Marcus Antonius Pallas

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Marcus Antonius Pallas († 62 AD ) was a slave of Antonia , the mother of the future emperor Claudius , from whom he was released in 31 AD.

During the reign of Claudius, Pallas enjoyed the special trust of the emperor, who accepted him into his closest circle of advisers and, among other things, involved him in government affairs as administrator of the imperial finances (Latin a rationibus ).

In the year 48 Pallas played a decisive role alongside Narcissus in the suppression of the attempted coup by the Emperor Messalina . After their execution, he helped Agrippina the Younger , with whom he had a secret relationship, to become Claudius' new wife and to have her son Nero proclaimed heir to the throne.

52 n. Chr. He received from the Senate the ornamenta praetoria , the official insignia of a praetor , which was a very high honor for a freedman.

When, after Nero took office (54 AD), his ally Agrippina was gradually robbed of their influence by Afranius Burrus and Seneca , Pallas also lost his influential position and was finally removed from office by the emperor in 55 AD. In AD 62, Nero had him killed in order to usurp his extraordinary fortune.

His tomb was on the Via Tiburtina before the first milestone. Pliny the Younger mentions the grave inscription somewhat maliciously: Huic senatus ob fidem pietatemque erga patronos ornamenta praetoria decrevit et sestertium centiens quinquagiens, cuius honore contentus fuit. ("Because of his loyalty and devotion to his patrons, the Senate granted him the insignia of a praetor, as well as 15 million Sestertien; with the latter gift of grace he was content with the honor."

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Pliny, ep. 7, 29 . Compare G. Pliny Caecilius Secundus: Briefe epistularum libri decem, trans. by Helmut Kasten, Berlin 2003.