Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus

Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus (* around 186 BC; † around 130 BC) belonged to the important Roman family of the Fabians and was born in 145 BC. Chr. Consul .

Life

Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus was the son of Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus from his first marriage to a Papiria and the brother of Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus by about two years older . Aemilius Paullus had two more sons from his second wife, so that he had his two firstborn sons after 179 BC. Adopted by other Roman noble families. As the eldest son, Fabius was treated here by a 181 BC. Quintus Fabius Maximus, a grandson of the famous Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus , who came to the Praetur , was adopted .

As a fairly young man, in 168 BC, Fabius took In the battle of Pydna against the last Macedonian king Perseus , led by his biological father , in which he helped to circumvent the enemy army. He was then allowed to convey the news of the Roman victory to the Senate . Then he went back to the theater of war and led 167 BC. Punitive expeditions first against inland cities of Macedonia, which had fallen away from the Romans, then with Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum against rebel Illyrians . After these achievements he was allowed to take part in his father's triumphal procession in Rome.

Because of the sparse and poorly detailed sources, little information can be found for Fabius' further career with the exception of his actions as consul. In addition, the sources sometimes refer to a Quintus Fabius Maximus , but this is not described in more detail, although several men of this name lived at that time. However, it is likely that Fabius, which is discussed here, is mostly meant because he was the most famous of these homonyms and therefore did not need to be named more precisely. This assumption should be used as a basis for the following presentation.

So was Fabius 154 BC Member of an embassy that visited Pergamon and in 149 B.C. The praetur , where he received Sicily as a province . He reached the climax of his course honorum in 145 BC. When he was elected consul together with Lucius Hostilius Mancinus . Since the leader of the Lusitans , Viriathus , had been able to celebrate great successes against the Roman troops in Spain , Fabius was supposed to turn the tide there again with a stronger army. This task occupied him also in the position of a proconsul 144-143 BC. He achieved only a few minor victories, but mainly reorganized the Roman troops and avoided an overly offensive style of fighting in order not to have to take too great a risk of loss. This tactic was confirmed as his successors suffered serious setbacks again.

It is uncertain whether Fabius is the Quintus Fabius who lived around 140 BC. Chr. Led an embassy of the Romans to Crete to settle the border dispute between the villages Itanos and Hierapytna. Fabius fought under his brother Scipio in 134-132 BC. Again in Spain, this time at Numantia , where he commanded half of the troops that besieged the city. Since his son Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus hosted the funeral of his brother Scipio († 129 BC), Fabius had to go before him, probably around 130 BC. BC, to have died.

literature

• Friedrich Münzer : Fabius 110) . In: Paulys real encyclopedia of classical antiquity . Vol. VI 2, Stuttgart 1907, Col. 1794-1796.

Remarks

1. ↑ Polybios 29, 14, 2; 32, 10, 3; Plutarch , Aemilius Paullus 5, 4.
2. ↑ Plutarch, Aemilius Paullus 5, 4; Velleius Paterculus 1, 10, 3.
3. ↑ Polybios 29, 14, 2f .; Livy 44, 35, 14; Plutarch, Aemilius Paullus 15, 3f.
4. ↑ Livy 44, 45, 3; 45, 1, 1-45, 2, 7.
5. ↑ Livy 45:27 , 1; 45, 33, 8; 45, 34, 8; 45, 40, 4.
6. ↑ Polybios 33, 9, 3; 36, 5, 8.
7. ↑ Fasti Capitolini ; Livy, periochae 52a.
8. ↑ some detail Appianus , Iberica 65; also Livius, periochae 52 and 52a.
9. ^ Wilhelm Dittenberger , Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum , 3rd edition, 685 (= inscriptions from Magnesia am Maeander 105), line 46.
10. ^ Appian, Iberica 90.