Marcus Domitius Calvinus (praetor 80 BC)

Last updated • 2 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Marcus Domitius Calvinus (or possibly Lucius Domitius Calvinus) [note 1] (died 79 BC) was an ancient Roman politician and military commander who was killed during the early stages of the Sertorian War.

Contents

Career

Domitius Calvinus was a member of the plebeian gens Domitia, who was elected praetor, serving in the office around the year 80 BC. [1] [note 2]

For the following year (79 BC) he was assigned the propraetorian province of Hispania Citerior. [2] His tenure coincided with the outbreak of the Sertorian War. Quintus Sertorius, an opponent of the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla, had landed in Hispania Ulterior, and defeated its propraetor, Lucius Fufidius. Sertorius then took control of Hispania Ulterior while his legate and quaestor Lucius Hirtuleius marched on Domitius Calvinus in Hispania Citerior. [3] In the meantime, the Senate decided that a more experienced commander was required. Therefore, they turned Hispania Ulterior into a proconsular province and sent the proconsul Metellus Pius as its new governor, and also gave him the command of the war against Sertorius. [4]

It was around this time, with Metellus Pius on his way, that Domitius Calvinus crossed over into Hispania Ulterior, but found his passage blocked by the army of Hirtuleius who had fortified Consabura. Hirtuleius wore down Domitius Calvinus’s army by guerrilla warfare.

Hirtuleius, a lieutenant of Quintus Sertorius, was taking a handful of cohorts up a narrow road between two steep and impassable mountains. On being told that a substantial enemy force was approaching he dug a ditch between the mountains, and set a wooden rampart behind that. He then set fire to the rampart and made his escape with the enemy cut off [on the other side of the flames]. [5]

Eventually a battle was fought at the Anas river; [6] here, the two forces engaged each other, with the end result that Domitius’ army was defeated. Domitius Calvinus either died in battle or was killed by his own troops as a peace-offering by his own troops who defected to the rebels. [7] [8] [9]

Metellus Pius, unaware of the disaster, had already sent a legate named Lucius Thorius Balbus to provide assistance to Domitius Calvinus, but he too was defeated, this time by Sertorius. Calvinus’ replacement as governor was Quintus Calidius. [10]

Footnotes

  1. Domitius’ praenomen is given as Marcus in Livy and Lucius in Eutropius, while the cognomen Calvinus is Broughton’s correction of Plutarch’s text – see Broughton, pg. 85
  2. The dates of his praetorship and subsequent career are uncertain. It is possible that Domitius Calvinus was praetor in 81 BC, with the date of his propraetorship and death dated to 80 BC – see Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, Vol III (1986), pg. 84

Related Research Articles

Quintus Sertorius was a Roman general and statesman who led a large-scale rebellion against the Roman Senate on the Iberian peninsula. He had been a prominent member of the populist faction of Cinna and Marius. During the later years of the civil war of 83–81 BC, he was sent to recover the Iberian Peninsula. When his faction lost the war he was proscribed (outlawed) by the dictator Sulla. Supported by a majority of the native Iberian tribes, Sertorius skillfully used irregular warfare to repeatedly defeat various commanders sent by Rome to subdue him. He was never decisively beaten on the battlefield and remained a thorn in the Senate's side until his murder in 73 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius</span> 2nd/1st century BCE Roman politician and general, Pontifex Maximus

Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius was a Roman politician and general. Like the other members of the influential Caecilii Metelli family, he was a leader of the Optimates, the conservative faction opposed to the Populares during the last century of the Roman Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of Portuguese history (Lusitania and Gallaecia)</span>

This is a historical timeline of Portugal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaccaei</span> Pre-Roman Celtic people of Northern Spain

The Vaccaei or Vaccei were a pre-Roman Celtic people of Spain, who inhabited the sedimentary plains of the central Duero valley, in the Meseta Central of northern Hispania. Their capital was Intercatia in Paredes de Nava.

The Battle of the Baetis River was fought between an army of the Roman Republic and a rebel army at the Baetis river in Spain. The battle took place in 80 BC at the start of the Sertorian War. The Romans were led by Lucius Fufidius, while the rebels were led by the Roman rebel Quintus Sertorius. The rebel army was victorious, gaining Sertorius control over Hispania Ulterior.

Marcus PerpernaVeiento was a Roman aristocrat, statesman and general. He fought in Sulla's civil war, Lepidus' failed rebellion of 77 BC and from 76 to 72 BC in the Sertorian War. He conspired against and assassinated Quintus Sertorius, and was defeated and executed by Pompey the Great.

The Sertorian War was a civil war fought from 80 to 72 BC between a faction of Roman rebels (Sertorians) and the government in Rome (Sullans). The war was fought on the Iberian Peninsula and was one of the Roman civil wars of the first century BC. The Sertorians, a coalition of Celts, Aquitanians, Iberians and Roman and Italic rebels, fought against the representatives of the regime established by Sulla. The war takes its name from Quintus Sertorius, the leader of the opposition. It was notable for Sertorius' successful use of guerrilla warfare. The war ended after Sertorius was assassinated by Marcus Perperna, who was then promptly defeated by Pompey.

Titus Didius was a politician and general of the Roman Republic. In 98 BC he became the first member of his family to be consul. He is credited with the restoration of the Villa Publica, and for his command in Hispania Citerior. He held two Triumphs, one for his victories over the Scordisci, another for his victories in Spain.

Lucius Hirtuleius was a legate of Quintus Sertorius during the Sertorian War, in which he fought from 80 BC until his death in 75 BC. He is considered Sertorius's most trusted lieutenant, his second-in-command, and was often given independent commands. During the war he defeated the Roman governors Marcus Domitius Calvinus and Lucius Manlius.

This section of the timeline of Hispania concerns Spanish and Portuguese history events from the Carthaginian conquests to before the barbarian invasions.

Decimus Junius Brutus was a Roman politician who was elected consul in 77 BC.

The gens Domitia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus, consul in 332 BC. His son, Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus Maximus, was consul in 283, and the first plebeian censor. The family produced several distinguished generals, and towards the end of the Republic, the Domitii were looked upon as one of the most illustrious gentes.

The gens Hirtuleia was a minor plebeian family of equestrian rank at ancient Rome, which appears in history during the final century of the Republic, and under the early Empire.

The gens Manilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are frequently confused with the Manlii, Mallii, and Mamilii. Several of the Manilii were distinguished in the service of the Republic, with Manius Manilius obtaining the consulship in 149 BC; but the family itself remained small and relatively unimportant.

The Battle of Lauron was fought in 76 BC by a rebel force under the command of the renegade Roman general Quintus Sertorius and an army of Roman Republic under the command of the Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. The battle was part of the Sertorian War and ended in victory for Sertorius and his rebels. The battle was recorded in detail by Frontinus in his Stratagems and by Plutarch in his Lives of Sertorius and Pompey.

The Battle of Sucro was fought in 75 BC between a rebel army under the command of the Roman rebel Quintus Sertorius and a Roman army under the command of the Roman general Pompey. The battle was fought on the banks of the river Sucro near a town bearing the same name. It ended indecisively: with Sertorius winning a tactical victory but having to withdraw because Pompey's colleague Metellus and his army were approaching.

The Battle of Saguntum was fought in 75 BC between forces of the Roman Republic under the command of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius and an army of Sertorian rebels under the command of Quintus Sertorius. The location of the battle is disputed, but most likely near modern Langa de Duero, as Sallust informs us the battle was fought on the banks of the river Douro. The battle lasted from noon till night and ended in a draw.

The Battle of Italica was fought in 75 BC between a rebel army under the command of Lucius Hirtuleius a legate of the Roman rebel Quintus Sertorius and a Roman Republican army under the command of the Roman general and proconsul of Hispania Ulterior Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius. The battle was fought near Italica and ended in a stunning victory for the Metellan army.

The Battle of Valentia was fought in 75 BC between a rebel army under the command of Marcus Perpenna Vento and general called Herennius both legates of the Roman rebel Quintus Sertorius and a Roman Republican army under the command of the Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. The battle was fought at Valentia in Spain and ended in a stunning victory for the Pompeian army.

Gaius Memmius was a Roman plebeian and a soldier of the Late Roman Republic.

References

  1. Broughton, pg. 79
  2. Broughton, pg. 84
  3. Philip Matyszak, Sertorius and the struggle for Spain, p.79.
  4. Broughton, pg. 84; Brennan, pg. 506
  5. Frontinus, Stratagems, 1.5.8.
  6. Brennan, pgs. 505-506
  7. Plutarch, Sert. 12
  8. Livy, Epit. 90
  9. Eutropius vi. 1; C.Konrad, Plutarch's Sertorius: A historical commentary; Philip Matyszak, Sertorius and the struggle for Spain, p.80.
  10. Brennan, pg. 506

Sources