Lucius Valerius Flaccus (Consul 131 BC)

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Lucius Valerius Flaccus came from the Roman patrician family of the Valerians and was 131 BC. Chr. Consul .

Life

Lucius Valerius Flaccus was probably the son of the consul of the same name from 152 BC. BC, who died in his year in office.

The first stages of Flaccus' cursus honorum are not known. Whether he is identical with the praetor Lucius Valerius mentioned by the Jewish historian Flavius ​​Josephus , who presided over a senate meeting that decided on the renewal of friendship between Rome and the Jewish people, is highly controversial in research. According to Josephus' presentation, the senate decision was made in 47 BC. This dating has been found correct by some scholars, such as Theodor Mommsen , while others, such as Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton, have found it to be much earlier in the 130s BC. Enter and equate the praetor mentioned by Josephus with the Lucius Valerius Flaccus treated here. A generally accepted solution to these differences of opinion has not yet been achieved.

Lucius Valerius Flaccus held the priestly office of Flamen Martialis . For the year 131 BC He was elected consul and had Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus as a comrade in office, who had also been Pontifex Maximus since the previous year .

The inauguration of the consuls was overshadowed by a dispute that broke out between them over the confiscation of the Pergamene Empire . The approximately in May 133 BC. BC deceased ruler Attalus III. Of Pergamon, Aristonikos , the illegitimate son of King Attalus II , had left his kingdom to the Roman people, but resisted this because he himself wanted to succeed him as King of Pergamen. For Rome this problem could not be solved so quickly and massive unrest ensued in Asia Minor , so that 131 BC. BC Flaccus as well as his fellow official wanted to take on the prestigious task of defeating Aristonikos militarily and making the empire bequeathed to the Romans a new province of their empire.

In the religious field, Flaccus, as Flamen Martialis, was subordinate to the Pontifex Maximus, and in this capacity Mucianus forbade his fellow consulate to leave Rome under threat of punishment because of his priestly office. In this context, Mucianus referred to similar earlier cases in which plebeian pontifices Maximi had successfully curtailed the secular power of patricians who were flamines maiores and thus held a high sacred office that was denied to plebeians . The Pontifex Maximus Lucius Caecilius Metellus had in 242 BC. During the final phase of the First Punic War, the consul Aulus Postumius Albinus was prohibited from participating in the decisive battle against Carthage because the consul was also a Flemish Martialis and was not allowed to neglect his sacred duties in Rome. Furthermore, Mucianus' grandfather Publius Licinius Crassus Dives , who was also Pontifex Maximus, had 189 BC. Understood to prevent the praetor Quintus Fabius Pictor from going to the province of Sardinia assigned to him , because he, as a Fleming Quirinalis, was bound to remain in Rome.

Mucianus was able to establish himself in his consulate in 131 BC. In the same way as in the examples mentioned before against his counterpart Flaccus. The people's assembly lifted the threat of punishment imposed on him, but Flaccus had to obey Mucianus' orders not to leave the capital. Conflicts between the sexes of Valerii Flacci and Licinii Crassi had been going on for some time; Mucianus' grandfather Publius Licinius Crassus Dives, for example, had in 208 BC BC tried in vain to deny the Flemish Dialis Gaius Valerius Flaccus a seat in the Senate.

Although a Pontifex Maximus also had to stay in his home country, Mucianus was able to obtain authorization to wage war against Aristonikos himself, in the course of which he was killed. Flaccus and other opponents of Mucianus may have considered this death to be a deserved punishment, but in foreign policy the Roman ruling class continued to appear united despite its domestic political tensions.

Nothing is known about Flaccus' life after his consulate. His son was the consul of the same name from 100 BC. Chr.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Friedrich Münzer : Valerius 175). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VIII A, 1, Stuttgart 1955, Col. 21.
  2. ↑ Josephus, Jüdische Antiquities 14, 145–148.
  3. ↑ Marieluise Deißmann-Merten : Valerius AI 10. In: Der Kleine Pauly (KlP). Volume 5, Stuttgart 1975, column 1100.
  4. ↑ Flaccus' consulate attests: a fragment of the Fasti Capitolini : … Valeri… ; Cicero , Eleventh Philippine Discourse 18; Cassiodor , chronicle : Lucius Valerius Flaccus ; among others
  5. ↑ Livius , periochae 19 and. 37, 51, 1f .; Valerius Maximus 1, 1, 2; Tacitus , Annals 3, 71.
  6. ↑ Livius 37, 51, 1-5.
  7. ↑ Cicero, Eleventh Philippine Speech 18.
  8. ↑ Friedrich Münzer: Valerius 175). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VIII A, 1, Stuttgart 1955, Col. 22.
personal data
SURNAME Valerius Flaccus, Lucius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Flaccus, Lucius Valerius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman consul 131 BC Chr.
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 131 BC Chr.