Titus Turpilius Silanus

Titus Turpilius Silanus lived in the second 2nd century BC. BC and came from the Lazio region . He served in the Jugurthin War under the consul and general Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus as Praefectus fabrum . Titus Turpilius Silanus was born in 109/108 BC. Before a court martial because of treason or because of a grossly negligent guard offense and 108 BC. Executed.

In the course of the changeable and sometimes inconsistent Roman campaign against the Numidian king Jugurtha in North Africa, the city of Vaga was occupied by a garrison led by Titus Turpilius Silanus. The covert interventions of Jurgutha caused the city's population to revolt against the Roman occupation. In a carefully prepared conspiratorial operation, 109 BC were found. First of all, all officers, except for the Commander in Chief, were murdered individually in order to subsequently put down the unmanaged men. Two days later, Vaga was retaken and destroyed by Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus.

Titus Turpilius Silanus, who was spared the massacre and who was presumably on friendly terms with the consul, was brought before a court martial. Since he was unable to plausibly explain the occurrences and in particular his integrity, the majority of the tribunal sentenced him to death at the instigation of the legate Gaius Marius , who was in open opposition to Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus. Titus Turpilius Silanus was scourged and beheaded.

At the time of the republic , the military justice system in ancient Rome fundamentally excluded the civil right of provocation for Roman citizens who had been sentenced to death by a court martial and who had to belong to the military. In the case of a real military-specific capital offense, such as the offense that the legionnaire had forfeited up to the centurion, the military tribunes negotiated the facts in a consilium . The court-martial was presumably convened and chaired by the tribune to which the defendant was organizationally assigned. A capital offense, such as treason, for which a high-ranking officer had to answer, the emperor in the field had to negotiate with his council of war. This consilium included the sub-generals such as the legatus and the quaestor , the military tribunes and probably the highest-ranking centurion . The consilium or the council of war could only issue a non-binding vote for the emperor on strategic and tactical matters. In the case of capital criminal justice, the general had to bow to the majority decision of the convened war council. In this respect, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus, albeit apparently reluctantly, had to confirm the death sentence and order the execution of Titus Turpilius Silanus.

literature

• Hans Georg Gundel : Turpilius 1. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 5, Stuttgart 1975, column 1008 f.
• Wolfgang Kunkel : State order and state practice of the Roman Republic . Second part. The Magistratur (= Handbook of Classical Studies . Volume 10,3,2,2). CH Beck, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-406-33827-5 , IV. The administration, 3. The magistrate consilium , pp. 140, 141., 4. Terminology and content of the magistrate functions and powers , pp. 168, 169.
• Loretana de Libero : Citizenship and Provocation. In: Theodora Hantos , Gustav Adolf Lehmann (Hrsg.): Colloquium on ancient history on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Jochen Bleicken. Steiner, Stuttgart 1998, pp. 135-152.

Remarks

1. ↑ Plutarch , Marius 8: 1-4 (English) , Appian , Nomadike 3 (English) ; Sallust , De bello Iugurthino 69.4 offers a different representation .
2. ↑ Sallust, De bello Igurthino 66.2 (Latin with German translation) .
3. ↑ Plutarch, Marius 8,4 (English) .
4. ↑ Sallust, De bello Igurthino 66.2 to 69 (Latin with German translation) .
5. ↑ Polybios , Historien 6,37,1 (English) .
6. ↑ Polybios, Historien 6,24,1 (English) .
7. ↑ Plutarch, Marius 8,4 (English) .