoned at the request of Lucius Arruntius (who had commanded the center of Octavian's fleet).

Next life

Sosius belonged to the sacred college of the Quindecimviri , probably before 31 BC. As a member of the college, he is still at the secular celebrations in 17 BC. Chr. Attested. Nothing is known about the end of his life.

His great-grandson Lucius Nonius Quintilianus recalled the triumph of Sosius in his epitaph.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b Max Fluß: Sosius 2. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE). Volume III A, 1, Stuttgart 1927, Col. 1176-1180 (here: Col. 1177).
  2. ^ Appian , Civil Wars 5, 73; Cassius Dio , Roman History 48, 35, 1.
  3. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus , Jüdische Antiquities 14, 447; Jewish War 1, 327; Cassius Dio, Roman History 49, 22, 2 .
  4. ↑ a b Flavius ​​Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 14, 447; Jewish War 1, 327.
  5. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 49, 22, 3.
  6. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 14, 488.
  7. ↑ Max Fluß: Sosius 2. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen antiquity science (RE). Volume III A, 1, Stuttgart 1927, Col. 1176-1180 (here: Col. 1178).
  8. ↑ Inscriptiones Italiae Vol. 13, 1, p. 86 f. and 342 f.
  9. ↑ Pliny , naturalis historia 13, 53; 36, 28.
  10. ↑ Fasti Venus. CIL I 2, p. 66; Suetonius , Augustus 17, 2; Cornelius Nepos , Atticus 22, 4; Cassius Dio, Roman History 49, 41, 4 and 50, 2, 2.
  11. ↑ Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 49, 41, 4 ff. And 50, 2, 3; on this Jochen Bleicken : Augustus , 1998, ISBN 3-8286-0027-1 , p. 271 and Helmut Halfmann: Marcus Antonius , 2011, ISBN 978-3-534-21727-4 , p. 181 ff.
  12. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 50, 2, 4–7.
  13. ^ Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 50, 14, 1 f .; Velleius Paterculus , Historia Romana 2, 84, 2; Titus Livius , Ab urbe condita , Periocha from Book 132; on this Helmut Halfmann: Marcus Antonius , 2011, p. 206.
  14. ^ Velleius Paterculus, Historia Romana 2, 85, 2.
  15. ↑ Christoph Schäfer : Cleopatra , 2006, ISBN 3-534-15418-5 , p. 226.
  16. ↑ Velleius Paterculus, Historia Romana 2, 86, 2; Cassius Dio, Roman History 51, 2, 4 and 56, 38, 2.
  17. ↑ CIL 6, 32323 ( Hermann Dessau , Inscriptiones Latinae selectae 5050).
  18. ↑ CIL 9, 4855 (= Dessau 934): L. Nonius Quintilianus L. f. Sex. n. C. Sosi cos. triumphant. pronep. augur salius palat. vix. ann. XXIIII (in Itgenshorst mistakenly confused with the consul 8 AD, Sextus Nonius Quintilianus).
personal data
SURNAME Sosius, Gaius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman general and politician, consul 32 BC Chr.
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 17 BC Chr.