Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus

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Lucius Iunius Silanus Torquatus (* around 40; † 65 in Bari ) was a relative of the Julio-Claudian imperial family from the Junier family .

Lucius Iunius Silanus Torquatus was the son of Marcus Iunius Silanus , consul of the year 46.

He grew up in the house of his aunt Junia Lepida and her husband Gaius Cassius Longinus . In the year 60 he held the office of Salius Palatinus . This was a highly respected priesthood that dates back to the early days of the settlement of Rome on the Palatine Hill. Gaius Calpurnius Piso feared him as a possible heir to the throne in the event of the elimination of the emperor Nero , which he himself planned in 65. In the same year, Nero took action against Silanus for alleged treasonous intentions. Silanus, so the allegation, had set up his household on the model of the imperial court, so he was playing the future regent, an obviously bogus charge, because Silanus had already been warned by the fall of his uncle Decimus in the summer of 64. During the trial, witnesses were presented to the Senate who accused the accused of atrocious sacrificial practices and illicit intercourse with his aunt Lepida.

The Senate banished Silanus. The convict was interned in Bari ( Apulia ), where he endured his undeserved fate with stoic calm. When a centurion entrusted by Nero with his murder advised him to die voluntarily, Silanus replied that he was ready to die, but did not want to relieve the executioner of his glorious task. Without weapons, he defended himself against the soldiers who were supposed to hold him down and defended his life until he collapsed under the hand of the centurion with wounds on his chest.

literature

  • Yasmina Benferhat: Silanus Torquatus (L. Junius). In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Volume 6, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2016, ISBN 978-2-271-08989-2 , pp. 306-307.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Tacitus , Annalen 15,52,2.
  2. ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 15,52,1 f.
  3. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 16.8; see. 16.22.
  4. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 16.8; see. 16.7-9.
personal data
SURNAME Junius Silanus Torquatus, Lucius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Silanus Torquatus, Lucius Junius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Relative of the Julio-Claudian imperial family
DATE OF BIRTH uncertain: at 40
DATE OF DEATH 65
Place of death Bari