Lucius Nonius Asprenas (suffect consul 6)

Lucius Nonius Asprenas (* around 30 BC; † after 20 AD) was a Roman senator of the Augustan and Tiberian times.

Life

Asprenas was the son of Lucius Nonius Asprenas, who was involved in a famous lawsuit, and Quinctilia, a sister of Publius Quinctilius Varus . Asprenas was married to Calpurnia (born around 25 BC), the daughter of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Pontifex . From this marriage came Lucius , suffect consul 29, Publius , consul 38, and Nonius Asprenas Calpurnius Torquatus.

Asprenas held the office of suffect consul in 6 AD. As a legate of his uncle Varus, he commanded the legions I Germanica and V Alaudae in Germania from 7 AD . While Varus and his army of three legions ( Legio XVII , XVIII , XIX ) were defeated in the year 9 by the Teutons under the leadership of the Cheruscan Arminius in the Varus Battle , Asprenas succeeded in entering the with a two-legion army (Legio I and V) To escape winter camp on the Lower Rhine ( Vetera near today's Xanten) and secure the Rhine line for Rome. However, he was later accused of having enriched himself with the possessions of the fallen. According to Cassius Dio, Asprenas hurried from the Rhine to meet the legionnaires and civilians who were fleeing from the Aliso fort on the Lippe after the Varus defeat .

The Legio I has been archaeologically proven at the Kalkriese site near Bramsche / Osnabrück: The incised inscription on a mouthplate of a Roman sword scabbard found in the Kalkrieser-Niewedder Depression was interpreted as an identification of ownership and suggests the presence of the Legio I in Kalkriese. Together with the dating of the site made by Frank Berger from the coin finds in the year 9 AD, this could indicate that Asprenas, the then commander of the Legio I, was involved in the fighting in the Kalkrieser-Niewedder depression.

From AD 12 to 15 (or from AD 13 to 16) Asprenas was the proconsul of the province of Africa . According to Tacitus, there he was involved in the murder of Sempronius Gracchus in AD 14. Asprenas was later chairman of the curatores locorum publicorum iudicandorum responsible for public construction in Rome. In the year 20 he is attending a Senate meeting.

Asprenas belonged to the college of the Septemviri epulonum .

literature

Rudolf Hanslik: Nonius II, 2. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 4, Stuttgart 1972, Col. 152.

Remarks

↑ Pliny , Naturalis historia 35, 164 .
↑ CIL 6, 1371
↑ Velleius Paterculus , Historia Romana 2,120,3: “L. Asprenas should now be mentioned here with justification. He had been a legate under his uncle Varus and, through his brave, manly demeanor, had rescued the army of two legions he commanded unscathed from the great catastrophe by marching in forced marches to the lower winter quarters (Vetera). With this he encouraged the peoples living on this side of the Rhine, who had already wavered, in their loyalty. Nevertheless, there are people who believe that although he saved the living, he also took the remains of those who perished with Varus and inherited the killed soldiers at will. ”( Latin text ).
↑ Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 56,18-23: “And they would all have perished or also been taken prisoner, if the barbarians had not lingered too much in catching the booty. Because in this way the strongest gained a great advantage, and by the trumpeters who were with them blew the usual signal during a fast march, they made the enemy believe that they were sent by Asprenas. Therefore, they abandoned the persecution, and when Asprenas heard of the incident, he actually came to their aid. "
↑ Rainer Wiegels : In the fight with the Germanic peoples. In: Varus-Kurier 8, 12th year, Osnabrück 2006.
↑ AE 1952, 232 ; CIL 8, 10023
↑ Tacitus, Annalen 1,53: “Some narrate that these soldiers were not sent from Rome, but by L. Asprenas, the proconsul of Africa, at the instigation of Tiberius, who had hoped in vain that Asprenas could be suspected of the assassination ”( Latin text ).
↑ CIL 6, 1267
↑ Tacitus, Annals 3,18,3.
↑ CIL 11, 7493 and other inscriptions.

personal data
SURNAME	Nonius Asprenas, Lucius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Asprenas, Lucius Nonius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Roman suffect consul
DATE OF BIRTH	around 30 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	after 20

[1] Pliny , Naturalis historia 35, 164 .

[2] CIL 6, 1371

[3] Velleius Paterculus , Historia Romana 2,120,3: “L. Asprenas should now be mentioned here with justification. He had been a legate under his uncle Varus and, through his brave, manly demeanor, had rescued the army of two legions he commanded unscathed from the great catastrophe by marching in forced marches to the lower winter quarters (Vetera). With this he encouraged the peoples living on this side of the Rhine, who had already wavered, in their loyalty. Nevertheless, there are people who believe that although he saved the living, he also took the remains of those who perished with Varus and inherited the killed soldiers at will. ”( Latin text ).

[4] Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 56,18-23: “And they would all have perished or also been taken prisoner, if the barbarians had not lingered too much in catching the booty. Because in this way the strongest gained a great advantage, and by the trumpeters who were with them blew the usual signal during a fast march, they made the enemy believe that they were sent by Asprenas. Therefore, they abandoned the persecution, and when Asprenas heard of the incident, he actually came to their aid. "

[5] Rainer Wiegels : In the fight with the Germanic peoples. In: Varus-Kurier 8, 12th year, Osnabrück 2006.

[6] AE 1952, 232 ; CIL 8, 10023

[7] Tacitus, Annalen 1,53: “Some narrate that these soldiers were not sent from Rome, but by L. Asprenas, the proconsul of Africa, at the instigation of Tiberius, who had hoped in vain that Asprenas could be suspected of the assassination ”( Latin text ).

[8] CIL 6, 1267

[9] Tacitus, Annals 3,18,3.

[10] CIL 11, 7493 and other inscriptions.