The Queen of Bithynia (Latin : Bithynica regina) was a mock ancient epithet of Julius Caesar referencing his alleged homosexual relationship with King Nicomedes IV of Bithynia. The epithet and related rumour were repeatedly invoked by several of Caesar's contemporaries, such as Cicero, Licinius Calvus, Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus and Gaius Memmius. [1] Caesar himself denied such allegation under oath. [2]
Around 80 BC, Caesar, then a young man, joined the staff of Marcus Minucius Thermus in Asia for military training. [1] Thermus had been engaged in bringing Mytilene under Roman control via a siege, and dispatched Caesar to solicit a fleet from allied Bithynian king Nicomedes IV. According to Suetonius, Caesar dawdled at the Bithynian court, so that a rumour emerged of sexual relationship with Nicomedes. [1] Caesar successfully completed his task of summoning an allied fleet. The rumour was spread further when a few days after his task, Caesar returned to Bithynia. [1]
In Roman rhetoric, with modesty ( pudicitia ) at the forefront, allegations of passive homosexual activity, along with other sexual misconduct, were commonly used against young men, or the youthful period of a man's life. [1] Another example was the trial of Marcus Caelius Rufus, where one of the prosecutors, Sempronius Atratinus, called him a "pretty-boy Jason" (pulchellus Iason). [1]
Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus used the epithet in the edicts he issued during his joint consulship with Caesar. [1] A man named Octavius, at a public assembly, addressed Pompey as "king" and Caesar as "queen" in their presence. [3] At a debate in the Senate, when Caesar recalled some benefits Rome had received from Nicomedes, Cicero interrupted him with "we all know what he gave you and what you gave him in return". [3] Consul Gaius Scribonius Curio called Caesar "every man's wife and every woman's husband". [4] Caesar's own soldiers upon victorious return from the Gallic Wars sang in parade that "Caesar got on top of the Gauls, Nicomedes got on top of Caesar". [3]
Modern biographers of Caesar, such as Matthias Gelzer, Christian Meier or Antony Kamm acknowledge the episode, mainly supporting Suetonius' notion that Caesar's stay at the Nicomedes' court directly caused allegations of a sexual relationship. [1] Adrian Goldsworthy characterized it as "a very good piece of gossip, playing on well-established Roman stereotypes". [1]
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and subsequently became dictator from 49 BC until his assassination in 44 BC. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.
This article concerns the period 49 BC – 40 BC.
This article concerns the period 69 BC – 60 BC.
This article concerns the period 79 BC – 70 BC.
Nicomedes IV Philopator was the king of Bithynia from c. 94 BC to 74 BC. He was the first son and successor of Nicomedes III of Bithynia.
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Marcus Minucius Thermus was an ancient Roman soldier and statesman. He was praetor in 81 BC and governor of Asia the following year, succeeding Murena. The capture of Mytilene occurred during his governorship; Mytilene had been in revolt against Rome and was suspected of actively or tacitly aiding so-called pirates in the region. Suetonius credits Thermus with the victory, but the siege may have been conducted by or in coordination with Lucius Licinius Lucullus. Little else is known of his life or career.
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Young Caesar is an opera written in 1970 by Lou Harrison which depicting the younger years of Roman dictator Julius Caesar, such as his relationship with his first fiancée Cossutia and his flight from Rome to escape the wrath of Dictator Sulla, but it focuses most of all on Caesar's sexual relationship with the Bithynian king Nicomedes IV of Bithynia. Harrison originally designed it as a puppet opera.
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