Publius Servilius Vatia

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Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus (* 134/130 BC; † in early summer 44 BC ) was a Roman politician of the late republic.

Life

Tiber boundary stone with the names of the censors Publius Servilius Vatia , Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger and the senatus consultum as an inscription (CIL 06, 31540e)

The member of the plebeian family of the Servilians was the son of Gaius Servilius Vatia and Caecilia Metella . Around 98 BC BC he officiated as tribune of the people . Probably 90 BC BC (maybe a little earlier) he became praetor and governor of Sardinia or Cilicia , which he also called propaetor in 89 BC. Chr. Stayed. 88 BC BC he celebrated a triumph and unsuccessfully (despite support from Sulla ) applied for the consulate of the following year. Instead, he commanded 87 BC. Troops in Ariminum until he was driven out by the Populares and joined Sulla in Greece. In the civil war of 82 BC He was a legate of Sulla and won a battle at Clusium . 79 BC He became consul with Appius Claudius Pulcher . Together with this he donated pictures of the ancestors in the temple of Bellona during his consulate , which was built in 296 BC. Was praised by one of the ancestors of Claudius Pulcher, the consul Appius Claudius Caecus , and was subsequently built.

Servilius was named after his consulate in 78 BC. BC Proconsul of Cilicia, where he fought the pirates . He was appointed for a quinquennium , i.e. for the years 78 to 74 BC. He was accompanied by Gaius Iulius Caesar , who was 22 years old at the time and who at the time seemed advisable to be away from Rome. The first year will probably have been devoted to preparations for the campaign. In particular, a fleet should be provided. Apparently Gaius Verres , who 80–79 BC , had already Chr. Legate and Proquaestor in Cilicia, the Milesians commissioned with the construction of faster and lighter ships of the Myoparo type.

The actual military action probably began in 77 BC. And initially directed against Lycia. There a pirate named Zeniketes had made himself lord of the cities of Olympos , Korykos and Phaselis and other places on the coast of Pamphylia. When the Romans attacked his fortress located on Mount Olympos above the city of the same name and he saw no way out, he set fire and burned himself and his people. It is unclear whether Zeniketes was a Cilician himself or a local robber chief who was allied with the Cilicians; the stretch of coast he ruled and the cities and ports there seem to have been of great importance for the pirates, as they were not bloodless according to Florus delivered with the servilius' fleet, instead of avoiding the Roman warships with their light and fast ships, which would have corresponded to their otherwise practiced tactics. Subsequently, Servilius punished Attaleia further east on the Pamphylian coast , which had cooperated with the pirates by forcing it to cede territories. After the victory over the Isaurians , through which the "rough Cilicia" became a Roman province, Servilius was able to 74 BC. Celebrate a second triumph and received the honorary name Isauricus .

Since 76 BC at the latest Servilius was pontiff and ran in 63 BC. Unsuccessful for the election to Pontifex Maximus . He was one of Marcus Tullius Cicero's supporters in the Catiline Conspiracy and later advocated Cicero's recall from exile. In old age he was 55/54 BC. BC Censor (together with Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger ), but could not complete the lustrum . He died in the early summer of 44 BC. His son Publius Servilius Isauricus also became a Roman consul.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 35.12.
  2. ^ Suetonius , Divus Iulius 3.
  3. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero , in Verrem 2,1,86.
  4. ↑ Florus, Epitome 1, 41 .
  5. ↑ Cicero , de lege agraria 1, 5 .
  6. ↑ Ammianus Marcellinus , Roman History 14, 8 .
  7. ↑ Eutropius , Breviarium ab urbe condita 6, 3–4 .
  8. ↑ CIL 06, 31540e
personal data
SURNAME Servilius Vatia, Publius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vatia, Publius Servilius; Isauricus, Publius Servilius Vatia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman politician; Consul 79 BC Chr.
DATE OF BIRTH between 134 BC BC and 130 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 44 BC Chr.