Sextus Afranius Burrus

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sextus Afranius Burrus (* before 15, † 62 AD ) was a Roman knight who served as Praetorian prefect under the emperors Claudius and Nero and who, after Nero took office, temporarily led the affairs of state of the Roman Empire together with Seneca .

Origin and advancement

Burrus probably came from Vasio Vocontiorum (now Vaison la Romaine ) in the province of Gallia Narbonensis in what is now southern France. His family may have been there since the 1st century BC. BC and had perhaps received Roman citizenship under Pompey .

Burrus served as a military tribune in the first decades of the 1st century , possibly in a legion . Later he managed the assets of the Empress mother Livia Augusta as procurator , after her death in 29 AD that of Tiberius († 37 AD) and that of Claudius. Despite his probably short military career and a slight physical handicap, he enjoyed an excellent military reputation at that time. In addition, he was considered to be of moral integrity and incorruptible and was a loyal supporter of the principate .

Therefore the imperial wife Agrippina appointed him prefect of the Praetorian Guard in 51 AD . At a time that is no longer known, he was honored with the official insignia of a consul - possibly also at Agrippina's instigation - without having held this office. A favorite of Agrippina, Burrus became one of her most important allies in realizing her plan to bring her son Nero to the throne in place of Claudius' biological son Britannicus.

The view occasionally expressed in research that Burrus was Nero's tutor next to Seneca, however, is very likely not true, as there are no references to it in the ancient sources.

The accession of Nero

After Claudius' death in 54, Burrus played a key role in ensuring that Nero was able to take over the successor smoothly by securing the loyalty of the Praetorian Guard.

In the so-called "Quinquennium", the "five good years" of the rule of Nero (54–59), Burrus led the affairs of state together with Seneca. Both used their influence on the young emperor to gradually introduce him to the exercise of government responsibility and to prevent him from acting out his personal preferences and inclinations too excessively. At the same time, they pushed back Agrippina's political influence and put a stop to the executions and political murders that she had initiated.

According to a report handed down by Tacitus from the lost work of the historian Fabius Rusticus , Burrus is said to have been denounced by the actor Paris in 55 of planning a coup together with Agrippina. Nero then wanted to remove Burrus from his office, which was only prevented by Seneca's intervention. Whether this message is actually true, however, was already controversial in antiquity, since the historians Pliny the Elder and Cluvius Rufus , who, like Fabius Rusticus, also describe the time of Nero, did not report anything about it after Tacitus.

An indictment against Burrus in the same year that he and the freedman Pallas conspired against Nero in order to make Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix emperor in his place was obviously based on malicious slander and therefore had no consequences.

Political loss of power

While Burrus and Seneca helped Nero curtail Agrippina's power, they did not know that the emperor was planning to murder his mother in 59. It was only when the attack failed that Nero asked them for help. However, Burrus refused to support, pointing out that the Praetorians were obliged to the entire ruling dynasty. They would therefore not carry out an attack on a member of the ruling house, especially not on the daughter of Germanicus († 19 AD), who was still highly revered by the soldiers . The Praetorians then remained neutral in the conflict between Nero and his mother, but after Agrippina's murder, Burrus arranged for the Praetorians to show their loyalty to the emperor.

After Agrippina's death, the political influence of Burrus and Seneca diminished considerably, as Nero acted increasingly self-confident and turned more and more to an autocratic style of government. However, there was no open rift with Nero, although Burrus was particularly critical of the emperor's private amusements (including theater appearances and participation in chariot races) and - albeit unsuccessfully - opposed the murder of Nero's wife Octavia .

The death of the burrus

Burrus apparently suffered from a tumor in the pharynx or larynx in AD 62, from which he presumably also died. However, contemporary rumors said that Nero poisoned him because he was bothered by the candor with which Burrus defied his criminal machinations. Suetonius reports that Nero sent him a poisonous drug against the tumor in his throat. Tacitus, on the other hand, leaves open whether these rumors were actually true.

The death of the Burrus also ended the influence of his political ally Seneca. Lucius Faenius Rufus and Gaius Ofonius Tigellinus , who shared the office of Praetorian prefect, were appointed as successors to the Burrus . Tigellinus in particular supported Nero's autocratic policies, which significantly curtailed the Senate's ability to have a say . Because of this, and because of Seneca's loss of power, it became clear in retrospect what political importance Burrus had had in the Neronian era.

swell

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Gerhard Waldherr, Nero, Regensburg 2005, p. 55.
  2. ↑ Werner Eck: Afranius [3] Sex. f. Burrus, sex . In: Der Neue Pauly Vol. 1, Col. 215.
  3. ^ Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 5842
  4. ↑ Tacitus , Annalen 13.14.3 speaks of a crippled hand.
  5. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 12.42.1.
  6. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 14.51.2; see. Cassius Dio 61.3; 61.13; Seneca, De clementia 2.1.
  7. ↑ Lit .: Rudich 1993, pp. 14-17
  8. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 12.42.1.
  9. ^ Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 5842
  10. ^ Gerhard Waldherr, Nero, Regensburg 2005, p. 65.
  11. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 12.69.1; Flavius ​​Josephus , Jewish Antiquities 20.152.
  12. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 13.2.1; 13.6.3; Cassius Dio 61.3.2; 61.4.5; 61.7.5.
  13. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 13.2.1.
  14. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 13.20.1-2.
  15. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 13:23
  16. ↑ (Tacitus, Annals 14.3)
  17. ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 14.7.2
  18. ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 14.7.4)
  19. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 14.10.2
  20. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 14.15.4
  21. ↑ Cassius Dio 62.13.1-2
  22. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 14.51.1; Suetonius , Nero 35.5
  23. ↑ so Cassius Dio 62.13.2-3
  24. ^ Suetonius, Nero 35.5
  25. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 14.51.1
  26. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 14.52.1
personal data
SURNAME Burrus, Sextus Afranius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Praetorian prefect in the time of Nero
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC BC or 1st century
PLACE OF BIRTH Vasio Vocontiorum, Gaul
DATE OF DEATH 62