Gnaeus Cornelius Merula

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Gnaeus Cornelius Merula came from the Roman patrician family of the Cornelier and was 162 and 154 BC. Chr. Roman envoy in Egypt .

Life

The sources that have survived only mention Gnaeus Cornelius Merula's ministry in Egypt. No information is available about his other life.

163 BC The Egyptian king Ptolemy VI agreed . with his younger brother Ptolemy VIII on a power-sharing, after which the latter received the Cyrenaica and Ptolemy VI. with his sister wife Cleopatra II should rule over the rest of the empire. But the dissatisfied younger brother soon wanted to add Cyprus to his domain and traveled in 162 BC. To Rome to enforce this concern . Although the senators obviously recognized that the treaty negotiated between the Ptolemaic brothers was valid, they still supported Ptolemy VIII by a majority because, according to the Greek historian Polybius , they hoped that the still great Ptolemaic empire would be weakened by a division. But this would have served Rome's imperialist aspirations. Gnaeus Cornelius Merula and the consul from 165 BC. BC, Titus Manlius Torquatus , were entrusted with the diplomatic mission to "reconcile" the quarreling brothers with one another and to ensure that Ptolemy VIII also received government power over Cyprus; however, this goal should expressly be achieved without military action.

Merula and Torquatus went with Ptolemy VIII initially to Greece, where the Ptolemaic recruited a strong mercenary army. The journey took them on to the Rhodian mainland property (Peraia) on the south coast of Asia Minor . Ptolemy VIII wanted to sail on to Cyprus, but when he arrived in Side in Pamphylia , the Roman envoys reminded him that his appointment as ruler of Cyprus should be bloodless. So he had to fire his mercenaries again. The ambassadors also urged Ptolemy VIII to hold talks between Torquatus and Ptolemy VI on the border of Cyrenaica. to be seen in Alexandria . Torquatus could persuade the Egyptian king to accept the Senate decision and would then travel with the monarch to see Ptolemy VIII. The latter had to bow to the Roman demands. Ptolemy VI but dragged the negotiations out. In the meantime, his younger brother had sailed to Crete with Merula , where he had once again dug up 1,000 mercenaries, and then traveled on to Apis . As the arrival of Torquatus was delayed longer and longer, Ptolemy VIII became impatient. On his behalf, Merula also went to Alexandria to get Torquatus and the Egyptian king. But Ptolemy VI. like the other ambassadors, Merula offered them kindly.

When a revolt suddenly broke out in Cyrene, Ptolemy VIII had to give up his Cyprus project for the time being and devote himself to suppressing the revolt. In the beginning he was not very successful. From Merula he learned that the Roman diplomats Ptolemy VI. had been unable to induce any concessions. Merula returned to Rome and was accompanied by the brothers Ptolemy and Komanos, who were supposed to again promote Ptolemy VIII's plans for Cyprus. In the Senate, Merula and Torquatus spoke in 161 BC. BC for the younger Ptolemaic, so that among other things it was decided to terminate the alliance of Rome with the Egyptian king.

In the next few years Ptolemy VIII was still unable to gain control over Cyprus, appeared in 154 BC. In Rome again, accused his brother of commissioning an assassination attempt on him and asked for more emphatic support for his wishes. The senators provided only very modest assistance. Merula was again commissioned to assist Ptolemy VIII with the implementation of his Cyprus plans together with four other envoys (including Lucius Minucius Thermus ). This time Ptolemy VIII was captured by his older brother, who, however, treated him gently while the Roman ambassadors returned home without having achieved anything.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Polybios 31, 10; on this Werner Huss, Egypt in Hellenistic Time , p. 571; Günther Hölbl, History of the Ptolemaic Empire , p. 161.
  2. ↑ Polybios 31, 17-20; on this Werner Huss, Egypt in Hellenistic Time , p. 572; Günther Hölbl, History of the Ptolemaic Empire , p. 162f.
  3. ↑ Polybios 33:11 ; on this Werner Huss, Egypt in Hellenistic Time , p. 573f .; Günther Hölbl, History of the Ptolemaic Empire , p. 164.
personal data
SURNAME Cornelius Merula, Gnaeus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Merula, Gnaeus Cornelius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman envoy to Egypt (162 and 154 BC)
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd century BC BC or 2nd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 2nd century BC Chr.