Gaius Cocceius Balbus

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Gaius Cocceius Balbus
Born
Gaius Cocceius Balbus
Occupation(s)legate, governor, consul
Military career
AllegianceRoman Empire
Ranklegatus

Gaius Cocceius Balbus (fl. 1st century BC) was a Roman politician and military commander who served as suffect consul in 39 BC.

Contents

Biography

A member of the Plebeian gens Cocceia, Cocceius Balbus was a supporter of Marcus Antonius. [1] He was probably elected as praetor in 42 BC. [2] In 39 BC, he was appointed suffect consul to replace Lucius Marcius Censorinus. [3] In the same year, he was already identified as a legate to Marcus Antonius. [4]

In around 35 BC, Cocceius Balbus served as either proconsular governor of Macedonia, or as a Legatus in Greece. [5] If he was the governor, he would have been the replacement of Gaius Asinius Pollio and would have supervised the Roman troops deployed against Parthini and Dardanii, the tribes that threatened Macedonia. [6] During his time in Greece, he was acclaimed as Imperator by his troops. [7] This was possibly during his campaign against the Dardanians. [8] He eventually abandoned Marcus Antonius and threw his support behind Octavian after Antonius divorced Octavia the Younger. [9]

Balbus and his brother, M. Cocceius Nerva, was elevated to patrician status by Actium Augustus and were both admitted to cohors primae admissionis. [8] Nerva served Augustus in his negotiations with Marcus Antonius. [10]

Sources

References

  1. ↑ Syme, pg. 200
  2. ↑ Broughton, pg. 359
  3. ↑ Broughton, pg. 386
  4. ↑ Habicht, Christian (1997). Athens from Alexander to Antony. Harvard University Press. p. 360. ISBN   978-0-674-05111-9.
  5. ↑ Broughton, pg. 407
  6. ↑ Tatum, W. Jeffrey (2024). A Noble Ruin: Mark Antony, Civil War, and the Collapse of the Roman Republic. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 268. ISBN   978-0-19-769490-9.
  7. ↑ Syme, pg. 267
  8. 1 2 Geagan, Daniel J. (2011-09-09). Inscriptions: The Dedicatory Monuments. American School of Classical Studies at Athens. p. 225. ISBN   978-0-87661-218-7.
  9. ↑ Stern, Gaius, Women, Children, and Senators on the Ara Pacis Augustae: A Study of Augustus' Vision of a New World Order in 13 BC (2006), pg. 351
  10. ↑ Seneca, Lucius Annaeus (1995). Seneca: Moral and Political Essays. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 141. ISBN   978-0-521-34818-8.
Political offices
Preceded by Consul of the Roman Republic
39 BC (suffect)
with Alfenus Varus 		Succeeded by
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