Lucius Staius Murcus

Lucius Staius Murcus (* around 85 BC; † 40 or 39 BC in Syracuse ) was a Roman politician and soldier in the wars of the outgoing republic . After the elimination of Gaius Julius Caesar, he joined the group of his murderers. When these were defeated, he entered the service of Sextus Pompeius , who soon had him killed.

Life

The full name of Lucius Staius Murcus including the first name Sextus of his father can only be found in an inscription on a large stone near the central Italian town of Sulmona . He could have come from the Martians .

Staius Murcus is first found in early 48 BC. Chr. Attested as a legate of Caesar, when he commanded in his civil war against Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus together with Marcus Acilius Caninus in the Epirotischen port city Oricum . Caesar, who was also staying in Epirus at the time , was almost completely cut off from Italy by Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus and Lucius Scribonius Libo by a sea barrier. The two Pompeian naval commanders themselves suffered from supply bottlenecks, since Caesar, for his part, refused to provide them on land. They sent Staius Murcus and Acilius Caninus an offer to negotiate and a request for an armistice, about which Caesar's legates informed their overlord by letter.

46 BC Staius Murcus was involved in Caesar 's fight in Africa against the Pompeians. Back then, people in Rome wrongly believed that he would have died in a shipwreck. Maybe he was in his 40th year 45 BC. BC Praetor , but this is a very uncertain assumption. Caesar appointed him for 44 BC. As governor of the province of Syria ; but when the dictator fell victim to an assassination attempt by leading republicans on March 15 of the same year, Staius Murcus immediately went over to the Caesar murderers .

Staius Murcus then moved to Syria and, at the head of three legions, fought the Roman knight Quintus Caecilius Bassus , who had been rebelling against Caesar for a long time , but who remained victorious in this military confrontation with his two legions. The Bithynian governor Quintus Marcius Crispus then united his three legions with those of Staius Murcus. Together they now besieged Caecilius Bassus in the city of Apamea . All three generals then submitted to this around the beginning of 43 BC. Caesar murderer Gaius Cassius Longinus appeared in Syria , who in turn treated them with respect and was able to take over the eight legions.

As prefect of the fleet under Cassius, Staius Murcus commissioned an issue of denarii , on which he described himself as emperor . On the obverse of his coins the head of the sea god Neptunus and the trident are depicted, which should indicate his position as prefect of the fleet. On the back there is a woman kneeling in front of a tropaion and a soldier shaking hands with her.

First, Staius Murcus proved himself in Cassius' fight against the leader of the Caesarians in the east, the suffect consul Publius Cornelius Dolabella . He wanted to wrest the province of Syria from Cassius, but had to retreat to Laodikeia due to insufficient troop strength, where he was besieged by the Caesar murderer and soon completely cut off from any supply on land. In the meantime the sea route was still open to him for a while, until his fleet was defeated by Staius Murcus in the port of Laodikeia. In an untenable situation, Dolabella committed in July 43 BC Suicide. About six months later, Staius Murcus also succeeded against the Rhodian fleet , which Cassius had not wanted to support against Dolabella.

Mid 42 BC On behalf of Cassius, Staius Murcus took up 60 ships and a legion of elite soldiers at Cape Tainaron on the southern tip of the Peloponnese to intercept the squadron of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII , who wanted to bring reinforcements to the triumvirs . However, the monarch was shipwrecked and had to return to Egypt sick. Staius Murcus learned of their misfortune and saw wreckage of their ships floating, whereupon he drove with his fleet to Brundisium .

Even before the appearance of Staius Murcus, the triumvirs had been able to translate some troops from Italy across the Ionian Sea to Macedonia , but Staius Murcus with his strong naval forces prevented Mark Antony of Brundisium from leaving for a while . This turned to his ally Octavian with a cry for help , who drove up with a fleet. Together, the triumvirs were able to transfer their large expeditionary army to Dyrrhachium without Staius Murcus being able to prevent them.

When the squadron commanded by Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus joined that of Staius Murcus, the two admirals together commanded about 130 warships and were able to almost completely cut off the triumviral troops transferred to the east from the supply from Italy. In October 42 BC BC, on the day of the first battle of Philippi , they succeeded in the almost complete destruction of the fleet of Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus , who had wanted to bring two more legions to Antonius and Octavian, among others.

After the defeat of Brutus and Cassius in the two battles at Philippi, Staius Murcus separated from his admiral colleague and fled in 41 BC. With 80 ships, two legions, 500 archers and considerable funds to Sextus Pompeius in Sicily . There he campaigned for an understanding with the victorious triumvirs, which in the Treaty of Misenum 39 BC. BC also came about and enabled the proscribed to return to Italy. The naval commanders Menekrates and Menodoros incited Pompey against Staius Murcus, who evaded to Syracuse , where he lived around the end of 40 or beginning of 39 BC. Was killed on the orders of Pompey.

literature

• Friedrich Münzer : Staius 2). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume III A, 2, Stuttgart 1929, Col. 2136-2139.

Remarks

1. ↑ CIL 9, 3080
2. ^ Caesar, Civil War 3, 15, 6-16, 2.
3. ^ Cicero , epistulae ad Atticum 12, 2, 1.
4. ↑ Velleius Paterculus ( Römische Geschichte 2, 69, 2) calls Staius Murcus a Praetorian.
5. ^ Appian , Civil Wars 2, 119.
6. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 3, 77f. and 4, 58; Cassius Dio , Roman History 47, 27, 5; Josephus , Jüdische Antiquities 14, 270; Jewish War 1, 217f. (with imprecise dating).
7. ^ Letter from Cassius to Cicero ( epistulae ad familiares 12, 11, 1); Letter from Marcus Junius Brutus to Cicero ( epistulae ad Brutum 2, 3, 3); Appian, Civil Wars 3, 78 and 4, 59; Cassius Dio, Roman History 47, 28, 1 and 47, 28, 4; among others
8. ^ Friedrich Münzer : Staius 2). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume III A, 2, Stuttgart 1929, Col. 2138.
9. ^ Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 47, 30, 4.
10. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 47, 33, 3.
11. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 4, 74 and 4, 82.
12. ↑ Appian, Civil Wars 4, 82 and 4, 86; Cassius Dio, Roman History 47, 35, 2; 47, 36, 4 - 37, 1.
13. ^ Appian, civil wars 4, 86 and ö.
14. ^ Appian, Civil War 4, 115f .; Cassius Dio, Roman History 47, 47, 4.
15. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 5:25 ; Cassius Dio, Roman History 48, 19, 3f .; Velleius, Roman History 2, 72, 4 and 2, 77, 3.
16. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 5, 70; Cassius Dio, Roman History 48, 19, 3; Velleius, Roman History 2, 77, 3.