Mark Antony Creticus

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Marcus Antonius Creticus († 71 BC in Crete ) was a member of the plebeian family of the Antonians and a Roman politician. He was the eldest son of the famous speaker Mark Antony orator and father of the triumvir Mark Antony .

Life

Little is known about the life of Mark Antony Creticus. His first wife was a Numitoria from Fregellae . He then married Iulia , a daughter of the consul from 90 BC. BC, Lucius Iulius Caesar . With Julia he had three sons: the eldest was the later triumvir Marcus Antonius, the younger ones were called Gaius and Lucius Antonius . In addition, Antonius Creticus had a daughter, Antonia, but it is unknown which of the two marriages she came from.

Most sources characterize the not exactly wealthy Antonius Creticus as incompetent and stingy. According to the assessment of the Roman historian Sallust , he was only born to waste money and only shows sympathy in dangerous situations. The biographer Plutarch , on the other hand, describes him as a politician without fortune, but also as a friendly, righteous and generous man. He tells the anecdote that Antonius Creticus gave a silver cup to an acquaintance who was in need of money without Julia's knowledge and later confessed his generous act to his wife in order to prevent her servants from being tortured because the cup remained.

Nothing is known about Antonius Creticus' early political career. 74 BC He was elected praetor . He was due to the influence of the consul Marcus Aurelius Cotta and Publius Cornelius Cethegus by Senate resolution one until his death in force retarded extraordinary command ( imperium infinitum ) - similar to Pompey a few years later - to combat a serious threat performing Rome pirates in entire Mediterranean . This extraordinary authority extended not only to the water, but also to a 30 km wide coastal strip in order to be able to fight the pirates in their areas of retreat. Fulfillment of the contract was intended to contribute to the operations of the Romans in the Third War against King Mithridates VI , which had just broken out . from Pontos to which the pirates offered themselves as allies.

Not only was Antonius Creticus unsuccessful, he also made himself unpopular through requisitions in the Roman provinces, especially Sicily . His first military actions against the pirates took place in the western Mediterranean on the Ligurian, eastern Spanish and Sicilian coasts. However, due to the loss of extensive sources such as Titus Livius and Sallust, few details of his related operations are known. After all, a fragment of Sallust's histories dealing with this topic was discovered in the 19th century .

72/71 BC Chr. Antonius Creticus - who according to his praetur of 73 BC. BC held the position of proconsul until his death - with military aid from Byzantium and probably other Greek cities against the Cretan war, allied with the pirates . An inscription find from the southern Greek city of Gytheion provides information about the logistical preparations of his company and also gives information about the names of some of his sub-generals, including the later dictator Gaius Iulius Caesar . However, the latter did not take part in the Roman offensive against Crete to the end.

After Antonius Creticus called the Cretans in vain to stop their support of Mithridates VI. had asked, he suffered a devastating defeat against them in a sea battle and lost many ships. The Cretans then tied the Roman prisoners to the ropes of their own ships. However, the ancient historian Helmut Halfmann does not believe that Antonius Creticus suffered such a severe defeat, but was even able to celebrate a modest success. According to the Greek-Sicilian historian Diodorus , Antonius Creticus is said to have signed a peace treaty with the Cretans, which they observed for a while. Not long afterwards he died in 71 BC. In Crete. His epithet Creticus (“Victory over Crete”) is only attested by authors living in the Roman Empire, and research is divided as to whether this cognomen was understood derogatory from the start.

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ Cicero , Philippine Speeches 3:17.
  2. ↑ Plutarch , Antonius 2, 1.
  3. ^ Sallust , Historien , Fragment 3, 3 ed. Maurenbrecher.
  4. ^ Plutarch , Antonius 1; on this Joachim Brambach, Kleopatra , 2nd edition Munich 1996, pp. 190f.
  5. ^ Pseudo- Asconius , In Verrem , p. 206 ed. Orelli.
  6. ↑ Cicero, In Verrem 2, 8; 3, 213; Velleius Paterculus 2, 31, 3; Lactantius , Institutiones Divinae 1, 11, 32.
  7. ↑ Cicero, In Verrem 2, 8 and 3, 213-218.
  8. ↑ Tacitus , Annalen 12, 62.
  9. ↑ Wilhelm Dittenberger , Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum (SIG), 3rd edition 1915–1924, No. 748.
  10. ↑ Appian , Sicula 6, 1.
  11. ↑ Florus 2:42 .
  12. ^ Helmut Halfmann, Marcus Antonius , p. 28.
  13. ↑ Diodorus 40, 1.
  14. ^ Livius , periochae 97; Cicero, In Verrem 3, 213; Schol. Bob. p. 294; Pseudo-Asconius, p. 122 and 176 ed. Orelli.
  15. ↑ Plutarch, Antonius 1, 1; Appian, Sicula 6.1f.
  16. ^ Karl-Ludwig Elvers : Antonius [I 8]. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 1, Metzler, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-476-01471-1 , Sp. 810.
personal data
SURNAME Antonius Creticus, Marcus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman politician
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 71 BC Chr.