Tiberius Claudius Maximus

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Decebalus escapes capture by suicide (cast from Trajan's Column)

Tiberius Claudius Maximus (* approx. 65; † after 117) was a Roman legionnaire and officer at the time of the Roman emperors Domitian and Trajan . His on his grave stone inscriptions traditional career is one of the detailliertesten Legionnaires' biographies, which has been preserved, and therefore an important historical source on the structure and functioning of the Roman army.

Life

The tombstone of Tiberius Claudius Maximus ( AE 1969/70, 583 )

Tiberius Claudius Maximus probably came from a family that had received Roman citizenship under the Julio-Claudian emperors in the first half of the 1st century AD. At the time of Emperor Domitian he served as a rider in Legio VII Claudia , which was stationed in Viminacium in the province of Moesia superior. He was promoted to several special functions: to quaestor of the cavalry, to guard rider (singularis) of the legion commander and to standard bearer (vexillarius) of the cavalry of the legion. Tiberius Claudius Maximus took part in the wars against the Dacians under Domitian. From this emperor he received an award (dona) for his bravery .

Under Trajan, Claudius Maximus was transferred to a Pannonian auxiliary force unit ( Ala II Pannoniorum ) as a soldier with double salary (duplicarius) ; normally the careers of the legionary soldiers and the auxiliary troops (who were mostly not Roman citizens) were separated. In the Dacian wars of Trajan he was used as a scout (explorator) . Towards the end of the war, he managed to track down the hiding place of the fugitive Dacer king Decebalus and to take him prisoner. After Decebalus' suicide, he brought his head to the Emperor in Ranistorum and was promoted to Decurio in his Ala. He also received another award.

Claudius Maximus also took part in Trajan's Parthian War and received another award. He was later honorably discharged from the army by Terentius Scaurianus, a commander of consular rank. He may have retired in Macedonia, where his grave stele was found, which he had made while he was still alive. Since Trajan is referred to as divus on the epitaph , Claudius Maximus died after the emperor.

It is only through the knowledge of Maximus' biography that the capture of Decebalus depicted on the Trajan column becomes understandable for us. Since the commentarii about the Dacian campaign have been lost, the meaning of the vast majority of what is otherwise depicted remains closed to us.

This find inspired Peter Connolly to write the youth non-fiction book Tiberius Claudius Maximus .

swell

The grave stele of Tiberius Claudius Maximus was found in 1965 in what is now the village of Grammeni near ancient Philippi in Macedonia. It bears two reliefs above the inscription: a rider jumping over a lying opponent, and below it military decorations (two torques and two armillae ). The stone is now in the Drama Archaeological Museum .

The end of the Decebalus is shown on the reliefs 145 to 147 of the Trajan Column . Another pictorial representation was on the Tropaeum Traiani , the victory monument in Adamklissi.

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b AE 1969/70, 583 (lat. Text according to the Heidelberg Epigraphic Database ): [Ti (berius) Claudius / Maximus vet (eranus) / [s (e)] v (ivo) f (aciendum) c (uravit) militavit / eque (s) in leg (ione) VII C (laudia) p (ia) f (ideli) fac / tus qu (a) estor equit (um) / singularis legati le / gionis eiusdem vexil / larius equitum item / bello Dacico ob virtu / te (m) donis donatus ab Im / p (eratore) Domitiano factus dupli (carius) / a divo Troiano (!) In ala secu (nda) / Pannoniorum a quo et fa (c) / tus explorator in bello Da / cico et ob virtute (m) to donis / donatus bello Dacico et / Parthico et ab eode (m) factus / decurio in ala eade (m) quod / cepisset Decebalu (m) et caput / eius pertulisset ei Ranissto / ro missus voluntarius ho / nesta missione a Terent [io Scau] / riano consulare (!) [exerci] / tus provinciae nov [ae Daciae?] "Tiberius Claudius Maximus, the veteran, had [the tomb] built during his lifetime. He served as a rider in the seventh Claudian duty conscious loyal legion treasurer was the rider, then guard the legacies of this Legion, Standard Bearer of the cavalry that unit. Awarded for bravery in the Dacian War by Emperor Domitian, he received double wages in the second Pannonian Ala from the deified Emperor Trajan , was used by him as a reconnaissance figure in the Dacian War, received two awards for bravery in both the Dacian and Parthian Wars and was appointed by Emperor Trajan as Decurio in this Ala because he had captured Decebalus and brought his head to the Emperor in Ranisstorum. He was honored farewell as a volunteer by Terentius Scaurianus, commander of consular rank of the army of the new province ... "
  2. ^ Peter Pilhofer: Philippi . Volume II: Catalog of the inscriptions by Phillipi , Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2000, p. 508.
  3. ^ Pilhofer: Philippi p. 509.
  4. ↑ Cassius Dio 68:14 .
  5. ↑ Tiberius Claudius Maximus on Romanarmy.com (accessed on October 6, 2010)
personal data
SURNAME Claudius Maximus, Tiberius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maximus, Tiberius Claudius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION roman soldier
DATE OF BIRTH at 65
DATE OF DEATH after 117