Marcus Titius

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Marcus Titius († after 12 BC) was a Roman politician, senator and general in the final phase of the republic . A few years after Caesar's assassination , he joined Marcus Antonius and ordered in 35 BC. The execution of Sextus Pompeius and went in 32 BC. BC to Octavian (later Augustus ) when he was shortly before the decisive argument with Antonius . For this he was 31 BC. Rewarded with the suffect consulate and 13/12 BC Appointed governor of the Roman province of Syria .

Origin and life as a proscribed

Marcus Titius was the son of a Lucius Titius and nephew of Lucius Munatius Plancus . Lucius Titius, of whom no magistrate function has been handed down, was born at the end of 43 BC. BC proscribed and saved himself to Sextus Pompeius . Thereupon his son Marcus Titius put together a naval department on his own initiative and plundered the coast of Etruria . 40 BC He was captured by Pompey's admiral Menodoros in Gallia Narbonensis , but pardoned by Pompey for his father's sake. When the triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian in the summer of 39 BC BC wanted to settle their conflict with Sextus Pompeius through the Treaty of Misenum , numerous exiles, including Marcus Titius and his father, were allowed to return to Rome.

Career under Antonius

Probably under the influence of his uncle Munatius Plancus, Titius soon became a follower of Antonius. He fought under his command in 36 BC. As quaestor in media against the Parthians . After the unsuccessful siege of the Median fortress Phraaspa , Antony's army was repeatedly attacked by the Parthians as they retreated. In one of these attacks, Titius tried in vain to prevent the tribune Flavius ​​Gallus from undertaking a daring counter-attack. Gallus' troops were soon cut off and surrounded; only Antonius himself was able to save the situation by bringing the main army.

After his final defeat by Octavian, Sextus Pompey was now at the end of 36 BC. Fled to Lesbos , where he tried to set up a new army and fleet. When Antonius found out about the arrival of Pompey after his return from the Parthian War and his ambassadors offered him alliance negotiations, he instructed Titius to use land and sea forces to counter the fugitive and, if necessary, to fight it. However, if Pompey were ready to submit, Titius should give him an honorable escort to Alexandria . Meanwhile, however, Pompey was at the beginning of 35 BC. He landed in northwestern Asia Minor without Gaius Furnius , the governor of the province of Asia , hindering him, because Furnius had too few troops for this and was not yet familiar with Antonius' decision. Pompey was able to conquer Lampsakos , Nicaia and Nicomedia , but then Titius arrived from Syria with his army and 120 ships. They were joined by another 70 ships belonging to Antonius, the rest of the fleet that had previously supported Octavian in the fight against Pompey and was now returning from Sicily. The headquarters of the fleet became Prokonnesos .

Since Titius refused negotiations and was far superior with his naval forces, Sextus Pompeius burned his fleet, integrated its crews into his land army and wanted to get to Armenia via Bithynia . He was persecuted by the armies of Titius, Furnius and Amyntas , King of the Galatians . Although Pompey was able to inflict losses on his opponents by raiding, his situation quickly turned rather bleak. He asked his father's friend, Furnius, to negotiate, offered his submission and wanted him to lead him to Antonius. But Furnius referred him to Titius, so does not seem to have been entitled to conclude agreements, since Titius was apparently the commander in chief of the army. From this it can be concluded that it was no longer Furnius, but Titius, from the beginning of 35 BC. Was governor of Asia. Pompey, however, strictly refused to surrender to Titius, whom he had once pardoned as a prisoner and therefore considered ungrateful. At night he tried to secretly reach the coast with lightly armed troops and set Titius' ships on fire. However, since his stepbrother Marcus Aemilius Scaurus betrayed the plan, Amyntas and 1500 riders were able to catch up with him at Midaeion in Phrygia and take him prisoner. On the orders of Titius he was transferred to Miletus and there around the summer of 35 BC. Executed.

Whether Titius acted independently during this execution, on the orders of Antonius or Munatius Plancus, is uncertain and was already disputed in ancient times. The imperial historian Cassius Dio states that Antonius first ordered the death sentence in a letter to Titius, but reversed this in a second letter. Nevertheless, Pompey was executed because Titius either deliberately complied with the letter with the execution order or mistakenly mistaken it for the second letter. The latter possibility is very unlikely in view of the circumstances of the ancient mail system. According to the military historian Appian , Titius had Pompey killed out of anger because of an earlier insult or on behalf of Antony, but in the latter case it may not have been the triumvir himself, but Munatius Plancus, who signed his seal, giving the order. According to some sources available to Appian, Antonius did not want to appear as the person primarily responsible because of his lover, the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII , who was well-disposed towards Pompey, as well as because of his reputation. In spite of the contradicting sources, it seems quite certain that this judgment was made with the knowledge and consent of Antonius.

Probably from 34 BC. Titius was pontiff .

End of 33 BC The imminent conflict of the triumvirs for sole control of the entire Roman Empire began to emerge. At the beginning of the war preparations, Antonius gathered in the winter of 33/32 BC. His troops in Ephesus . There Titius, together with his uncle Munatius Plancus, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and other leading supporters of Antony, tried in vain to persuade the triumvirs to send Cleopatra back. Soon Antonius moved his headquarters to Samos . Apparently Titius drove to this island with his commander-in-chief, as an honorary inscription from Samos seems to show.

Convert to Octavian

Like his uncle Munatius Plancus, Titius went in June or July 32 BC. To Octavian over. According to the ancient biographer Plutarch , this change of party took place because the two men had been treated insultingly by Cleopatra because of their refusal to participate in the war. The real reason for their overflow is more likely to be to be found in their opportunism. Although they had been so friends with Cleopatra in the past that Plancus showed himself exaggeratedly submissive to the queen and she even named the Cilician city of Titiopolis after Titius, but in the course of the propagandistic and military preparations for the war, uncle and nephew were likely to have increasing doubts about Antony. Chances of victory came so they switched sides. Perhaps disputes with other leading Antonians, Plancus' chilled relationship with Antonius (as Plancus were accused of financial irregularities) and other reasons masked by Octavian propaganda played a role in their decision.

The two defectors informed Octavian of the location and contents of the will of Antony, which they once signed as a witness. The later emperor illegally usurped the document kept by the Vestals and found in its (perhaps forged by him) provisions - in particular Antony's confirmation of the donations of territories to Cleopatra's children and the wish to be buried in Egypt - further reasons for the Senate and The people finally got full support for the war against Antony.

Career under Octavian-Augustus

In Rome, Titius organized games in the theater of Pompey. But the dead still enjoyed great popularity. Therefore, his killer was whistled and had to leave the theater quickly for fear of the excited crowd. Titius served as suffect consul from May to October 31 BC. In this capacity he took part in the last fighting before the decisive battle of Actium . At that time he defeated the cavalry of Antonius together with Titus Statilius Taurus , so that Deiotaros Philadelphos , the king of Paphlagonia , defected to Octavian.

Around 13/12 BC BC Titius replaced the close friend and admiral of Octavian, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa , as governor of Syria . The Jewish king Herod was able to settle the disputes between Titius and the Cappadocian king Archelaus when he accompanied the latter to Antioch and met Titius there. Furthermore, Titius, as Syrian governor, received four children, as many grandchildren and two daughters-in-law of the Parthian King Phraates IV as hostages. The year of death of Titius is unknown.

marriage

Titius was with Fabia Paullina, daughter of Quintus Fabius Maximus , suffect consul in 45 BC. Chr., Married. Presumably the marriage remained childless.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Full name with filiation: CIL III 7160 = CIL III 455; further references from Rudolf Hanslik, RE, vol. VI A, 2, col. 1559.
  2. ^ Cassius Dio , Römische Geschichte 48, 30, 5f.
  3. ↑ Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 48, 30, 5; Appian Civil Wars 5, 142.
  4. ^ Velleius , Römische Geschichte 2, 77, 3.
  5. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 49, 18, 2.
  6. ↑ Plutarch , Antonius 42, 2ff.
  7. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 5, 133ff .; Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 49, 18, 1ff .; Orosius , Historiae adversum Paganos 6, 19, 2.
  8. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 5, 137ff.
  9. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 5, 140.
  10. ↑ Rudolf Hanslik, RE, Vol. VI A, 2, Col. 1560.
  11. ^ Appian, Civil Wars 5, 140-144; Cassius Dio, Roman History 49, 18, 4f .; Velleius, Römische Geschichte 2, 79, 5; Strabon , Geographika 3, 2, p. 141; Orosius, Historiae adversum Paganos 6, 19, 2; Livy , Ab urbe condita , periochae 131; Eutropius , Breviarium ab urbe condita 7, 6, 1.
  12. ↑ Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 49, 18, 4f .; Appian, Civil Wars 5, 144.
  13. ^ So Rudolf Hanslik, RE, Vol. VI A, 2, Col. 1561; Joachim Brambach, Kleopatra , 1996, p. 270ff.
  14. ↑ CIL 9, 5853 .
  15. ↑ Plutarch, Antonius 56, 3ff .; 58, 3.
  16. ↑ IGR IV 1716.
  17. ^ Velleius, Römische Geschichte 2, 83, 1f .; Plutarch, Antonius 58, 3; Cassius Dio, Roman History 50, 3, 2f.
  18. ↑ Plutarch, Antonius 58, 3.
  19. ↑ So Michael Grant , Cleopatra , German 1998, p. 265f. and Christoph Schäfer , Kleopatra , 2006, p. 209.
  20. ↑ Christoph Schäfer, Cleopatra , 2006, p. 210.
  21. ↑ Plutarch, Antonius 58, 3-8; Cassius Dio, Roman History 50, 3, 2ff.
  22. ↑ Velleius, Römische Geschichte 2, 79, 5; Cassius Dio, Roman History 48, 30, 5.
  23. ↑ CIL I² p. 61 and 160; Cassius Dio, Roman History 48, 30; 49, 18; 50, 13.
  24. ↑ Plutarch, Antonius 63, 5; Cassius Dio, Roman History 50, 13, 5; Livy, Ab urbe condita , periochae 132; Orosius, Historiae adversum Paganos 6, 19, 7.
  25. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus , Jüdische Antiquities 16, 270.
  26. ↑ Strabon, Geographika 16, 1, 28, p. 748.
  27. ↑ SEG 1, 383.
personal data
SURNAME Titius, Marcus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman suffect consul (31 BC)
DATE OF BIRTH before 40 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 12 BC Chr.