Marcus Aemilius Paullus (Consul 255 BC)

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Marcus Aemilius Paullus was a member of the Roman patrician dynasty of the Aemilians and clad in 255 BC. The consulate .

Life

According to the filiation information in the Fasti Capitolini and the Triumphal Acts, Marcus Aemilius Paullus was the son of Marcus Aemilius and grandson of Lucius Aemilius . Nothing is known about his early career. He held the consulate in 255 BC. Together with Servius Fulvius Paetinus Nobilior . When the two men assumed the highest office of state, the Roman Republic was about in the middle of its first war against Carthage . The suffect consul from 256 BC. BC, Marcus Atilius Regulus , had just suffered a devastating defeat against the Punians in North Africa and was captured by them. In this situation, Aemilius and his colleague were born at the beginning of the summer of 255 BC. Sent to North Africa with a strong squadron to continue the war and take up the remnants of Regulus' army that had escaped to Clupea .

During their sea voyage from Sicily to Africa, the consuls were able to conquer the island of Kossyra (today's Pantelleria ). Then there was a naval battle between the Roman and Punic fleets near the Hermean promontory, in which the consuls achieved a clear victory. The Greek historian Polybios reports (in a perhaps corrupt passage) that the Romans conquered 114 ships. Orosius , on the other hand, speaks of 104 Carthaginian ships destroyed and 30 captured with their entire crew; 35,000 Punic soldiers perished in the sea battle. In the 23rd book of Diodor's Universal History, which has only survived in fragments, there is talk of 24 Punic ships taken. After their naval victory, the consuls landed at the town of Clupea and took on board the survivors who had escaped from Regulus' defeated forces. According to Roman sources, they are now said to have succeeded in victorious operations in a land war. This information does not seem credible, since Polybios, who is classified as very reliable, does not report anything about it.

Towards the rise of Sirius , around July, Aemilius Paullus and Fulvius Nobilior set out with their squadron on the journey home again because they were suffering from a lack of food. However, according to the representation of Polybios, they steered on a course against which they had warned some captains because of the associated risk of storms. In fact, they lost almost their entire fleet near the southern Sicilian coastal town of Kamarina as a result of a raging hurricane there. The bodies of men and animals killed in this disaster, as well as parts of the wreckage, were driven from Kamarina to the Sicilian southern Cape Pachynos (today Capo Passero ). In Polybios 'opinion, the consuls were to blame for this disaster because of their disregard of the captains' warnings. Nevertheless, they were allowed in January 254 BC. As proconsuls with naval command one after the other - first Fulvius Nobilior, the next day Aemilius Paullus - celebrate a triumph over Kosyra and Carthage. According to the attempt to restore an incomplete text passage by the Roman historian Titus Livius , Aemilius Paullus is likely to have erected an honorary column on the Capitol by the state.

Nothing is known about the further life of Marcus Aemilius Paullus. His son Lucius Aemilius Paullus was born in 219 and 216 BC. Consul and last year he lost his life in the battle of Cannae against Hannibal .

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Fasti Capitolini ad annum 255 BC Chr .; Polybios 1, 36, 10; Orosius 4, 9, 5; Eutropius 2, 22, 1; among others
  2. ↑ Friedrich Münzer (RE VII, 1, Sp. 269) dates the campaign of Aemilius Paullus and Fulvius Nobilior a year later, i.e. to 254 BC. Chr.
  3. ↑ According to Polybios (1, 36, 10) this fleet was 350 ships, according to Orosius (4, 9, 5), however, only 300 ships.
  4. ↑ Triumphal Acts; Zonaras 8, 14.
  5. ↑ Polybios 1, 36, 11; Diodorus 23, 18, 1; Zonaras 8, 14; Eutropius 2, 22, 1; Orosius 4, 9, 5f.
  6. ↑ Polybios 1, 36, 11.
  7. ↑ Orosius 4, 9, 6.
  8. ↑ Diodorus 23:18 , 1.
  9. ↑ Polybios 1, 36, 12; Diodorus 23, 18, 1; Zonaras 8, 14.
  10. ↑ Orosius 4, 9, 7; Zonaras 8, 14; see. Eutropius 2, 22, 2.
  11. ↑ Polybios 1, 37, 4.
  12. ↑ Polybios 1, 37, 1-10; Diodorus 23, 18, 1; Orosius 4, 9, 8; Livy , periochae 18; Eutropius 2, 22, 3; Zonaras 8, 14.
  13. ^ Livy 42, 20, 1.
personal data
SURNAME Aemilius Paullus, Marcus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Paullus, Marcus Aemilius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman consul 255 BC Chr.
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 3rd century BC Chr.