Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta
Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta († 54 BC near Atuatuca , Northern Gaul ) was a Roman legate in Gaius Julius Caesar's army during the Gallic War . In addition, Cotta wrote a report on the history of the Romans.
Perhaps Cotta was one of Caesar's unnamed legates during the year 58 BC. BC 57 BC During the war of Caesar against the Belgians, he and Quintus Pedius led the entire cavalry of the army against Belgian units fleeing after the battle of Bibracte . 55 BC During Caesar's first transition to Britain , Cotta, together with the legate Quintus Titurius Sabinus, led a punitive expedition against the Belger tribes of the Morinians and the Menapians , whose areas were probably in the area of the Scheldt and the Rhine-Meuse estuary delta. Cotta last appeared in November 54 BC. In appearance. Together with Sabinus, he was in command of a legion and five cohorts (around 10,000 men), which were placed in winter camp near the fortified place Atuatuca of the Celtic tribe of the Eburones . There they were attacked by the Eburones under the leadership of their king Ambiorix .
With the help of a ruse, the Eburon king succeeded in luring the Romans from their fortified camp. Caesar describes in detail the dispute between the two legates Cotta and Sabinus, the former wanting to defend the fortified camp and wait for relief , the latter trying to escape to the nearest winter camp about 50 miles away. Cotta is portrayed as brave and virtuous, Sabinus as cowardly and headless. Sabinus prevailed. The Romans left the armed camp just as Ambiorix had wanted. The Eburones attacked the marching column in a basin, just as Cotta had foreseen. The fifteen Roman cohorts were almost completely wiped out. Cotta was wounded in the face by a sling stone, but refused to leave the battle with Sabinus and ask Ambiorix for his life and that of the legionaries.
Quintus Titurius Sabinus and the centurions of the first order, who had laid down their arms before Ambiorix, were slaughtered. Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta was also killed in a valiant battle, along with most of his soldiers. Caesar preserved an honorable memory of him in his writings and blamed Sabinus alone for the " calamitas " ( calamitas ) of Atuatuca. That Cotta wrote a report on the Roman Republic that has not survived to us is evident from a remark made by Athenaeus .
swell
The main source about Cotta is Caesars De bello Gallico .
- Appian , Bellum Civile 2,29,150.
- Suetonius , Divus Iulius 25.
- Cassius Dio 55.5.6.
- Eutropius 6.17.
- Florus , Epitoma de Tito Livio bellorum omnium annorum , VII Bellum Gallicum, XLV
- Livy , Ab urbe condita 111 (Periocha).
- Plutarch , Caesar 23.
- Paulus Orosius , Historiarum adversum paganos libri VII , VI, 10.
literature
- Elimar Klebs : Aurunculeius 6) . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 2, Stuttgart 1896, Col. 2555 f.
Remarks
- ↑ Caesar, De bello Gallico 1,52,1.
- ↑ Caesar, De bello Gallico 2.11.
- ↑ Caesar, De bello Gallico 4,22,5 and 38,3.
- ^ Caesar, De bello Gallico 5,24,5.
- ↑ Caesar, De bello Gallico 5: 26-37.
- ^ Caesar, De bello Gallico 5: 28-31.
- ↑ a b Caesar, De bello Gallico 5.37.
- ↑ Athenaios 6,273b.
- ↑ In addition to the passages cited above, Cotta is also mentioned in De bello Gallico 5.52 and 6.37.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Aurunculeius Cotta, Lucius |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Cotta, Lucius Aurunculeius |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Legate of Caesar |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 2nd century BC BC or 1st century BC Chr. |
| DATE OF DEATH | 54 BC Chr. |
| Place of death | at Atuatuca |