Lucius Decidius Saxa

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Lucius Decidius Saxa († 40 BC in Cilicia ) was a politician and military leader of the late Roman Republic .

He came from Spain, but was perhaps of Italian origin. He is said to have worked as a surveyor and, according to Cicero's polemical account, was originally a centurion . In any case, he fought in the civil war under Gaius Iulius Caesar and received civil rights from him. 44 BC He held the office of a tribune of the people , probably as a re-elected candidate, after two tribunes had aroused the displeasure of the dictator Caesar and were deposed. In the summer of that year, after Caesar's murder, he was a member of a commission set up by the consuls Mark Antony and Dolabella to distribute public land to Caesar's veterans and needy citizens in Campania . According to Cicero's polemics, he is said to have enriched himself in the process.

43 BC BC Decidius stayed with Marcus Antonius when he was besieged in Mutina . After the establishment of the Second Triumvirate , he commanded 42 BC. BC, together with Gaius Norbanus Flaccus, the forces of Octavian and Antonius sent ahead to Greece and advanced far east along the Thracian coast , but were forced to retreat by the Caesar murderers. After the battle of Philippi - of which it is not known to what extent Decidius took part in it - he went to Syria as governor (as legate of Antonius, but probably provided with an empire ) . There he was born at the beginning of 40 BC. Defeated by the invading Parthians under Quintus Labienus and fled to Cilicia , where the Parthians seized and executed him. A legionary eagle that was lost to the Parthians was later regained by Augustus .

Decidius Saxa had a brother who worked as quaestor in 41 BC. Was with him in Syria. The troops commanded by this, former soldiers of the Caesar murderers, ran in 40 BC. To the Parthians.

literature

Remarks

  1. Marcus Tullius Cicero , Philippica 11, 12: Saxa nescio quis, quem nobis Caesar ex ultima Celtiberia tribunum pl. dedit ; 13, 27: Saxam vero Decidium praeterire qui possum, hominem deductum ex ultimis gentibus, ut eum tribunum pl. videremus, quem civem numquam videramus? See Philippica 10, 22: rustici atque agrestes . The Italian descent took Ronald Syme (see literature).
  2. Cicero, Philippica 11, 12: castrorum antea metator, nunc, ut sperat, urbis ; 14, 10: [urbs] quam iam peritus metator et callidus decempeda sua Saxa diviserat . Syme has rejected the older view that Saxa was one of the first praefecti castrorum and was therefore familiar with land surveying.
  3. Philippica 8, 26: Cavet mimis, aleatoribus, lenonibus, Cafoni etiam et Saxa cavet, quos centuriones pugnaces et lacertosos inter mimorum et mimarum greges collocavit .
  4. ^ Caesar, Bellum civile 1, 66.
  5. Philippica 8, 9: Omnes Cafones, omnes Saxae ceteraeque pestes, quae sequuntur Antonium, aedis sibi optimas, hortos, Tusculana, Albana definiunt ; see. 11, 37: Saxae se et Cafoni tradiderunt ad facinus praedamque natis .
  6. Cicero, Philippica 11:12; 13, 27.
  7. ^ Hermann Bengtson : Marcus Antonius. Triumvir and ruler of the Orient. CH Beck, Munich 1977, ISBN 3-406-06600-3 , p. 256.
  8. ^ Cassius Dio 47, 35-36.
  9. Titus Livius , Periocha 127: Parthi Labieno, qui Pompeianarum partium fuerat, duce in Syriam inruperunt victoque Decidio Saxa, M. Antoni legato, totam eam provinciam occupaverunt .
  10. Cassius Dio 48, 25. Velleius Paterculus 2, 78, 1: transmarinas provincias, quas magnis momentis Labienus, ex Brutianis castris profectus ad Parthos, perducto eorum exercitu in Syriam interfectoque legato Antonii concusserat .
  11. ^ Cassius Dio 48, 25.