Tiberius Claudius Balbillus

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Tiberius Claudius Balbillus was a Roman scholar, astrologer and politician of the Julio-Claudian period.

Balbillus was most likely the son of Thrasyllos , the court astrologer of Emperor Tiberius . He had close ties to the Alexandrian bourgeoisie, because in AD 41 he was the highly respected head of an embassy to Emperor Claudius .

A Latin inscription from Ephesus gives information about his early career . Accordingly, he was called by Claudius to Rome and to the military tribune of the XX. Legion and appointed Praefectus fabrum . As such, he took part in Claudius' campaign against Britain in 43 and received high honors . After that he was first high priest and head of the library of Alexandria . Another inscription names him as procurator of the province of Asia . Emperor Nero appointed Balbillus Praefectus Aegypti in 55 , which was received with joy in Alexandria. Balbillus probably still lived under Emperor Vespasian , who, in honor of the Ephesians, allowed him to host the Balbillic Games ( Βαλβιλλεῖα , Balbilleia ) , which took place up until the 3rd century .

Balbillus was extremely learned and was also instructed in the interpretation of the star constellation, as reported by several testimonials - such as an inscription by Balbillus' granddaughter Iulia Balbilla on the Memnon statue from 130 and Seneca. According to Tacitus , he is said to have foretold the rule of Nero. When Nero was troubled by a comet , Balbillus pointed out to him, according to Suetonius , that kings used to avert such bad omens by executing a person of high rank. Suetonius justifies Nero's cruelty in the suppression of the Pisonian conspiracy . A script addressed to a Hermogenes, probably Seneca's friend, that has not survived was called Astrologumena ( Ἀστρολογούμενα ). He himself reported that he had observed a water fight between dolphins from the sea and crocodiles from the Nile river in the mouth of the Herakleotide Nile. Pliny names him as a witness for the travel time between Sicily and Alexandria.

Balbillus was married to a Greek woman. The only child of this marriage, the daughter Claudia Capitolina , married Gaius Iulius Archelaus Antiochus Epiphanes (38-92), the son of Antiochus IV , under the Commagene was a kingdom independent of Rome for a few decades. Their children were Gaius Iulius Philopappus and the poet Iulia Balbilla .

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ To identify the two people: Conrad Cichorius: The astrologer Claudius Balbillus, son of Thrasyllus. In: Rheinisches Museum für Philologie . Volume 76, 1927, pp. 102-105 ( PDF online ).
  2. ↑ AE 1924, 78 .
  3. ↑ Inscriptions from Ephesus 1277 .
  4. ^ Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum (CIG) 4699 = Wilhelm Dittenberger , Orientis Graeci inscriptiones selectae (OGIS) 666 .
  5. ^ Cassius Dio , Römische Geschichte 66, 9, 2 (= Epitome 65, 9, 2), there called Barbillos.
  6. ↑ CIG 4730 = A. and E. Bernand, Les inscriptions grecques et latines du Colosse de Memnon 28 .
  7. ↑ a b Seneca, Naturales quaestiones 4, 2, 13 .
  8. ^ Tacitus, Annals 6, 22.
  9. ^ Suetonius, Nero 36, 1.
  10. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis Historia 19, 3 .
predecessor Office successor
Lucius Lusius Geta Prefect of the Roman Province of Egypt
55–59 		Lucius Iulius Vestinus
personal data
SURNAME Claudius Balbillus, Tiberius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Balbillus, Tiberius Claudius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman astrologer
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century
DATE OF DEATH 1st century