Marcus Junius Silanus (consul 109 BC)

Last updated

Marcus Junius D. f. D. n. Silanus was a member of the Junii Silani, a noble Roman family, who held the consulship in 109 BC. [1]

Contents

Biography

Because there are only a few and short sources about the history of the Roman Republic in the second half of the second century BC, we have to rely on suppositions as to which public offices Silanus held before his consulate. In 145 BC, he was perhaps one of the three magistrates who administered the Roman mint. He is probably identical with the tribune of the people Marcus Junius D. f., who introduced in 124 or 123 BC, a law against exploitative Roman governors (lex Iunia), which preceded the lex Acilia repetundarum of the tribune Manius Acilius Glabrio (123 or 122 BC). In 113 or 112 BC, Silanus was perhaps praetor in Spain. [2]

In 109 BC, Silanus became the first member of his family, the Junii Silani, to be elected consul. He held this highest public office together with Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus, who had to continue the war against Jugurtha, king of Numidia, whereas Silanus undertook to fight against the Cimbri. To increase the power of Rome, Silanus abolished exemptions from military service. [3] Probably before their battle with the consul the traveling Cimbri had asked to be given a domicile on Roman territory, but the Senate had declined their request. [lower-alpha 1] Then Silanus attacked the Cimbri, but he was defeated in an uncertain location in Gallia Transalpina. [lower-alpha 2]

In 104 BC, the tribune of the people Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus put Silanus on trial for his military failure, but the former consul was acquitted. [4]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ This opinion holds Florus (Roman history 1.38.2), whereas the epitome of Livy (Livy, Ab Urbe Condita Libri , book 65) seems to have made a mistake with its assertion that the Cimbri asked for a place to settle only after their victory over Silanus.
  2. ↑ Livy, epitome of book 65; Florus, Roman history 1.38.2-4; Marcus Velleius Paterculus, Compendium of Roman history 2.12.2; Asconius, p. 68 ed. Clark; Eutropius (Abridgement of Roman history 4.27.3) wrongly claims that Silanus had won the battle.

Related Research Articles

The gens Acilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, that flourished from the middle of the third century BC until at least the fifth century AD, a period of seven hundred years. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Gaius Acilius, who was quaestor in 203 and tribune of the plebs in 197 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manlia gens</span> Roman family

The gens Manlia was one of the oldest and noblest patrician houses at Rome, from the earliest days of the Republic until imperial times. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Gnaeus Manlius Cincinnatus, consul in 480 BC, and for nearly five centuries its members frequently held the most important magistracies. Many of them were distinguished statesmen and generals, and a number of prominent individuals under the Empire claimed the illustrious Manlii among their ancestors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Junia gens</span> Ancient Roman family

The gens Junia or Iunia was one of the most celebrated families of ancient Rome. The gens may originally have been patrician, and was already prominent in the last days of the Roman monarchy. Lucius Junius Brutus was the nephew of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last King of Rome, and on the expulsion of Tarquin in 509 BC, he became one of the first consuls of the Roman Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calpurnia gens</span> Ancient Roman family

The gens Calpurnia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, which first appears in history during the third century BC. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Calpurnius Piso in 180 BC, but from this time their consulships were very frequent, and the family of the Pisones became one of the most illustrious in the Roman state. Two important pieces of Republican legislation, the lex Calpurnia of 149 BC and lex Acilia Calpurnia of 67 BC were passed by members of the gens.

Appius Junius Silanus, whom Cassius Dio calls Gaius Appius Silanus, was consul in AD 28, with Publius Silius Nerva as his colleague. He was accused of majestas, or treason, in AD 32 along with a number of senators, but he and Gaius Calvisius Sabinus were saved by one of the informers, Celsus, a tribune of a city cohort.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcia gens</span> Ancient Roman family

The gens Marcia, occasionally written Martia, was one of the oldest and noblest houses at ancient Rome. They claimed descent from the second and fourth Roman Kings, and the first of the Marcii appearing in the history of the Republic would seem to have been patrician; but all of the families of the Marcii known in the later Republic were plebeian. The first to obtain the consulship was Gaius Marcius Rutilus in 357 BC, only a few years after the passage of the lex Licinia Sextia opened this office to the plebeians.

Gaius Cassius Longinus was a Roman consul in 73 BC.

Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges was Roman consul in 265 BC, and died of wounds received in battle at Volsinii, where he had been sent to help put down a revolt. There is some uncertainty as to his identity.

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

Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus was a politician and historian of the Roman Republic. He was consul in 129 BC.

The gens Servilia was a patrician family at ancient Rome. The gens was celebrated during the early ages of the Republic, and the names of few gentes appear more frequently at this period in the consular Fasti. It continued to produce men of influence in the state down to the latest times of the Republic, and even in the imperial period. The first member of the gens who obtained the consulship was Publius Servilius Priscus Structus in 495 BC, and the last of the name who appears in the consular Fasti is Quintus Servilius Silanus, in AD 189, thus occupying a prominent position in the Roman state for nearly seven hundred years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plaetoria gens</span> Ancient Roman family

The gens Plaetoria was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. A number of Plaetorii appear in history during the first and second centuries BC, but none of this gens ever obtained the consulship. Several Plaetorii issued denarii from the late 70s into the 40s, of which one of the best known alludes to the assassination of Caesar on the Ides of March, since one of the Plaetorii was a partisan of Pompeius during the Civil War.

Marcus Junius D. f. M. n. Silanus was a Roman senator and consul in 25 BC as the colleague of Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, the emperor Augustus.

Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus was a Roman senator. He was consul in AD 19, with Lucius Norbanus Balbus as his colleague.

The gens Cominia was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome, which appears in history from the Republic to imperial times. The first of this gens to hold the consulship was Postumus Cominius Auruncus in 501 BC, and from this some scholars have inferred that the Cominii were originally patrician; but all of the later Cominii known to history were plebeians.

Bruttedius Niger was a rhetor and politician of the early Roman Empire. He also wrote a historical work.

Marcus Junius Silanus was one of the most successful Roman commanders in the Spanish theatre of the Second Punic War. He is best remembered for his defeat of Hanno and Mago in Celtiberia in 207 BC.

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.

Gaius Servilius Axilla was a Roman aristocrat and statesman during the early Republic. He held the senior executive offices of consul in 427 BC and consular tribune in 419, 418 and 417 BC. He also served as master of the horse, or deputy, to the dictator Quintus Servilius Priscus Fidenas in 418 BC, when the latter had been appointed to wage war against the Aequi.

Marcus Horatius Turrinus Barbatus was a Roman senator from the early Republic, who served as consul in 449 BC alongside Lucius Valerius Poplicola Potitus. According to Roman historical tradition, he and Valerius played an important role in ending the Decemvirate and bringing harmony between the patrician and plebeian orders. To the two consuls are traditionally attributed the Valerio-Horatian Laws, which gave full force of law to measures passed by plebiscite, restored the right of any citizen to appeal to the people, and confirmed the sacrosanctity of plebeian tribunes. The historicity of these laws has been doubted.

References

  1. ↑ Münzer, Friedrich (1918). "Iunius 169". Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft . Vol. X, 1. col. 1093.
  2. ↑ Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (1999). "Iunius [I 32]". Der neue Pauly . Vol. 6. col. 65.
  3. ↑ Asconius, p. 68 ed. Clark
  4. ↑ Cicero, Divinatio in Caecilium 67; in Verrem actio 2.118; Asconius, p. 80 ed. Clark
Preceded by Consul of the Roman Republic
with Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus
109 BC		Succeeded by
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.