Quintus Tineius Rufus (Consul 127)

Quintus Tineius Rufus was a Roman politician and senator in the 2nd century AD.

Career up to the consulate

The early stages of the political career ( cursus honorum ) of Quintus Tineius Rufus are not known. The first documented political function he exercised was that of governor of the province of Thrace with the rank of propraetor . It is attested by an inscription that was found in the area around the ancient city of Aquae Calidae and is dated to the year 124. Urban coins from Bizya, today's vice , also name Tineius Rufus as governor of Thrace.

That Tineius was consul shortly afterwards was only known in 1941 when a fragment of the Fasti Ostienses was found. In it he is named as one of the office holders of the year 127 together with Marcus Licinius Celer Nepos . In the meantime, this has been confirmed by several dated military diplomas, on the basis of which his suffect consulate can be narrowed down more precisely, since he was proven to be in office on August 20 of that year.

Lieutenancy in Judea

Quintus Tineius Rufus was procurator for the province of Judea in the early 130s when the Bar Kochba uprising broke out there. The sources for this and for his role in the ensuing war events are very contradictory. It is also not known whether he died during this governorship or was regularly replaced by a successor.

Christian sources

In Christian sources, namely the works of church fathers and Byzantine historians, Tineius Rufus is portrayed with slight variations as a Roman general in the fight against the Jews.

• Jerome mentions the Bar Kochba revolt and Tineius Rufus in two of his commentaries on books of the Bible. In his explanations on Zechariah 18: 9, he mentions that "Turanius Rufus" destroyed the Jewish temple in August after he had taken the city of "Bether", to which "many thousands of Jews" had fled. What is meant is Betar , where the leader Bar Kochba withdrew with his supporters in the final phase of the war . In addition, the shrine in Jerusalem had been "plowed through". This formulation probably originated from a mixture of the destruction of Jerusalem, which is here ascribed to Tineius Rufus, with the subsequent re-establishment as a Roman colony of Aelia Capitolina . As part of the ceremonial founding of a Roman colonia, the planned course of the city wall was traditionally marked by a furrow (the sulcus primigenius ). This is how the picture of plowing might have entered the account of the conquest of the city. In his commentary on Daniel 9.24, Hieronymus writes that "Timus Rufus", as commander of the Roman army, defeated the rebellious Jews.
• In the Ἐκκλησιαστικὴ ἱστορία (Church History) of the Christian author Eusebius of Caesarea it is reported that the governor Rufus had received troops from Emperor Hadrian to reinforce and then took action against the rebels “by suddenly killing tens of thousands of men, children and women and confiscated their property under martial law ”. Besides Tineius, no other Roman commander is mentioned in the report. The claim that he carried out confiscations of Jewish land is considered authentic in research.
• Another work by Eusebius, the Chronicle , has not survived in the original, but only in an Armenian version, in a Latin translation of Jerome and in the world chronicle of Prosper Tiro of Aquitaine based on Jerome . It only says of Tineius Rufus that he was governor of Judea when the uprising broke out and that the emperor then sent him troops. His name is reproduced almost correctly in Hieronymus and thus also in Prosper Tiro as "Tinius Rufus", but in the manuscripts of the Armenian translation he is corrupted to "Ttinios, son of Rôphos" or "Tkinios, son of Rôphos" and was spoiled by the modern editors (who did not know Tineius as governor) in various forms (Tytinios, Tecinius, Ticinius, Tycinius).
• In the world chronicle of the Byzantine historian Georgios Synkellos , the Bar Kochba uprising is treated in the section about the year 121 AD ( AM 5621 according to the Alexandrian world era used by Synkellos ). Tineius Rufus was the governor of Judea and as such also commanded the troops sent by Hadrian in the war against the Jews. The following explanations deal with the leader of the uprising (who is called Χωχεβας, Chochebas here ), his hostile attitude towards the Christians and (as God's punishment for this) finally the crushing defeat of the Jews. Since the second part of the text adopts a Christian-Jewish perspective, no Roman general is mentioned after Tineius.

Jewish sources

In the Jewish sources Tineius is portrayed as a malicious representative of the hostile world power Rome and as a cruel tyrant, but these reports have no historical source value. He is listed as one of the descendants of another archenemy of the Jews, the Persian official Haman . Tineius is said to have discussed the interpretation of the Torah with Rabbi Akiba several times, although Akiba was always the wiser.

Roman historiography

The Roman writer Cassius Dio does not mention Tineius in his description of the uprising and portrays his successor Sextus Iulius Severus as the decisive general on the Roman side.

family

Two unpublished inscriptions from Skythopolis (today's Bet Sche'an ) contain honors for his wife Claudia Rufina and his daughter.

The descendants of Quintus Tineius Rufus had very successful careers in Roman politics: his son Quintus Tineius Sacerdos became a regular consulate in 158, his three grandchildren also achieved this office ( Quintus Tineius Rufus 182, Quintus Tineius Clemens 195, Quintus Tineius Sacerdos 219). So he does not seem to have been responsible for the defeat of Rome in Judea, or at least was not blamed for it.

literature

• Harald von Petrikovits : Tineius 6. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VI A, 2, Stuttgart 1937, Sp. 1376-1379.
• Werner Eck : Tineius 3rd In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 12/1, Metzler, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-476-01482-7 , Sp. 603.
• Geza Vermes , Fergus Millar (Ed.): The History of the Jewish people in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 BC - AD 135) by Emil Schürer. A new English version. Volume 1, T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh 1973, p. 518.
• Shimon Applebaum : Judaea in Hellenistic and Roman Times. Historical and Archaeological Essays (= Studies in Judaism in late antiquity. Volume 40). Brill, Leiden / New York 1989, ISBN 9-004-08821-0 , pp. 117-123.
• Werner Eck: Rome and the Province of Iudaea / Syria Palestine. The contribution of epigraphy. In: Aharon Oppenheimer (ed.): Jewish history in Hellenistic-Roman times. Paths of research: from the old to the new Schürer (= writings of the historical college. Colloquia. Volume 44). Oldenbourg, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-486-56414-5 , pp. 237-264.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ CIL III, 14207.35
2. ↑ Harald von Petrikovits : Tineius 6. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE). Volume VI A, 2, Stuttgart 1937, Col. 1376-1379, here Col. 1376 (with the other references).
3. ^ AE 1945, 36 .
4. ↑ Military diplomas of the year 127 ( KJ-2010-181 , KJ-2010-185 , RMD 4, 239 , RMD 4, 240 , RMD 4, 241 , RMM 00023 , RMM 00024 , ZPE-165-232 , ZPE-171-239 ).
5. ↑ Werner Eck: Rome and the Province of Iudaea / Syria Palaestina. The contribution of epigraphy. In: Aharon Oppenheimer (ed.): Jewish history in Hellenistic-Roman times. Research Paths: From the Old to the New Schürer. Oldenbourg, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-486-56414-5 , pp. 237-264, here p. 247, note 42 (with further references).
6. ↑ Hieronymus , Commentariorum in Zachariam Prophetam Libri Duo 2.8, Commentary on Zechariah 18.9 ( Patrologia Latina , Volume 25, Sp. 1415–1542a, here Sp. 1475, PDF ): “In hoc mense, et a Nabuchodonosor, et multa post saecula a Tito et Vespasiano, templum Hierosolymis incensum est, atque destructum, capta urbs Bether, ad quam multa millia confugerant Judaorum, aratum templum in ignominiam gentis opressae, a Turanaio Rufo. "
7. ↑ ^{a b} Shimon Applebaum: Judaea in Hellenistic and Roman Times. Historical and Archaeological Essays (= Studies in Judaism in late antiquity. Volume 40). Brill, Leiden / New York 1989, ISBN 9-004-08821-0 , p. 119.
8. ↑ Hieronymus, Commentariorum in Danielem Prophetam Liber Unus , commentary on Daniel 9.24 ( Patrologia Latina , Volume 25, Col. 491-584a, here Col. 552, PDF ): “Quo [Vespasian] mortuo, transactis septem hebdomadis, id est , annis quadraginta novem, Aelius Hadrianus, et quo postea de ruinis Jerusalem urbs Aelia condita est, rebellantes Judaeos, Timo Rufo magistro exercitus pugnante, superavit. "
9. ↑ Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History IV, 6,1 ( German translation by Philipp Haeuser ).
10. ↑ Eusebius, Chronicorum Liber II interprete S. Hieronymo ( Patrologia Latina , Volume 27, Col. 223–508, here Col. 469 f., PDF ).
11. ^ Prosperi Tironis epitoma chronicon. In: Theodor Mommsen (Ed.): Chronica minora saec. IV. V. VI. VII. Volume 1 (= Monumenta Germaniae Historica . Auctores Antiquissimi series , Volume 9). Weidmann, Berlin 1892, p. 424 ( digitized version ).
12. ↑ Eusebius: Works. Volume 5: The Chronicle. Translated from the Armenian with text-critical commentary [...] by Dr. Josef Karst. JC Hinrichs, Leipzig 1911, p. 220 and critical commentary on p. 237.
13. ^ Georgios Synkellos, World Chronicle p. 660 (Dindorf).
14. ↑ On this and the following section Harald von Petrikovits : Tineius 6. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE). Volume VI A, 2, Stuttgart 1937, Sp. 1376-1379, here Sp. 1378.
15. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History LXIX, 13 ( English translation ).
16. ↑ Werner Eck: Rome and the Province of Iudaea / Syria Palaestina. The contribution of epigraphy. In: Aharon Oppenheimer (ed.): Jewish history in Hellenistic-Roman times. Research Paths: From the Old to the New Schürer. Oldenbourg, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-486-56414-5 , pp. 237-264, here p. 244.