Lucius Calpurnius Piso Pontifex

Bronze bust of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Pontifex from the Villa dei Papiri of Herculaneum . Museo Archeologico Nazionale , Naples .

Lucius Calpurnius Piso (* 48 BC ; † 32 AD), called pontiff to distinguish it from a relative of the same name, was a Roman politician at the time of Augustus and Tiberius .

Piso was the son of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus ; his older (half? -) sister Calpurnia was the last wife of Gaius Julius Caesar . Piso was born in 15 BC. Chr. Consul . In the following years he was governor of various provinces ; so he led 12 to 10 BC Successful war against the Thracian Besser and received the ornamenta triumphalia . From 13 AD until his death, Piso was city ​​prefect .

According to the Roman philosopher and civil servant Seneca , a contemporary of Pisos, after his appointment as city commander, the latter was “constantly drunk after he had become one. He spent the greater part of the night at the feast; he usually slept until almost noon: that was his morning workload. Nevertheless, he fulfilled his official duty, which consisted of the security of the city, in the most conscientious manner: the Divus Augustus only gave him secret orders when he gave him command of Thrace, which he had conquered, and then also of Tiberius when he set out for Campania he left behind many suspicions and feelings of hatred in the city. ”(Letters to Lucilius, 83.14.)

Piso was pontiff and brother of the Arval . In addition, he, who wrote poetry himself, was dedicatee to the ars poetica ("poetry") of Horace .

After his death at the age of eighty, he was given a state funeral.

swell

• Cassius Dio , Roman History , 54.
• Seneca , Letters on Morality to Lucilius , 83, 14.
• Tacitus , Annals , 6, 11.
• Velleius Paterculus , Historia Romana , 98

literature

• Iris Hofmann-Löbl: The Calpurnii. Political activity and family continuity. Verlag Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1996, ISBN 3-631-49668-0 , pp. 206-217 ( European university publications . Series 3: History and its auxiliary sciences 705), (At the same time: Diss.phil. University of Gießen 1994).