Gaius Sosius
Gaius Sosius | |
---|---|
Years active | fl. 39–17 BC, possibly still alive as late as AD 6 |
Office | |
Children | 1 |
Military career | |
Allegiance | Mark Antony |
Wars | Siege of Jerusalem Bellum Siculum War of Actium |
Awards | Roman triumph (34 BC) |
Gaius Sosius (fl. 39–17 BC) was a Roman general and politician who featured in the wars of the late
Joining Antony in the Eastern Mediterranean, Sosius became one of his lieutenants in the ensuing civil war. He commanded part of the fleet of Antony and Cleopatra at the battle of Actium in 31 BC, following which he was taken captive. Receiving a pardon, he was later rehabilitated and enrolled into a college of priests by the emperor Augustus. Sosius oversaw the rebuilding of the temple of Apollo Sosianus in Rome, which came to be named after him, and appears to have acquired significant wealth. He may have lived late into Augustus's reign.
Life
Early career
Gaius Sosius was likely of
Upon completion of the siege, Sosius was acclaimed as
Consulship and civil war
Gaius Sosius assumed the consulship in 32 BC just as the Second Triumvirate, which had ruled Rome for the last decade, was about to legally expire and relations between the triumvirs Antony and Octavian collapsed.[15] Sosius and his colleague in office, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, were both partisans of Antony; they brought from him a despatch seeking the official ratification of land grants in the east for his children with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, the so-called Donations of Alexandria,[16] as well as a proposal for the triumvirs to resign their dictatorial powers.[17] The consuls never published the despatch, however, as they apparently feared that the Donations would be unpopular, and Octavian also pressured them to censor any content unfavorable to himself.[18] Instead, upon entering office, Sosius took the lead with a speech to the Senate in which he praised Antony and openly denounced Octavian.[19] He also introduced a formal motion against the latter, but this was promptly vetoed by a tribune of the plebs.[20] In response, Octavian reconvened the Senate with armed men on the outside, denounced Sosius and Antony, and promised to produce evidence that would incriminate the latter.[19] The consuls and other sympathetic senators fled the city to join Antony and Cleopatra at Ephesus, effectively creating their own makeshift Senate in opposition to the one at Rome.[21] Back in the capital, Sosius, Domitius and Antony were all promptly stripped of office and war was declared on Cleopatra's Egypt.[22]
Sosius was one of Antony's chief lieutenants in
Later life
Sosius is not known to have undertaken further military service in his life after Actium.
Gaius Sosius is not known to have had sons,[33] but at least one daughter is attested, Sosia, who married Sextus Nonius Quinctilianus, consul in AD 8.[34] Possibly a second daughter was Sosia Galla, wife of the consul Gaius Silius.[35]
Citations
- ^ Syme, pp. 200, 498, 563; Wiseman, p. 262 (no. 407).
- ^ Fluss, col. 1177; Reinhold, p. 53.
- ^ Shipley, p. 77; Syme, p. 223 (note 3).
- ^ Grant, pp. 39–40; Burnett, Amandry & Ripollès, p. 263.
- ^ Gray, p. 22.
- ^ Broughton, pp. 393, 400.
- ^ Reinhold, pp. 53, 54.
- ^ Shipley, p. 80.
- ^ Josephus, Antiquities, xiv. 16. 2, 3; Jewish War, i. 18. 2, 3
- ^ Grant, pp. 40, 393, 394; Broughton, pp. 402–403.
- ^ Broughton, pp. 408, 409, 412.
- ^ Shipley, pp. 80–81, 84.
- ^ Fluss, coll. 1177, 1179; Shipley, pp. 73, 83–85.
- ^ Burnett, Amandry & Ripollès, p. 263.
- ^ Broughton, p. 417; Syme, pp. 276–277.
- ^ Broughton, p. 417; Gray, pp. 15–16.
- ^ Lange, p. 61.
- ^ Gray, p. 16.
- ^ a b Syme, p. 278.
- ^ Shipley, p. 81.
- ^ Reinhold, pp. 85, 89, 90.
- ^ Syme, p. 279; Gray, p. 15.
- ^ Syme, pp. 295–296.
- ^ Fluss, col. 1179; Bowman, Champlin & Lintott, p. 56.
- ^ Reinhold, p. 113.
- ^ Shipley, p. 82.
- ^ Syme, pp. 297, 299.
- ^ Fluss, col. 1179.
- ^ Fluss, coll. 1179, 1180.
- ^ Grant, pp. 11, 41, 89 (and notes).
- ^ Reinhold, pp. 104, 124; Syme, pp. 349–350 (note 3).
- ^ Cramer, pp. 170–171 (and note 59).
- ^ Grant, p. 176 (note 3).
- ^ Syme, p. 498.
- ^ Gaius Stern, Women Children and Senators on the Ara Pacis Augustae, University of California Berkeley dissertation 2006, page 353, n.88
References
- ISBN 0-521-26430-8.
- Broughton, T. Robert S. (1952). The Magistrates of the Roman Republic Volume II: 99 B.C.–31 B.C. New York: American Philological Association.
- Burnett, Andrew; ISBN 0-7141-0871-5.
- Cramer, Frederick H. (1945). "Bookburning and Censorship in Ancient Rome: A Chapter from the History of Freedom of Speech". JSTOR 2707362.
- Fluss, Max (1927), "Sosius 2", Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, volume 3A.1, columns 1176–1180.
- ISBN 0-521-07457-6.
- Gray, E.W. (1975). "The crisis in Rome at the beginning of 32 B.C." (PDF). The Proceedings of the African Classical Associations. 13: 15–29. ISSN 0555-3059. Archived from the original(PDF) on 3 August 2019.
- Lange, Carsten Hjort (2009). Res Publica Constituta: Actium, Apollo and the Accomplishment of the Triumviral Assignment. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-17501-3.
- Reinhold, Meyer (1988). From Republic to Principate: An Historical Commentary on Cassius Dio's Roman History Books 49–52 (36–29 B.C.). Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press. ISBN 1-55540-112-0.
- Shipley, Frederick W. (1930). "C. Sosius: His Coins, his Triumph and his Temple of Apollo" (PDF). Language and Literature. New series. 3: 73–87. ISSN 0963-9470. Archived from the original(PDF) on 14 August 2021.
- Syme, Ronald (1939). The Roman Revolution. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Archived.
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: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ISBN 0-19-814713-9.