Quintus Titurius Sabinus

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Quintus Titurius Sabinus

Quintus Titurius Sabinus († 54 BC near Atuatuca Northern Gaul) was a legate in the army of Gaius Iulius Caesar during the Gallic War .

His father was probably in the year 87 BC. In the service of Sulla . The father may also belong to the legates of Pompey in Spain (75 BC).

Perhaps Titurius was one of Caesar's unnamed legates during the year 58 BC. BC 57 BC He took part in the fight against the Belgians. In the following year he and three legions subjugated the Veneller , Coriosoliten and Lexovier under Viridovix .

During Caesar's first transition to Britain in 55 BC. Together with the legate Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta , Titurius led a punitive expedition against the Belger tribes of the Morinians and the Menapians , whose areas were probably in the area of ​​the Scheldt and the Rhine-Meuse estuary delta.

For the next and last time Titurius stepped in November 54 BC. In appearance. Together with Cotta, he is in command of a legion and 5 cohorts (around 10,000 men), which were placed in winter camp near the fortified place Atuatuca of the Celtic tribe of the Eburones . There they were attacked by the Eburones under the leadership of their king Ambiorix .

With the help of a ruse, the Eburon king succeeded in luring the Romans from their fortified camp. Caesar describes in detail the dispute between the two legates Cotta and Titurius, the former wanting to defend the fortified camp and wait for relief, the latter seeking salvation by fleeing to the nearest winter camp about 50 miles away. Cotta is portrayed as brave and virtuous, Titurius as cowardly and headless.

Titurius prevailed. The Romans left the armed camp just as Ambiorix had wanted. The Eburones attacked the marching column in a basin, just as Cotta had foreseen. The fifteen Roman cohorts were almost completely wiped out. Cotta was wounded in the face by a sling stone, but refused to leave the battle with Titurius and ask Ambiorix for his life and that of the legionaries.

Quintus Titurius Sabinus and the centurions of the first order, who had laid down their arms before Ambiorix, were massacred. Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta was also killed in a valiant battle, along with most of his soldiers. Caesar kept an honorable memory of him in his writings and blamed Titurius alone for the " calamitas " ( calamitas ) of Atuatuca.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Münzer, Titurius .
  2. ^ Dalfen, Himmelfahrtskommando , p. 227.
  3. ↑ De bello Gallico 1, 52, 1.
  4. ↑ Caesar, De bello Gallico 2, 5, 6; 2, 9, 4; 2, 10, 1.
  5. ↑ De bello Gallico 3, 11 and 17-19; Frontinus, Strategemata 3, 17, 7; Cassius Dio 39, 45.
  6. ↑ De bello Gallico 4, 22, 5 and 38, 3.
  7. ↑ De bello Gallico 5, 24, 5.
  8. ↑ De bello Gallico 5, 26-37.
  9. ^ De bello Gallico 5, 28-31.
  10. ↑ Critical on this: Dalfen, Himmelfahrtskommando , p. 226 ff.
  11. ↑ a b De bello Gallico 5, 37.
  12. ↑ The contrast between Titurius and Cotta is seen today as stylized (Dalfen, Himmelsfahrtskommando , p. 218).
personal data
SURNAME Titurius Sabinus, Quintus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sabinus, Quintus Titurius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Legate of Caesar
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century BC BC or 1st century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 54 BC Chr.
Place of death at Atuatuca