Gaius Suetonius Paulinus

Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was a Roman general and politician of the 1st century AD.

As a military leader, he went to Mauretania as a praetor , 41–42, to suppress a rebellion. He was the first Roman to cross the Atlas Mountains . Between 42 and 44, Paulinus was a suffect consul . In 58 he became governor of Britain and thus commander of the army there.

Suetonius vigorously suppressed rebellions, especially in Wales , and was on a campaign against the Druids of Mona (Anglesey, see also Llyn Cerrig Bach ) when Boudicca destroyed Camulodunum (around 60). He had to march south in a hurry, but could not reach Verulamium (near St Albans) and Londinium , causing severe damage to both cities. Paulinus advanced on Watling Street to find a battlefield of his choice. The two armies met for the battle on Watling Street in an undisclosed location that is only believed to be in the Midlands at Manduessedum near what is now Atherstone in Warwickshire . The discipline of the Roman armed forces was sufficient to drive the outnumbered British to flight. According to Tacitus , the 10,000 Roman fighters faced around 80,000 British fighters. Boudicca's army advanced in a wedge shape towards the waiting Romans, but in close combat, the superior weapons and discipline of the Romans led the attackers to retreat. Tacitus states that their own forage wagons prevented the British from fleeing, so that the defeat turned into slaughter, even among the women accompanying them and even among the insurgents' draft animals. Tacitus reports losses of 80,000 on the British side versus 400 on the Roman side.

In 62, shortly after the victory, Emperor Nero brought Suetonius back from Britain. In 66 Suetonius became consul probably for the second time . After the death of Emperor Galba in January 69, in the year of the four emperors , Suetonius took over the forces of Otho against the supporters of Vitellius and scored a victory against Aulus Caecina Alienus at Cremona . However, Otho suffered a decisive defeat at the Battle of Bedriacum , after which Suetonius, despite having fought on the wrong side, was pardoned. His further fate is unknown.

literature

• Anthony R. Birley : The Roman Government of Britain . Oxford 2005, pp. 54-57.
• Tim Cornell (Ed.): The fragments of the Roman historians . 3 volumes, Oxford 2013 (vol. 1, pp. 546–548 (introduction); vol. 2, pp. 1034f. (Fragments with English translation); vol. 3, pp. 614–616 (commentary)).
• Miriam Griffin : Nero's recall of Suetonius Paulinus . In: Scripta Classica Israelica 3 (1976/77), pp. 138-152.
• PIR² p. 957 and 958

Remarks

1. ↑ Tacitus: Annals 14, 37.
2. ↑ The second consulate is controversial. The Prosopographia Imperii Romani gives the consulate to another Paullinus. The reason is, among other things, the lack of iteration in inscriptions.