Publius Petronius (Prefect of Egypt)

Publius Petronius (* around 75 BC; † after 20 BC), also incorrectly called Gaius Petronius , was a Roman knight and from around 25 to 20 BC BC Prefect of Egypt .

Origin and family

Publius Petronius was of knightly descent and founded the important branch of the Petronii without cognomen, although the mint master Publius Petronius Turpilianus must most likely be regarded as the son of the Egyptian prefect. Publius Petronius may have been married to a Turpilia.

The predecessors

After in the year 30 BC After Cleopatra , the last queen of the Ptolemaic Empire , died in Alexandria, Egypt became the personal property of the victorious Octavian, who three years later could be called " Augustus ". In order not to endanger this valuable property unnecessarily, Octavian / Augustus did not elect senatorial proconsuls for the administration of the province, but loyal people from the equestrian order, whom he appointed prefects of Egypt.

In Egypt one saw the successor of the Ptolemies in the prefect: “During a visit to the temple he was received as king, threw golden gifts into the waters of the divine Nile every year before the beginning of the threshold of the Nile near the island of Philae and guarded to navigate the river after the threshold of the Nile has set in. ”These tremendous honors went to the head of Cornelius Gallus , the first prefect of Egypt, he did indeed behave like a pharaoh, e. B. he had his own achievements carved into the pyramids like a king. In doing so, he exceeded the limit of presumption of office. In 26 BC Sued before the Senate, Gallus preceded the conviction for treason with suicide.

He was followed in the year 26 by Aelius Gallus , who in the year 25 undertook a tragically ending campaign deep into Arabia. Herod the Great supported Aelius with 500 elite warriors.

Curiously, Petronius is of Strabo and Josephus consistently ago called Aelius Gallus, who was from about 27/26 to 25/24 governor of Egypt. Petronius may have taken over the office of the prefect during the Arabian campaign (25 BC).

tribunus militaris under Crassus?

It is understandable that Augustus could not leave his province to a militarily inexperienced person. Even if nothing certain is known about the military career of the young knight Publius Petronius, an identity with that Petronius is possible, who in 53 BC. Had served as a military tribune under Crassus in the fight against the Parthians (for which a knightly origin was also necessary). As with the prefect of Egypt, no cognomen is mentioned with him. According to Plutarch , this Petronius belonged to the closest circle around the general and was apparently one of the few survivors who could tell of the cruel end of Crassus and his last words:

“Octavius ​​and Petronius and you other officers of the Romans who are present, you see how I am forced to take this path, you are eyewitnesses of the shameful and violent treatment I suffer. But if you escape, everyone will say that Crassus was killed by the infidelity of the enemy, not by the mutiny of the citizens. "

While Octavius ​​falls right next to Crassus, Petronius remains unharmed:

“Petronius had no shield with him and was hit on the armor, but he jumped unharmed from the horse. The Crassus himself was killed by a Parthian named Pomaxaithres. [...] In total, twenty thousand men are said to have died. "

The prefectus aegypti

After the unsatisfactory rule of the first two prefects, the knight Publius Petronius came to the “throne” of Cleopatra in around the year 24, and he seems to have been a loyal and trustworthy administrator to Augustus. The inscription ascribed to him on the Colossus of Memnon , which was still sounding at sunrise at that time, is believed to belong to a later prefect.

The first estimate

Cornelius Gallus already had to put down an uprising that had broken out in the Thebais “because of the taxes”. It is worth mentioning in this context that in Egypt the census (i.e. the nationwide tax estimate) was carried out every 14 years, as Emperor Augustus had determined. Such a census took place in Egypt e.g. B. in the year 5 AD. The corresponding edicts of the Egyptian prefects are regularly attested from 33/34 to 257/58 AD. According to this, the very first estimate in Egypt after lengthy preparations in 24/23 BC. Took place under Petronius.

Perhaps, therefore, it is also a revolt against the tax assessment that puts Petronius in Alexandria in trouble:

"Petronius [...] only offered resistance with the crew with him when a crowd of tens of thousands of Alexandrians attacked him with stones. Some of them were killed, the rest calmed down. "

Exemplary food policy

But the Prefect Publius Petronius was not only distinguished militarily. For Strabo, what is particularly noteworthy about the administration of Petronius is that he took care of the irrigation of the land through canals and dikes:

“Thus before the times of Petronius the greatest fertility and swelling [of the Nile] was when the Nile rose to 14 cubits, but if only to eight, then there was famine. But when the latter administered the land and the Nile knife showed only twelve cubits, it was the richest yield, and when it once showed only eight, no one noticed a famine. "

Given the fate of his predecessor Cornelius Gallus, Petronius is likely to have held back from making public statements about his achievements. Indeed, historiography ascribes the achievements of Petronius to Augustus:

"In order to make Egypt, which he had converted into a Roman province, even more fertile, he [= Augustus!] Had his soldiers clean all the irrigation channels into which the Nile flows because they were muddy due to their old age."

It was Publius Petronius to whom Augustus and the Roman people owed these measures. His exemplary administration made Egypt the breadbasket of Rome and put Petronius in a position to help out the surrounding countries with grain.

"[1.] In the 13th year of Herod's reign [25/24] the country was plagued by severe plagues [...] At first there was a persistent drought [...] and because now the whole way of life changed due to the lack of food, diseases and epidemics arose. […] Even the king suffered want, because he did not receive any levy from the harvest as he was used to, and because he had spent his money in too much generosity on those whose cities he had restored. Nor did anyone seem worthy of his help, especially since the hatred of the people flared up even more as a result of the tribulations [...].

[2.] Nevertheless, in this sad situation, Herod thought of ways to alleviate the misery. That was difficult, however, partly because the neighboring peoples themselves suffered from the most essential shortages, partly because he lacked the money, even if he had been able to buy just a little food for so many people. But since he thought it was cheap to leave no stone unturned in order to remedy the misery, he let all gold and silver utensils found in the royal palace melt down and did not spare even the most precious and artistic products. He then sent the money he received to Egypt, which Petronius managed on behalf of Caesar. Although not a few who were in the same distress turned to Petronius for remedy, as a special friend of Herod he wanted to save his subjects first of all. He therefore first allowed them to export the grain and helped them in every respect in buying and exporting it, so that they owed them largely or entirely to him for their salvation. When the emissaries arrived with the grain, Herod first made sure that the people attributed this help only to him ... "

Josephus reports this for the 13th year of Herod , i.e. probably for the 24 BC. Chr.

“Through this care and kindness of his, Herod won the affection of the Jews so much that they did not know how to praise him enough, and that the hatred he had drawn from his disregard for local customs was erased from the hearts of the subjects. "

With his grain aid, Petronius made a significant contribution to securing the throne of Judea for his special friend Herod. The close friendship between the Petronius family and Herod's family lasted for generations. Even among the grandchildren it is emphasized as a specialty.

War in Ethiopia

The first campaign (25/24 BC)

Petronius led two campaigns in northern Sudan against the Meroitic Empire (Latin Aethiopia , Greek Aithiopia ), which Strabo reports in his description of the earth:

“But when the Ethiopians, who had become cocky with Aelius Gallus, who was at war against the Arabs, attacked the Thebes and the guards of the three rotters in Syene, and conquered Syene and Elephantine and Philae in an unexpected attempt Having carried away prisoners and even tore down Caesar's statues, Petronius, with less than ten thousand foot soldiers and eight hundred horsemen, pulled against thirty thousand men, and first forced them to flee back to Pselchis, an Ethiopian city, and sent envoys to demand both what they had taken, as well as the causes (?) of the war that has started. Since they said that they were wronged by the district officials, he replied that they were not masters of the land, but Caesar [= Augustus].

Then when they asked for three days of deliberation, but did nothing of what they were supposed to, Petronius advanced and forced them to stand for battle; but soon he drove the poorly organized and poorly armed to flight. For they had large shields (and rawhide ones), but as weapons of battle axes, some also spears, others swords. Some were now driven back into the city, the rest fled into the desert, some who threw themselves into the river ford took up a nearby island; because there weren't many crocodiles here because of the strong current. Among these were the army leaders of Queen Kandake , who ruled Ethiopia in our day, a manly woman, and mutilated in one eye. Petronius then took them alive, crossing them on rafts and in barges, and sent them immediately to Alexandria, whereupon he attacked and conquered Pselchis; and when the number of those killed in battle was added up with the number of prisoners, it was found that there were few who were saved.

Wandering from Pselchis through the sand hills, in which Cambyses army was buried when the wind fell, he came to Premnis, a naturally fortified city. He charged in the assault, took the vest, and then turned on Napata. This was Kandake's royal seat, and her son was here, but she herself was in a nearby fortress.

Just as she was sending ambassadors for friendship, and returning the prisoners from Syene and the statues, Petronius advanced before Napata, which, when the son had fled, he conquered and destroyed; but with the prisoners and the booty he turned back again, because he considered the deeper land to be inaccessible.

After he had better fastened Premnis and put a garrison in it, plus food for two years for four hundred men, he went back to Alexandreia; He sold some of the prisoners as booty, he sent a thousand to Caesar, who was just returning from Cantabria, the rest of them had killed off diseases. "

The birthday papyrus

From September 23, 22 BC BC dates the papyrus fragment with a decree of Publius Petronius on the birthday of Augustus, which can certainly be viewed as a document of special loyalty to the emperor. It is also the oldest surviving edict of a Roman prefect in Egypt. This is here expressly (Greek) Publius Petronius, with which the reading Gaius in Cassius Dio can be considered refuted.

The second campaign (approx. 22/21 BC)

Strabo also knows how to report a second campaign by Petronius:

“In the meantime Kandake [= Amanirenas ?] Had gone out with tens of thousands against the guard. Petronius, who hurried to help, reached the fortress before her. After he had secured the place with several devices, he ordered the ambassador, who appeared for the second time, to turn to Caesar [= Augustus]. When they said they did not know who Caesar was and where to go, he gave them company. So they came to Samos, where Caesar [Augustus] was staying [winter 21/20 or 20/19], and from there, after he had previously sent Tiberius to Armenia [year 20], to go to Syria. After they had obtained everything they wanted, he also released them from the war gifts. "

With Cassius Dio it reads like this:

“At this time [22 BC The Ethiopians, who settled behind Egypt, made as far as the city called the Elephantine, with Kandake as their leader, and devastated everything they encountered. When they realized at Elephantine that Gaius [?!] Petronius, the governor of Egypt, was approaching, they hurriedly retreated before he arrived in the hope of a successful escape. But caught up on the street they were defeated and that lured him after them into their own country. There he also fought successfully with them and took Napata, their capital, along with other cities. This place was razed to the ground and a garrison set up elsewhere, as Petronius, seeing himself incapable of advancing either because of the sand and the heat, or staying conveniently where he was with his tired army, turned and took the greater part with it. From then on the Ethiopians attacked the garrisons, but he took action against them again, saved his own people and forced Kandake to sign treaties with him. "

For the ancient writers, the distances covered by Publius Petronius are particularly remarkable. Pliny the Elder Ä. adds to the cities mentioned by other cities besides the conquest of "Pselcis" (Strabo: "Pselchis") and "Primis" (Strabo: "Premnis")

“Bocchis (Abuncis), Forum (Phthuris?), Cambusis, Attena (or Atteva), and Stadissis (Stadasis), where the Nile crashed down and completely robbed the inhabitants of hearing: It also plundered Napata. The extreme distance to which he advanced beyond Syene was eight hundred and seventy miles [about 1300–1400 km]. "

The Temple of Dendur built by Petronius (now in New York)

The Temple of Dendur and the Qasr Ibrim Fortress

In lower Ethiopia (approx. 80 km south of Aswan ) in Dendur (Tutzis) a small Egyptian-style temple was found in honor of Isis of Philae by Petronius. At the same time, Pede-ese and Pe-Hor are honored here, two local heroes who died in the Ethiopian invasion.

"With pronaos, sacrificial table and sanctuary, the building represents the entire cosmos of an Egyptian temple."

Unlike his predecessor Cornelius Gallus, Petronius did not have his own name engraved on it, but that of Augustus. The temple had to give way to the Nasser Reservoir in 1962 and has been in the Metropolitan Museum in New York since 1980 .

Even further south (around 50 km from Abu Simbel ) a fortress from the Pharaonic times was found in Qasr Ibrim (probably the ancient Premis ). The garrison that the Prefect P. Petronius had left behind on his campaign was also stationed here.

Reward and fame

The mission of Father Petronius is so successful that Augustus praises his deeds in his public deed report , but the emperor does not need to mention the name of his prefect:

At my command and under my auspices, two armies were brought to Ethiopia and the so-called happy Arabia at about the same time, and very large troops of the enemy of both peoples were hacked to pieces in battle, and quite a few cities were taken. In Ethiopia they advanced as far as the city of Napata , which is near Meroë . In Arabia the army reached the city of Mariba as far as the Sabaean territory.

Even Virgil , Augustus' poet at court, alludes to the conquest of distant Ethiopia when he writes:

“He [Augustus] will re-establish a Golden Age for Lazio in areas where Saturn ruled before. He will extend the empire beyond the lands of the Garamantes and Indians, and beyond our constellations, the earth will be subdued, outside of the annual orbits of the sun, where Atlas, the bearer of heaven, carries the vault on his shoulder the twinkling stars stick ... "(Virgil, Aeneis VI 795)

Publius Petronius was instrumental in this “world conquest” by Augustus.

Father Petronius was governor of Egypt for at least about 24 to 20 years. Nobody knows exactly when his term of office actually ended. Only in the year 13/12 does a Father Rubrius Barbarus become available as governor, but the knowledge here is incomplete, so there could have been other officials after Petronius in the years from 20 to 13. Petronius will probably return to Rome already in the year 20 or 19, laden with glory, because the emperor apparently thanks his loyal administrator by giving his eldest son the start of his senatorial career through the office of mint master.

Perhaps as a thank you for his outstanding achievements, Petronius receives hereditary estates in Egypt that are still mentioned a hundred years later. An imperial domain, which was probably once in his possession, was named after him (Greek) Petroniane ousia .

Publius Petronius is not so much remembered as a far-sighted economist, but above all as a successful general.

literature

• Rudolf Hanslik : Petronius 24). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XIX, 1, Stuttgart 1937, Sp. 1199-1201.
• Shelagh Jameson: Chronology of the campaigns of Aelius Gallus and C. Petronius. In: The Journal of Roman Studies , 58 (1968), pp. 71-84.
• I. Hofmann: The military campaign of C. Petronius to Nubia and its significance for the Meroitic chronology. In: Egypt and Kusch (writings on the history and culture of the ancient Orient. Academy of Sciences of the GDR 13) Berlin 1977, pp. 189–205
• Roger S. Bagnall: Publius Petronius, Augustan Prefect of Egypt . In: Naphtali Lewis (ed.): Papyrology (Yale Classical Studies XXVIII) (1985). Pp. 85-93.
• G. Geraci: Publio Petronio, il genetliaco di Augusto e il 'faraone Cesare'. In: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 65 (1986), p. 195.
• G. Bastianini, in: The rise and fall of the Roman world . Vol. II, 10, 1 (1988), p. 503.
• PIR² (1998) P 270; Pp. 102-104
• Petronius [3]. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 9, Metzler, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-476-01479-7 , Sp. 671.

Remarks

1. ↑ Cassius Dio (54.5.4) calls him "Gaius" Petronius. The reading of Pliny ( naturalis historia VI 181) (“Publius”) is represented by the Papyrus Lessing J. Rodenwald Coll. (= SB 13849) from the year 22 BC. Confirmed, see Bagnall (1985) passim.
2. ^ Pliny, naturalis historia VI 181.
3. ↑ Anders Bagnall (1985), who thinks that the cognomen failed in the only surviving papyrus.
4. ↑ Hans Volkmann: Praefectus Aegypti. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 4, Stuttgart 1972, column 1102-1106, here column 1103 (with reference to Tacitus, Historien I 11.1, Seneca, nat. II 7, Plinius, naturalis historia V 57).
5. ^ Cass. DIO 53.23.6
6. ↑ Strabo XVII 1.29 (Aelius Gallus with Chairemon in Heliopolis); Strabo XVII 1.46 (Aelius Gallus with Strabo in Thebes)
7. ↑ Strabo XVI 4.22-24 (780-782); XVII 1.53 (819) (betrayal by Sylläus, governor of the Nabataeans); after Cass. On Dio 53.23.6 the campaign apparently took place in the year 25 or 24 (= Cantabrer uprising).
8. ↑ Strabo XVI 4.23. (780); Josephus ant. XV 9.3.
9. ↑ Strabo XVII 1.53 (819); Josephus (Petr .: ant. XV 9.2; Aelius: XV 9.3). In Augustus' report of the facts, however, the Arabia campaign is mentioned shortly before the Ethiopian one. A detailed discussion of this question can be found in Jameson (1968) passim.
10. ↑ PIR² P 270 with reference to S. Jameson, Journal of Roman studies 58, 1968, pp. 71-84
11. ↑ Plutarch Crassus 30
12. ↑ Plutarch Crassus 31
13. ↑ Descr. de l'Eg. II p. 221, n.18; Orelli Inscr. 523. "a later prefect of the name would undoubtedly have added his nickname" A. Pauly RE V (1848) 1401. According to CIL 3, 44f. this is exactly the case, because the corresponding inscriptions read: M (arcus) Petronius Mamertinus / praef (ectus) Aeg (ypti) audi Memnon (em) / VI Idus Martias / Serviano III et Varo co (n) s (ulibus) / hora (m) dies ante primam ; Horam cum primam cumque / horam sole secundam / prolata Oceano luminat / alma dies / vox audita mihi est ter bene / Memnonia / [Aq] uila [epistr] ategus Thebaidos fecit / cum audit Memnonem XI K (alendas) Iun (ias) Serviano III co (n) s (ule) / cum Asidonia Galla uxore
14. ↑ Strabo XVII 1.53 (819)
15. ↑ Fergus Millar (ed.): The Roman Empire and its neighbors. The Mediterranean World in Antiquity IV (= Fischer World History . Volume 8). Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 1966, p. 96 u. 188.
16. ↑ Fergus Millar (ed.): The Roman Empire and its neighbors. The Mediterranean World in Antiquity IV (= Fischer World History . Volume 8). Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 1966, p. 189.
17. ↑ Hans Volkmann: Praefectus Aegypti. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 4, Stuttgart 1972, Col. 1102-1106, here Col. 1103.
18. ↑ For the temporal preparation and implementation of an estimate see esp. Ethelbert Stauffer: “The duration of the Augusti Census. New contributions to the Lukan appraisal report. ”In: Studies on the New Testament and Patristic. Erich Klostermann for his 90th birthday. Ed. Vd Commission for the history of religion in late antiquity. (= SNTP) (Berlin, 1961) pp. 9-34.
19. ^ Strabo XVII § 53 (819). The dating of this uprising is uncertain. Some believe that it falls before the inauguration of Father Petronius, while the governor Aelius Gallus was absent from Arabia XXX
20. ↑ Strabo XVII 1.3 (788)
21. ^ Suetonius, August 18.
22. ↑ Josephus ant. XV 9.1ff (299f.). Translation of Heinrich Clementz
23. ↑ Depending on whether one takes the deposition of the Hasmoneans (40 BC) or the coronation as king (37 BC) as the starting point of his reign (Josephus uses both counting methods), the 13th year of Herod is either 28 / 27 or 25/24 v. In addition, the year 24/23 was a sabbatical year in which in Judea there was usually no sowing and harvesting, which often led to famine. Due to the general debt relief, there was a de facto loan freeze last year with significant negative economic consequences. The famine reported by Josephus should therefore be dated to the year 24.
24. ↑ Josephus, ant. XV 9.2
25. ↑ Herod the Great is in the year 73 BC. And belongs to the same generation as Publius Petronius.
26. ↑ See Jos. ant. XIX 6.3, where Petronius , the prefect's grandson, calls Agrippa , Herod's grandson, his “dear royal friend”.
27. ↑ Dating: beginning of 24 BC. Chr.?, Cf. Cassius Dio 53.28.1, 22 BC Chr.? see. Cassius Dio 54
28. ↑ Strabo XVII 1.57, based on the translation by Forbiger
29. ↑ Bagnall (1985) passim.
30. ↑ Strabo XVII § 57, after the translation by Forbiger
31. ^ Cass. Dio 54.5, translation from English: Thomas Völker.
32. ↑ intravere autem et eo arma Romana Divi Augusti temporibus duce P. Petronio, et ipso equestris ordinis praefecto Aegypti. is oppida expugnavit, quae sola invenimus quo dicemus ordine, Pselcin, Primi, Bocchin, Forum Cambusis, Attenam, Stadissim, ubi Nilus praecipitans se fragore auditum accolis aufert. diripuit et Napata. longissime autem a Syene progressus est DCCCLXX p. (Pliny nat.hist. VI 181)
33. ↑ Dieter Arnold: The temples of Egypt. Apartments for gods, monuments, places of worship. Augsburg (1996) pp. 85f.
34. ^ Arnold (1996) p. 86
35. ^ Arnold (1996) p. 86.
36. ↑ "Some parts of the fortress go back to the Romans, when a Roman garrison was stationed there under the prefect Gaius [sic!] Petronius in the time of Augustus" (J. Baines and J. Málek: Bildatlas der Weltkulturen: Egypt. (Augsburg, 1998) p. 183)
37. ↑ meo iussu et auspicio ducti sunt duo exercitus eodem fere tempore in Aethiopiam et in Arabiam, quae appellatur eudaemon, maximaeque hostium gentis utriusque copiae caesae sunt in acie et complura oppida capta. In Aethiopiam usque ad oppidum Nabata perventum est, cui proxima est Meroe. In Arabiam usque in fines Sabaeorum processit exercitus ad oppidum Mariba . (Augustus res gestae 26.)
38. ↑ "The land seems to be that spoken of less hyperbolically 4. 480 foll., Where v. 797 has already occurred, that of Ethiopia, though here Virg. seems to be speaking of the whole country, there only of the western extremity of it. [...] The reference is probably to the overrunning of Ethiopia by C. Petronius AUC 732, Heyne. " John Conington : P. Vergili Maronis opera. The works of Virgil. London 1876.
39. ^ Bagnall (1985) 89.
40. ↑ Pap. Tebt. 2, 302 = Wilcken, Chrestomathie 368 line 7. 17 according to RE XIX 1199, acc. PIR2 P 270 from AD 71/72
41. ↑ according to RE XIX 1199: BGU 2, 650 = Wilcken, Chrest. 365, line 3, (year 46/47 AD); P. Giss. I 101 line 6, many a. BGU 2, 599 = Wilcken, Chrest. 363 lines 20f .; SB 6, 9224 col. II vers. 24 (year 50/51 AD).

predecessor	Office	successor
Aelius Gallus	Prefect of the Roman Province of Egypt 25/24 BC BC – 22/21 BC Chr.	Publius Rubrius Barbarus