Lucius Septimius

Last updated February 28, 2024

Septimius (in armour) strikes Pompey from behind. 1880 illustration Caesar-07.jpg — Septimius (in armour) strikes Pompey from behind. 1880 illustration

Lucius Septimius was a Roman soldier and mercenary who is principally remembered as one of the assassins of the triumvir Pompey the Great. At the time of the assassination in 48 BC, Septimius was serving the Ptolemies of Egypt as a mercenary. He was dispatched with orders to murder Pompey by Ptolemy XIII's advisors who wanted to win the favour of Julius Caesar for their king.

Life

Septimius had served under Pompey in his eastern campaign in the 60s BC, and he was in the army with which Aulus Gabinius restored Cleopatra's father Ptolemy XII Auletes to the throne in 55 BC. He had stayed in Egypt as part of a mercenary garrison, known as the Gabiniani, to support the king.^[1] In Commentarii de Bello Civili , Caesar refers to him as a "military tribune".^[1]

Septimius was a leading figure among the Gabiniani. When Pompey fled to Egypt in 48 BC following his defeat by Julius Caesar at the Battle of Pharsalus, he hoped to gain their support along with that of the new Egyptian king Ptolemy XIII, having been friends with Egypt's prior king, Ptolemy XII Auletes; however the advisers of the child successor believed they could win Caesar's favor by killing his foe. The Egyptian general Achillas met Pompey at the shore in Alexandria accompanied by Septimius and a centurion named Salvius. They greeted him under a pretense of friendship and killed him upon landing.^[2]

According to both Plutarch and Caesar's account, Pompey was reassured by the presence of Septimius, whom he knew from earlier campaigns. But it was Septimius who led the attack by stabbing Pompey in the back, then Salvius and Achillas joined in.^[3] Septimius then beheaded the corpse and removed Pompey's signet ring. The killing did not placate Caesar and in the ensuing war, the Gabiniani sided with Cleopatra's brother Ptolemy XIII, against Caesar and Cleopatra. The fate of Septimius is not recorded.

In literature

Later literary accounts often attributed Pompey's murder solely to Septimius, or place the principal guilt on him. This is the case in the poem Pharsalia by the Roman poet Lucan, in which the fact that Septimius, a Roman, was doing the bidding of a foreign king is depicted as especially shameful. Lucan portrays Septimius as the archetype of a traitor: "With what reputation will posterity send Septimius into the centuries? What name will this wickedness have from those who call what Brutus did a crime?".^[4]

In the Massinger and Fletcher play The False One , Septimius is the central character, the "false one" of the title. He also appears in Pierre Corneille's La Mort de Pompée (1643).^[5] In 1910, John Masefield treated Pompey and Septimius in his The Tragedy of Pompey the Great. He also appears in George Shaw's play Caesar and Cleopatra . In the play, Caesar forgives him.

In popular culture

In the video game Assassin's Creed Origins , one of the main antagonists, referred to either as Lucius Septimius or as "The Jackal", is based on him. This fictional version of Septimius is the second-in-command of the Order of the Ancients, a precursor organization to the Templar Order. Additionally, his story is greatly expanded from the historical record, being pardoned by Caesar and serving him until his assassination on the Ides of March, shortly before Caesar's own assassination.

In the television drama series Rome, he is portrayed by David Kennedy. Caesar orders his execution.

Notes

1 2 Beryl Rawson, The Politics of Friendship: Pompey and Cicero Volume: 6. Sydney University Press. 1978, p.177
↑ Maspero, pp. 316-19.
↑ Plutarch, Life of Pompey
↑ S. H. Braund (trans), Lucan, Pharsalia, book 8, 610.
↑ Eugene M. Waith, "The Death of Pompey: English Style, French Style," in: Shakespeare and Dramatic Tradition, William R. Elton and William B. Long, eds., Newark, DE, University of Delaware Press, 1989; pp. 276–85.

Related Research Articles

Marcus Antonius, commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the autocratic Roman Empire.

This article concerns the period 49 BC – 40 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleopatra</span> Queen of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC

Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler. A member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, she was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great. After the death of Cleopatra, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, marking the end of the last Hellenistic-period state in the Mediterranean and of the age that had lasted since the reign of Alexander. Her first language was Koine Greek, and she was the only known Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator</span> Pharaoh of Egypt from 51 to 47 BC

Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator was Pharaoh of Egypt from 51 to 47 BC, and one of the last members of the Ptolemaic dynasty. He was the son of Ptolemy XII and the brother of and co-ruler with Cleopatra VII. Cleopatra's exit from Egypt caused a civil war to break out between the pharaohs. Ptolemy later ruled jointly with his other sister, Arsinoe IV.

Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysus was a king of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt who ruled from 80 to 58 BC and then again from 55 BC until his death in 51 BC. He was commonly known as Auletes, referring to his love of playing the flute in Dionysian festivals. A member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, he was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleopatra VI</span> Possible Egyptian Ptolemaic queen

Cleopatra VI Tryphaena or Cleopatra Tryphaena II was a queen of Ptolemaic Egypt who ruled alongside Berenice IV, who was either her sister or daughter.

Berenice IV Epiphaneia was a Greek princess and Queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty. From 58 to 55 BC, Berenice IV ruled Egypt during the political exile of her father Ptolemy XII Auletes to Rome. It is unclear if she was co-ruler of Egypt with her mother Cleopatra V or a possible sibling Cleopatra VI from 58 to 57 BC, but became sole ruler in 57 BC. On the return of Ptolemy XII to Egypt with Roman military aid and an army led by Aulus Gabinius, Berenice IV was overthrown and executed by her rival father, who later bequeathed his throne to his daughter Cleopatra VII and son Ptolemy XIII as co-rulers.

Arsinoë IV was the fourth of six children and the youngest daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes. Queen and co-ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt with her brother Ptolemy XIII from 48 BC – 47 BC, she was one of the last members of the Ptolemaic dynasty of ancient Egypt. Arsinoë IV was also the half sister of Cleopatra VII. For her role in conducting the siege of Alexandria against her sister Cleopatra, Arsinoë was taken as a prisoner of war to Rome by the Roman triumvir Julius Caesar following the defeat of Ptolemy XIII in the Battle of the Nile. Arsinoë was then exiled to the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in Roman Anatolia, but she was executed there by orders of triumvir Mark Antony in 41 BC at the behest of his lover Cleopatra VII.

Pothinus or Potheinos, a eunuch, was regent for Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. He is most remembered for turning Ptolemy against his sister and co-ruler Cleopatra, thus starting a civil war, and for having Pompey decapitated and presenting the severed head to Julius Caesar according to some sources.

The Battle of the Nile in early 47 BC saw the combined Roman–Egyptian armies of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra VII defeat those of the rival Queen Arsinoe IV and King Ptolemy XIII and secure the throne of Egypt.

Ganymedes was a eunuch in the court of Cleopatra VII who proved an able adversary of Julius Caesar.

The Alexandrian war, also called the Alexandrine war, was a phase of Caesar's civil war in which Julius Caesar involved himself in an Egyptian dynastic struggle. Caesar attempted to mediate a succession dispute between Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII and exact repayment of certain Egyptian debts.

The False One is a late Jacobean stage play by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, though formerly placed in the Beaumont and Fletcher canon. It was first published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647.

Achillas was one of the guardians of the Egyptian king Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator, and commander of the king's troops, when Pompey fled to Egypt in September 48 BC. He was called by Julius Caesar a man of extraordinary daring, and it was he and Lucius Septimius who killed Pompey at the suggestion of the eunuch Pothinus and Theodotus of Chios.

Theodotus of Chios was the rhetoric tutor of the young Egyptian king Ptolemy XIII.

The siege of Alexandria was a series of skirmishes and battles occurring between the forces of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra VII, Arsinoe IV, and Ptolemy XIII, between 48 and 47 BC. During this time Caesar was engaged in a civil war against remaining Republican forces.

The Gabiniani were 2000 Roman legionaries and 500 cavalrymen stationed in Egypt by the Roman general Aulus Gabinius after he had reinstated the Pharaoh Ptolemy XII Auletes on the Egyptian throne in 55 BC. The soldiers were left to protect the King, but they soon adopted the manners of their new country and became completely alienated from the Roman Republic. After the death of Auletes in 51 BC, they helped his son Ptolemy XIII in his power struggle against his sister Cleopatra and even involved Julius Caesar, the supporter of Cleopatra, during Caesar's Civil War up to the siege of Alexandria in violent battles.

Serapion was strategos of Cyprus and an admiral of the Ptolemaic navy during the reign of Cleopatra VII in 43 BC. Against the intention of the Egyptian queen, he supported in the Roman civil war Gaius Cassius Longinus, but had to take refuge in Tyre and was finally handed over to Cleopatra in 41 BC. Perhaps he is identical with that Serapion, who was instructed by Julius Caesar to negotiate in 48 BC with the Egyptian commander Achillas.

Apollodorus was a loyal follower of the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII. In 48 BC he is supposed to have enabled Cleopatra to get in the palace of Alexandria to Julius Caesar and in this way to strengthen decisively her position in the power struggle with her brother Ptolemy XIII.

The reign of Cleopatra VII of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt began with the death of her father, Ptolemy XII Auletes, by March 51 BC. It ended with her suicide in August 30 BC, which also marked the conclusion of the Hellenistic period and the annexation of Egypt into a Roman province. In the style of her Greek predecessors, Cleopatra reigned over Egypt and other territories as an absolute monarch, although the Roman Republic frequently interfered in its internal affairs. Her personal rule of Egypt was characterized by a continued reliance on agriculture, extensive trade and conflict with other states, the tackling of corruption, strategic management of the bureaucracy, and ambitious building projects.

References

Maspero, Gaston, et al. History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria . Translated by M. L McClure and Herbert McClure. The Grolier Society, 1904.
Plutarch, Life of Pompey.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[cae-1] 1 2 Beryl Rawson, The Politics of Friendship: Pompey and Cicero Volume: 6. Sydney University Press. 1978, p.177

[2] Maspero, pp. 316-19.

[3] Plutarch, Life of Pompey

[4] S. H. Braund (trans), Lucan, Pharsalia, book 8, 610.

[5] Eugene M. Waith, "The Death of Pompey: English Style, French Style," in: Shakespeare and Dramatic Tradition, William R. Elton and William B. Long, eds., Newark, DE, University of Delaware Press, 1989; pp. 276–85.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]