Suetonius: The Twelve Caesars - Index A
Aborigines, a term used here for the indigenous population of Latium. They came from the area of Reate, drove the Sakrani or Siculi from Lazio and defeated the Umbrians. Sallust describes them as uncultured, other sources disagree, however, and describe a monarchical organized community. Several kings, many of whom became gods, were: Saturn, Thybris, Faunus, Aventinus, Picus and the alleged namesake of the country of Latium, Latinus. They appear together in Roman mythology and legend with the Trojans as the root-stocks of the Latin people.
BookSevenXXXVI Faunus was their king.
Accius (170BC - c. 86BC), or Lucius Attius, was a tragedian and literary scholar. The son of a freedman, Accius was born at Pisaurum in Umbria. The year of his death is unknown, but Cicero (64 years younger) speaks of having conversed with him on literary matters. About 700 lines from his works survive.
BookFourXXX Caligula quotes ‘Oderint, dum metuant’.
Acerronius Proculus, Gnaeus, was consul in 37AD, the year in which Tiberius died. He was perhaps a descendant of the Gnaeus Acerronius whom Cicero mentions in his oration for Tullius, Pro Tullio, from 71BC. He may also have been the father of Acerronia Polla, a friend of Agrippina the Younger, murdered by the emperor Nero in AD59.
BookThreeLXXIII Consul in 37AD.
Achaica, see Mummia
Achilles was the greatest warrior among the Greek heros in Homer’s Iliad. Some post-Homeric sources claim that in order to keep Achilles safe from the Trojan War, he was concealed at the court of Lycomedes, king of Skyros. There, Achilles was disguised as a girl and lived among Lycomedes’ daughters, under the name ‘Pyrrha’ (the red-haired).
BookThreeLXX His name among the girls was the subject of one of Tiberius’s questions to the grammarians.
Acilius, Gaius, was a soldier who distinguished himself in the naval battle off Massilia (Marseilles).
BookOneLXVIII His bravery at Massilia.
Acilius Aviola, Manius was consul in 54AD.
BookFiveXLV Claudius died during his consulship.
Acilius Glabrio, Manius was consul with Trajan in 91AD. He was exiled and then executed by order of Domitian probably in AD95. He is claimed as an early Christian convert.
BookEightXLVI Executed for plotting rebellion.
Acte, Claudia, was a freedwoman who became a mistress of the emperor Nero. She came from Asia Minor and may have been a slave of the Emperor Claudius, or of Octavia, Claudius’s daughter.
BookSixXXVIII Nero’s mistress.
BookSixL She helped to deposit Nero’s ashes in the family tomb.
Actium was the ancient name of a promontory of western Greece in northwestern Acarnania, at the mouth of the Sinus Ambracius (Gulf of Arta) opposite Nicopolis, which was later founded by Augustus on the north side of the strait. On the promontory was an ancient temple of Apollo Actius, which was enlarged by Augustus (Octavian) who also renewed the quinquennial games known as Actia or Ludi Actiaci. There was a village, on the promontory also called Actium. The Battle of Actium was fought between the forces of Octavian and the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, on 2 September 31BC, in the Ionian Sea nearby. Octavian’s fleet was commanded by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, while Antony’s fleet was supported by that of Cleopatra VII, Queen of Ptolemaic Egypt. Octavian’s victory enabled him to consolidate his power over Rome and its dominions.
BookTwoIX Augustus (Octavian) involved in civil war there.
BookTwoXVII Octavian (Augustus) achieved victory there.
BookTwoXVIII Augustus also consecrated the site of his camp.
BookTwoXXII BookThreeVI Augustus celebrated his victory at Actium in his triple-triumph of 29BC.
BookTwoXCVI An omen of Augustus’ victory there.
BookFourXXIII Caligula refused to allow the annual victory celebration.
Actius, was a comic actor whose freedom was purchased by Tiberius.
BookThreeXLVII Mentioned.
Actorius Naso, Marcus, a historian.
BookOneIX BookOneLII Mentioned.
Adminius, Amminius or Amminus was a son of Cunobelinus, ruler of the Catuvellauni, a tribe of Iron Age Britain. He himself was ruler of the Cantiaci of eastern Kent, and was deposed and exiled by his father c. 40AD. He fled to Europe with a small group of followers and surrendered to the Romans there. Sallustius Lucullus, Roman governor of Britain in the late 1st century may have been a son of this prince.
BookFourXLIV His surrender was received by Caligula.
Aegisthus, in Greek mythology was the son of Thyestes and of his daughter, Pelopia. While Agamemnon was absent on his expedition against Troy, Aegisthus seduced Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon, and impiously offered thanks to the gods for the crime. When Agamemnon returned, Aegisthus treacherously murdered him.
BookOneL Caesar described by Pompey as an ‘Aegisthus’.
Aelia Paetina was the daughter of the consul of 4AD, Sextus Aelius Catus. She was raised by her relative the Praetorian Guard Prefect, Lucius Seius Strabo, her adoptive brother being Lucius Aelius Sejanus, commander of the Praetorian Guard under Tiberius. Aelia Paetina married Claudius in 28AD, as his second wife. Their only child was their daughter Claudia Antonia, born in 30AD. Claudius divorced Paetina after October 31, when her adoptive brother fell from power and was murdered.
BookFiveXXVI Second wife of Claudius.
BookFiveXXVII Her daughter Claudia Antonia.
Aelianus, see Aemelius
Aelius Plautius Lamia Aemilianus, Lucius was consul suffectus in 80AD, under Titus, and the first husband of Domitian’s wife Domitia Longina.
BookEightXXXVII His wife Domitia Longina married Domitian.
BookEightXLVI Executed by Domitian.
Aelius Seianus, Lucius, known as Sejanus (d. 31AD) was an Equestrian by birth, the son of Lucius Seius Strabo who became Governor of Egypt, and succeeded his father as prefect of the Imperial bodyguard, the Praetorian Guard, which he commanded from 14AD until his death in 31AD. When Tiberius withdrew to Capri in 26, Sejanus became de facto ruler of the empire. For a time the most influential and feared citizen of Rome, He fell from power in 31AD, the year of his consulship. Amidst suspicion of conspiracy, Sejanus was arrested and executed, along with his followers.
BookThreeXLVIII Tiberius paid a bounty to those Praetorian guards and Syrian legions who did not acknowledge Sejanus.
BookThreeLV BookThreeLXV BookFourXII BookFiveVI Tiberius brought about his downfall.
BookThreeLXI Tiberius’s subsequent persecution of Sejanus’s friends.
BookThreeLXII His rumoured poisoning of Drusus the Younger.
BookFourXXX Caligula called the Senate disparagingly ‘friends of Sejanus’.
BookFiveXXVII Claudius’ son Drusus was betrothed to Sejanus’s daughter Junilla, shortly before Drusus died.
Aemilia Lepida (b. c. 5BC) was the eldest daughter and first born child of Julia the Younger (the first granddaughter of the Emperor Augustus) and the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus. Lepida married, by 13AD, Appius Junius Silanus.
BookFiveXXVI Her betrothal to Claudius was broken off c. 8AD.
Aemilius Aelianus, a Cordoban.
BookTwoLI Accused of vilifying Augustus.
Aemilius Lepidus, Marcus (120BC – 77BC), was the father of the triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and of the consul of 50 BC Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paulus. He was politically allied to Sulla, but once the dictator had resigned in 79BC, Lepidus attempted to undermine the Sullan constitution. Sent to administer Transalpine Gaul, he ultimately brought his army back to Rome, where he was defeated by Catulus in a pitched battle on the Campus Martius. Forced into exile in Sardinia, he died soon afterwards. His fellow rebel, Marcus Junius Brutus the Elder, the father of Caesar’s assassin of the same name, remained at Mutina, in Gaul. Pompey marched against him, but Brutus surrendered and was killed.
BookOneIII Julius Caesar contemplated joining his faction.
BookOneV Supported by Lucius Cornelius Cinna.
Aemilius Lepidus, Marcus (the Triumvir) (b. c. 89BC or 88BC, d. late 13BC or early 12BC) rose to become a member of the Second Triumvirate and Pontifex Maximus. His father, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, had been involved in a rebellion against the Republic which led to his death. Lepidus was among Julius Caesar’s greatest supporters. A praetor in 49BC, he ran Rome while Caesar defeated Pompey in Spain, and was rewarded with the consulship in 46BC after the defeat of the Pompeians in the East. When in February 44BC Caesar was elected dictator for life by the senate, he made Lepidus Master of the Horse, effectively his deputy. After Caesar’s assassination, Octavian, Antony and Lepidus ultimately met on an island in a river near Mutina (Modena), and formed the Second Triumvirate. Unlike the First Triumvirate of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, it was formally constituted, signalling the death of the Republic. He was consul for a second time in 42BC. After the pacification of the east and the the Battle of Philippi, during which he remained in Rome, Lepidus assumed rule of the western provinces of Hispania and Africa. Subsequently Lepidus was accused of usurping power in Sicily and of attempted rebellion and was forced into exile at Circeii. He was stripped of all his offices except that of Pontifex Maximus. He spent the rest of his life in obscurity.
BookOneLXXXII Prevented Caesar’s assassins carrying out their plans after the assassination.
BookOneLXXXVII Caesar had dined at his house on the eve of the assassination.
BookTwoVIII BookTwoXIII He formed the Second Triumvirate, with Octavian and Antony.
BookTwoXII BookThreeIV Antony fled to join him after Mutina.
BookTwoXXVII His argument to the Senate for clemency regarding future proscriptions.
BookTwoXXXI Lepidus held the office of Pontifex Maximus, the Chief Priesthood, from 44BC to his death.
BookThreeV Tiberius born during his second consulship in 42BC.
Aemilius Lepidus, Marcus, Lepidus the Younger, (d. 30BC), was the only child of triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Lepidus’ mother was Junia Secunda, a sister to Marcus Junius Brutus. Lepidus served as a Roman Senator, and was executed by Octavian (Augustus), as a leader in a conspiracy against him. Lepidus in his younger years was betrothed in 44BC to Antonia the Elder, the eldest daughter of Mark Antony. However the betrothal was later broken off.
BookTwoXIX He was executed by Augustus in 30BC for conspiring against him.
Aemilius Lepidus, Marcus (6AD - 39AD) was the son of consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus. He and his sister Aemilia Lepida (d. 36AD) were both married to siblings of the Emperor Caligula (Aemilia married Caligula’s elder brother Drusus Caesar; Lepidus married Caligula’s younger sister Julia Drusilla in 37AD. Sometime in 39AD, Caligula made public letters by his sisters Agrippina the Younger and Julia Livilla detailing adulterous affairs with Lepidus and a plot against the emperor. Lepidus was executed and Agrippina and Livilla exiled.
BookFourXXIV His trial.
BookFourXXXVI Caligula was rumoured to have had sexual intercourse with him.
BookFiveIX His involvement in the conspiracy.
BookEightII Vespasian proposed he was refused public burial.
Aemilius Mamercus, Lepidus Livianus, Consul 77BC. Brother of Marcus Livius Drusus (tribune) and son of Marcus Livius Drusus (censor), he was adopted into the Aemilii Lepidi. He married Cornelia Sulla, daughter of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, and may have been (the evidence is inconclusive) princeps senatus in the Sullan senate. He was consul in 77BC, the year after Sulla’s death.
BookOneI Identification presumed. He interceded on behalf of the young Julius Caesar.
Aemilius Papus, Lucius was praetor for Sicily in 205BC. He may be the same as the Lucius Aemilius Papus, decemvir sacrorum, who died in 171BC. He may also have been the son of the consul of the same name of 225BC.
BookTwoII Augustus’ great-grandfather served under him in Sicily in 205.
Aemilius Lepidus Paulus, Lucius was the brother of triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and son to an elder Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. He supported Cicero during the Catiline Conspiracy. Paulus was Consul in 50BC. During his consulship, Julius Caesar bribed him for his support. Paulus reconstructed the Basilica Aemilia in Rome, with part of his bribery money. Paulus joined Marcus Junius Brutus and after Brutus’ suicide in 42BC, was pardoned, living out his remaining years at Miletus.
BookOneXXIX Bribed by Caesar to elicit his support.
BookTwoXVI Mentioned as having been proscribed by Octavian.
Aemilius Lepidus Paulus, Lucius (c. 77BC - c. 14BC) was nephew to Marcus Aemilius Lepidus the Triumvir, and son of his brother Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paulus. He served as consul in 34BC and censor in 22BC. Paulus married firstly Cornelia Lentula by whom he had two children: the son being another Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paulus, executed for conspiracy sometime before 14AD, husband of Julia the Younger, grand-daughter of Augustus. Secondly he married Claudia Marcella Minor, daughter of Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor and Octavia Minor, without issue. Augustus (Octavian) was her maternal uncle. Paulus died of unknown causes
BookTwoXVI Mentioned as being on Octavian’s staff in Sicily.
BookFiveXVI He was censor in 22BC.
Aemilius Lepidus Paulus, Lucius (c. 37BC - 14AD) was the son of Aemilius Lepidus Paulus (suffect consul 34BC and later censor) and Cornelia, the elder daughter of Scribonia. He was married to Vipsania Julia, the eldest granddaughter of the Emperor Augustus. His first and only known post is that of consul in 1AD with his brother-in-law, Gaius Caesar. He is also known to have been a member of the Arval Brethren, a priestly college. His wife Julia the Younger was exiled in 8AD for having an affair with a senator. Paulus himself was executed as a conspirator in a revolt at some point between 1AD and 14AD, and may have been involved in earlier conspiracies.
BookTwoXIX Mentioned.
BookTwoLXIV BookFiveXXVI His marriage to Julia the Younger c. 5BC.
Aenaria, modern Ischia, is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples. The roughly trapezoidal island lies about 30 km from Naples. The Romans seized Ischia (and Naples) in 322BC.
BookTwoXCII Augustus exchanged the island for that of Capri, with Naples, in 6AD.
Aeneas, the mythological Trojan hero, was the son of the mortal Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was also the second cousin of King Priam of Troy. The journey of Aeneas from Troy (with help from Aphrodite), which led to the founding of the city Rome, is recounted in Virgil’s Aeneid.
BookOneXXXIX BookTwoXLIII BookThreeVI BookFourXVIII BookFiveXXI BookSixVII Supposedly Aeneas introduced the Troy Game, into Italy and his son Ascanius imparted it to the Alban kings and through them to the Romans. The game, which Augustus encouraged, consisted of a processional parade or ritual ‘dance’, by troops of boys, in which some of the participants appear to have been mounted on horseback. Virgil draws a comparison between the complicated movements of the game and the convolutions of the Cretan Labyrinth in Aeneid, V. (lines 585-591) Caligula and Claudius presented the Troy Game also. Nero performed in it as a youth.
BookSixXXXIX Aeneas carried his father on his shoulders from the ruins of Troy.
Aequiculi, Aequicoli, or the Aequi, were an ancient people of northeast Latium and the central Appennines of Italy who were defeated by the Romans, after which substantial colonies were established. They occupied the upper reaches of the valleys of the Anio, Tolenus and Himella; the last two being mountain streams running northward to join the Nar.
BookSevenXXXVI A Roman colony, named after the Vitelli, was defended against them by the Vitelli.
Aesculapius was a god of medicine and healing in ancient Greek and Roman religion. In Rome, there was a major temple to the god on Tiber Island, Isola Tiberina, located in the southern bend of the Tiber, and associated with the myth of how his worship was introduced to the City. BookTwoLIX His statue in Rome.
BookFiveXXV Claudius stopped sick slaves being abandoned on the Island.
Aeserninus, see Claudius
Aesius Proculus was a leading centurion’s son noted for his good looks.
BookFourXXXV Caligula had him executed.
Aetna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania.
BookFourLI Its eruption scared Caligula.
Aetolia is is a mountainous region of Greece on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, forming the eastern part of the modern prefecture of Aetolia-Acarnania.
BookTwoXVII Augustus met with a storm at sea between there and the Peloponnese in 30BC.
Afer, see Tedius
Afranius, Lucius was a comic poet, who lived at the beginning of the 1st century BC. His comedies described Roman scenes and manners (the genre called comoediae togatae) and the subjects were mostly taken from the life of the lower classes (comoediae tabernariae).
BookSixXI His play ‘The Fire’ performed for Nero.
Afranius, Lucius, d. 46BC was a legatus and client of Pompey. He served with Pompey during his Iberian campaigns against Sertorius in the late 70’s, and remained in his service through to the Civil War. He was killed after the Battle of Thapsus in 46BC.
BookOneXXXIV Defeated by Caesar in Spain.
BookOneLXXV His behaviour at Ilerda.
Agamennon was a Greek king, leader of the army at Troy in Homer’s Iliad.
BookThreeLXI Mentioned.
Agermus, or Agerinus, was a freedman of Agrippina the Younger.
BookSixXXXIV He was arrested on Nero’s orders.
Agrippa, Marcus Vipsanius (c. 63BC – 12BC) was a close friend, and defence minister of the future emperor Augustus. He was responsible for many of his military victories, most notably Actium against the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII of Egypt. He was son-in-law to Augustus, maternal grandfather of the Emperor Caligula, father-in-law of the Emperors Tiberius and Claudius, and maternal great-grandfather of the Emperor Nero. He probably served in Caesar’s campaign of 46/45BC against Pompey and Caesar regarded him highly enough to send him with Octavius in 45BC to study at Apollonia. From then on Agrippa played a major part in Augustus’ career, as military commander and admiral, also undertaking major public works inRome and elsewhere, and writing works on geography (following his survey of the Empire) and other subjects. His last campaign initiated the conquest of the upper Danube region, which would become the Roman province of Pannonia in 13BC. Augustus had Agrippa’s remains placed in his own mausoleum.
BookTwoXVI His victories at Mylae and Naulochus in 36BC.
BookTwoXXV He was granted the right to fly the blue ensign, off Sicily.
BookTwoXXIX BookTwoXCVII He erected many fine buildings in Rome, including the original Pantheon on the Campus Martius (during his third consulship 27BC).
BookTwoXXXV He assisted Augustus in pruning the Senate.
BookTwoXLII Agrippa became aedile in 33BC in order to work on Augustus’ aqueduct projects. He restored the Appia, Anio Vetus, and Marcia, and combined an existing aqueduct, the Tepula, with a new aqueduct, the Julia.
BookTwoLXIII He married Claudia Marcella the Elder, daughter of Octavia the Younger in 28BC, and Julia the Elder in 21BC.
BookTwoLXIV His five children by Julia the Elder.
BookTwoLXVI BookThreeX In 23BC, a year of constitutional crisis, Augustus fell ill and presented his signet ring to Agrippa, who seemed thus to be designated the emperor’s successor. Agrippa traveled to Mytilene on Lesbos, from which he administered affairs in the East. It has been argued that the Senate gave him an imperium greater than that of any other provincial governor in the East (imperium majus). After Augustus’ death Roman historians claimed that Agrippa’s journey to Mytilene was a self-imposed exile as a result of Augustus’ preference for his own nephew Marcellus.
BookTwoXCIV He was at Apollonia in 45/44BC with Augustus, at which time both of their horoscopes were cast and indicated fortunate lives.
BookThreeVII His daughter Agrippina Vipsania the Younger the married Tiberius.
BookFourVII His daughter Agrippina Vipsania the Elder married Germanicus.
BookFourXXIII Caligula despised Agrippa’s lowly origins.
Agrippa Postumus, Marcus (12BC – 14AD) also known as Agrippa Postumus, or Postumus Agrippa, was a son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder. His maternal grandparents were Augustus and his second wife Scribonia. Upon his adoption as the emperor’s son in 4AD, with Tiberius to guarantee the line of succession, he became Marcus Julius Caesar Vipsanianus Agrippa Postumus. Some time after 6AD, for reasons unknown but possibly conspiracy, Augustus banished Postumus to the small island of Planasia. Tacitus suggests that he was always disliked and shunned by Livia, as he stood in the way of her son Tiberius, who probably had Postumus executed on his accession.
BookTwoXIX A plot mentioned to free him from Planasia.
BookTwoLI A plebeian fined for libelling Augustus under his name.
BookTwoLXIV Grandson of Augustus.
BookTwoLXV BookThreeXV Adopted by Augustus in 4AD, he was exiled by him sometime after 6AD.
BookThreeXXII He was executed at Augustus’ death on the written orders of Augustus, possibly signed by Livia and with the complicity of Tiberius.
BookThreeXXV His slave Clemens pretended to be him after his dath, and gained a following, but was trapped and executed by Tiberius.
Agrippina, Vipsania the Younger, (36BC - 20AD) was the daughter of Agrippa by his first wife Pomponia Caecilia Attica, and thereby the granddaughter of Cicero’s friend, the knight Caecilius Atticus. Octavian and her father betrothed her to Tiberius before her first birthday, and sometime after 19BC they married. Their son Drusus the Younger was born in 13BC. Her father Agrippa died in March, 12BC. He had been married to Julia the Elder, daughter of Augustus. Augustus forced Tiberius to divorce Vipsania and marry Julia. After the divorce, in 11BC she married Gaius Asinius Gallus Saloninus, a Senator and son of the orator Asinius Pollio. They had at least six sons. She died in 20AD, a few days after the ovation of her son Drusus, on 28 May. Tiberius detested Gallus, not least because Gallus claimed that Drusus was his own son. In 30AD, at Tiberius’ instigation, the Senate declared Gallus a public enemy (Cassius Dio 58.3). He died in prison in 33AD, of starvation.
BookThreeVII She married Tiberius after 19BC.
BookThreeX Her son by Tiberius, Drusus the Younger.
Agrippina, Vipsania the the Elder (14BC - 33AD) was the wife of Germanicus, second granddaughter to Augustus; sister-in-law, stepdaughter and daughter-in-law to Tiberius; mother to Caligula; maternal second cousin and sister-in-law to Claudius and maternal grandmother to Nero. The second daughter and fourth child of Agrippa and Julia the Elder, Agrippina married her second maternal cousin Germanicus between 5 and 1BC. In 29AD, Agrippina and her sons Nero and Drusus, were arrested on the orders of Tiberius, and she was banished with her sons to the island of Pandataria (modern Ventotene) in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the coast of Campania, where it is claimed she ultimately starved herself to death. This was the island where her mother Julia the Elder had been banished. Caligula later retrieved her ashes and honoured her in Rome.
BookTwoXXXIV BookFourVII Her children by Germanicus.
BookTwoLXIV Her marriage to Germanicus, between 5BC and 1BC.
BookTwoLXXXVI Augustus praises her accomplishments.
BookThreeLII BookThreeLIII BookThreeLXIV BookFourXXX Tiberius’s cruel treatment of her, and her banishment to Pandataria.
BookFourVIII Altars to her child-bearing in Gaul.
BookFourX Caligula lived with her until her exile.
BookFourXII Caligula supposedly wished to avenge her death.
BookFourXV Caligula recovered her ashes from Pandataria in 37AD.
BookFourXXIII Caligula claimed he was the product of her incest with her father Augustus.
Agrippina the Younger, Julia Agrippina, or Agrippinilla (Little Agrippina) after 50AD known as Julia Augusta Agrippina (c. 16AD – 59AD) was sister of Caligula, niece and fourth wife of Claudius and the mother of Nero. In 28, Tiberius arranged for Agrippina to marry her paternal second cousin Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus. Their only son was named Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, after Domitius’s recently deceased father. This child would become the Emperor Nero. In 39AD, Agrippina and her sister Livilla, with their maternal cousin, Drusilla’s widower, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, were involved in a failed plot to murder Caligula, and make Lepidus emperor. Lepidus was executed. Agrippina and Livilla were exiled by their brother to the Pontine Islands.
BookFourVII Mentioned.
BookFourXV Caligula included her and her sisters in the wording of formal oaths.
BookFourXXIV BookFourXXIX She and her sister Livilla were exiled by Caligula.
BookFourXXXVI Accused of incest with her brother Caligula.
BookFourXXXIX Caligula sold off her and Livilla’s property after they were exiled.
BookFiveXXVI BookFiveXXIX BookFiveXXXIX The fourth wife of Claudius.
BookFiveXLIII Claudius appeared to repent of having married her.
BookFiveXLIV Agrippina was accused of poisoning Claudius.
BookSixV BookSixVI The mother of Nero.
BookSixVII She attempted to destroy Domitia Lepida.
BookSixIX Nero turned over his affairs to her, both public and private, making her the major power in the Empire during his initial reign.
BookSixXXVIII Nero was rumoured to have had incestuous relations with her.
BookSixXXXIV BookSixXXXIX BookSixXLVI Her execution ordered by Nero.
BookSixXXXV Accused of taking Aulus Plautius as her lover.
BookSixLII She warned Nero as a boy not to study philosophy.
BookSevenV She made advances to Galba after the death of Domitius.
BookEightIV Vespasian was wary of her influence over Nero and her animosity towards any friend of Narcissus.
BookEightIX She began a shrine to Claudius, completed by Vespasian.
Ahenobarbus, see Domitius and Nero
Ajax, or strictly Ajax the Greater, was a Greek hero of Homer’s Iliad, the strongest soldier in the Greek host.
BookTwoLXXXV He went mad and committed suicide according to myth. Here Augustus, abandoning writing his tragedy, has his hero fall on his sponge rather than his sword, i.e. fall on the eraser used in writing, or equally on the lavatorial sponge on a stick used by Romans, that is, his unfinished tragedy had gone ‘down the drain’.
Alani were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists who frequently raided the Parthian empire and the Caucasian provinces of the Roman Empire. In the Vologases inscription, Vologases I the Parthian king is recorded, in the 11th year of his reign (c. 62AD), as having battled Kuluk, king of the Alani.
BookEightXXXVIII Mentioned.
Albanum, the modern Albano Laziale, is in the Alban Hills, in Latium. It is now a suburb of Rome, which is 25 km distant. Albano is located in the area in which, according to the legend, Aeneas’s son, Ascanius, founded Alba Longa.
BookSixXXV Nero entered the town triumphantly on his return from Greece in 67AD.
Albia Terentia was the emperor Otho’s mother.
BookSevenXXIV Mentioned.
Albulan Waters, the Albulae Aquae (The White Water) are a group of springs located 6 km West of Tivoli. The water is bluish, strongly impregnated with sulphur and carbonate of lime, and rises at a temperature of about 24 degrees Centigrade. Remains of Roman thermal baths exist near the principal spring, the Lago della Regina and dedicatory inscriptions have been found. The dureta, found in Moorish (and Turkish) baths (hammam), is a W-shaped couch of wood, called dureta from its hardness (or from Celtic/Iberian dur, for oak?), the angles of the couch corresponding with the joints of the body when in a re- clining position.
BookTwoLXXXII Augustus took baths in Albulan waters, and borrowed the dureta from Moorish Spain.
Alcmaeon in Greek mythology was the son of Amphiaraus. Eriphyle, his mother, was bribed to send her husband (and her son Alcmaeon) into battle against Thebes. Alcmaeon killed her to avenge the treachery.
BookSixXXXIX His murder of his mother.
Alexander the Great, Alexander III of Macedon (356BC – 323BC), was a Greek king (basileus) of Macedon. He is the most celebrated member of the Argead Dynasty and created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
BookOneVII His statue in the temple of Hercules (Heracles) in Cadiz.
BookTwoXVIII Augustus had his sarcophagus opened c. 31BC, and crowned the mummified corpse as a mark of respect.
BookTwoL Augustus’ second seal-ring carried a head of Alexander.
BookTwoXCIV Alexander, and Augustus, sacrificed at an altar to Liber-Dionysus in Thrace, possibly at Perperikon. See the Liber entry.
BookFourLII Caligula wore his breastplate taken from the sarcophagus at Alexandria.
BookSixXIX The ‘Caspian Gates’ originally applied to the narrow region at the southeast corner of the Caspian Sea, through which Alexander marched in pursuit of the Persian, Bessus.
Alexandria was Nero’s old nurse.
BookSixL She helped to deposit Nero’s ashes in the family tomb.
Alexandrians were the inhabitants of Alexandria, the capital of Egypt from its foundation by Alexander the Great in 331BC until the Muslim Conquest in 641AD. It was the capital therefore of the Ptolemaic Empire of Egypt.
BookOneXI BookFiveXVI Their rejection of Ptolemy XII, since Ptolemy XI had willed the country to Rome.
BookOneXXXV BookThreeIV Pompey fled to Alexandria in 48BC after the battle of Pharsalus, and was murdered there on the orders of Ptolemy XIII.
BookOneLXIV An incident during Caesar’s campaign there.
BookOneLXXIX It was rumoured that Caesar might remove from Rome to Alexandria.
BookTwoXVII BookTwoLXXI Augustus captured the city in 30BC.
BookTwoXXII Augustus celebrated his victories in Egypt in his triple-triumph of 29BC.
BookTwoXCVIII Active trade with Rome, with Puteoli as a harbour used by Alexandrian ships.
BookThreeLII Germanicus there in 19AD.
BookFourXLVI BookFiveXX The Pharos was a tower built between 280BC and 247BC on the island of Pharos at Alexandria, to guide sailors into the harbour at night. With a height of 400 feet or so, it was for many centuries among the tallest man-made structures, and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
BookFourXLIX Caligula had intentions of ruling from there.
BookFourLII Caligula took Alexander’s breastplate from the sarcophagus there. The tomb was ultimately lost some time in the 4th century AD.
BookFiveXX Caligula had the obelisk transported from Heliopolis via Alexandria in 37AD. It now stands in front of Saint Peter’s. Pliny estimated the vessel’s size at a thousand metric tons or so.
BookFiveXLII The Musaeum, or Mouseion, at Alexandria which included the famous Library was founded by Ptolemy I Soter, or Ptolemy II Philadelphus. A wing was added by Claudius in his name.
BookSixXIX Nero abandoned his planned tour to Alexandria due to a portent.
BookSixXX The rhythmic clapping of some Alexandrians appealed to Nero.
BookSixXLV A cargo of sand for Nero’s wrestlers’ arena sent from Alexandria.
BookEightVII Vespasian seized Alexandria, the key to Egypt, in 69AD.
BookEightXIX Their mockery of Vespasian’s stinginess.
BookEightXXX Titus on his way to Alexandria 70/71AD.
BookEightLVI The library of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, and the Pergamese library stored in the Temple of Serapis, may both be intended.
Allia: the Battle of the Allia was fought near the Allia river about 18 kilometres north of Rome, its traditional date being July 18th, 390BC, though 387BC is more plausible. The defeat of the Roman army by the Senones under Brennus opened the way for the Gauls to sack Rome.
BookSevenXLVI Vitellius assumed the office of High Priest on the anniversary of the battle.
Allobroges were a Celtic tribe of ancient Gaul, located between the Rhône River and the Lake of Geneva.
BookSixII Mentioned.
Amazons were a nation of all-female warriors in Classical mythology. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia (modernterritory of Ukraine). Other historiographers place them in Asia Minor or Libya.
BookOneXXII Mentioned by Julius Caesar, as an example of female rule.
BookSixXLIV Nero intended to equip his concubines as Amazons for his Gallic campaign.
Ambrani: possibly a Ligurian tribe of the coastal region of north-western Italy around Genoa.
BookOneIX Mentioned.
Ampius Balbus, Titus was first tribune of the plebs then held the praetorship in 59BC. He was proconsul of Asia in 58BC. A supporter of Pompey, he was banished by Caesar after Pharsalus, but allowed to return to Rome after Cicero’s intercession in 46BC. He appears to have written biographies of famous men.
BookOneLXXVII He relays some of Caesar’s more arrogant statements.
Ancharia, was the first wife of Gaius Octavius.
BookTwoIV Mentioned.
Ancus Marcius (r. 640BC – 616BC) was the fourth King of Rome. He was the son of Marcius and Pompilia, the daughter of Numa Pompilius the second king. His grandfather, Marcius, had also been a close friend of Numa. According to Festus, Marcius gained the appellation Ancus from his crooked arm.
BookOneVI He founded Caesar’s paternal aunt’s maternal line, the Marcii Reges.
Anicetus was a freedman of Nero and formerly his tutor. He commanded the fleet at Misenum in 60AD, and was employed by Nero to murder Agrippina, his mother. He was then used to implicate Nero’s wife Octavia in adultery, but was subsequently banished and died in Sardinia.
BookSixXXXV Mentioned.
Annaeus, see Seneca
Annius Cimber, Titus was a rhetorician who affected the style of Thucydides.
BookTwoLXXXVI An archaist in language.
Annius Milo Papianus, Titus was a political agitator, the son of Gaius Papius Celsus, but adopted by his maternal grandfather, Titus Annius Luscus. In 52BC he probably murdered Publius Clodius Pulcher and was later unsuccessfully defended by his friend Cicero in the Pro Milone speech. Milo was condemned by 38 votes to 13, and went into exile at Massilia (Marseille), his property being sold by auction. He joined Marcus Caelius Rufus in 48BC in his rising against Caesar, but died at Compsa, near Thurii in Lucania, killed by a stone thrown from the city walls.
BookOneXXX His trial.
Anticyra, in Phocis, on the bay of Anticyra in the Corinthian gulf, was a town of considerable importance in ancient times, was destroyed by Philip of Macedon, recovered its prosperity; and was captured by Titus Quinctius Flamininus in 198BC. The city was famous for its black hellebore, the herb being regarded as a cure for insanity.
BookFourXXIX Caligula plays on the association.
Antiochus was a baker who was claimed as the maternal grandfather of the first of the Vitelli family to become a Roman knight.
BookSevenXXXVI Mentioned.
Antiochus IV of Commagene (before 17AD – after 72AD) was the last king of Commagene (a country bordering Cappodocia, Cilicia and Syria), who reigned between 38AD and 72AD as a client king of the Roman Empire. He was the son of Antiochus III who died in 17AD, when Tiberius agreed that Commagene become a part of the province of Syria. Between 17AD and 38AD, Antiochus lived in Rome. In 38AD, Antiochus received his paternal dominion from Caligula but was subsequently deposed by him and did not obtain his kingdom again till the accession of Claudius in 41AD. In 55AD he received orders from Nero to make war against Parthia, and in 61AD obtained parts of Armenia. He supported Vespasian as emperor in 70AD, but in 72AD, was accused of conspiring with Parthia. Deprived of his kingdom, he retired to Sparta, then Rome, where he passed the remainder of his life.
BookFourXVI Caligula paid him the taxes and revenues accumulated since his father’s death.
Antistius, Lucius, was a tribune of the people, and a member of the gens Antistia a well-known plebeian family.
BookOneXXIII He attempted to bring Julius Caesar to trial.
Antistius was a physician who examined Caesar’s body after his assassination.
BookOneLXXXII His opinion that only one of the wounds was fatal.
Antistius Labeo, Marcus (d. c. 11AD) was a prominent jurist the son of Quintus Antistius Labeo, also a jurist who died at Philippi. A member of the plebeian nobility, Marcus rose to the praetorship; but his undisguised antipathy to the new regime, and his republican sympathies, what Tacitus calls his incorrupta libertas, proved an obstacle to advancement, and his rival, Ateius Capito was promoted by Augustus to the consulate, when the appointment should have fallen to Labeo, who later declined the office. His most important literary work was the Libri posteriores a systematic exposition of the common law. His Libri ad Edictum embraced a commentary, not only on the edicts of the praetors, but also on that of the curule aediles.
BookTwoLIV His nomination of Augustus’ enemy Lepidus to the Senate.
Antium, modern Anzio, is a city on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about 35 miles south of Rome. It was the capital of the Volsci until conquered by the Romans. Augustus had a villa there, as did Maecenas and both Caligula and Nero were born there.
BookTwoLVIII Augustus received a delegation from Rome to acclaim him Pater patriae (Father of the Country)
BookThreeXXXVIII The furthest from the City that Tiberius travelled during his period in Rome, after his accession.
BookFourVIII The birthplace of Caligula according to Suetonius.
BookFourXLIX Caligula had intentions of ruling from there temporarily.
BookFourLVII Fortuna’s worship at Antium included a celebrated oracle, only slightly less famous than the oracle of Fortuna Primigenia at Praeneste.
BookSixVI The birthplace of Nero.
BookSixIX Nero founded a new colony there, relocating the wealthiest of the leading centurions, and building a harbour.
BookSixXXV Nero entered the town triumphantly on his return from Greece in 67AD.
Antonia the Elder (b. 39BC) was a daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia the Younger. c. 25BC, Antonia married Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul 16BC).
BookSixV The mother of Gnaeus Domitius, Nero’s father.
Antonia the Younger (36BC - 37AD) was a daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia the Younger. In 16BC, she married the Roman general and consul Nero Claudius Drusus the Elder, the stepson of her uncle Augustus, second son of Livia Drusilla and brother of future Emperor Tiberius. They had several children, but only three survived, Germanicus, Livilla, and Claudius. Antonia was the grandmother of the Emperor Caligula.
BookFourI The mother of Germanicus.
BookFourX She cared for Caligula until he joined Tiberius on Capri.
BookFourXV Caligula awarded her all Livia’s honours on his accession in 37AD, before her death in October of that year.
BookFourXXIII Caligula hastened her death, some say poisoned her.
BookFourXXIV She caught Caligula and his sister Drusilla in an incestuous relationship.
BookFourXXIX Caligula insults her.
BookFiveI BookFiveIV The mother of Claudius.
BookFiveIII Her disparaging comments on her son Claudius.
BookFiveXI Claudius honoured her with the title Augusta.
BookFiveXLI She warned the young Claudius over the sensitivity of the work on history he was writing.
BookEightIII Caenis was a former slave and secretary of hers.
Antonia, see Claudia Antonia
Antonius Hybrida, Gaius, was the uncle of the triumvir Mark Antony. His military career started as a legate and cavalry commander of Sulla during the Mithridatic Wars, and earned his nickname ‘half-beast’, due to atrocities committed in Greece. In spite of his reputation, however, he was elected tribune in 71BC, praetor in 66BC, and finally consul with Cicero in 63BC. He became governor of Macedonia, where he made himself so detested that he was forced to leave the province. In 59BC, he was accused of having taken part in the Catiline conspiracy and of extortion in his province. Despite being defended by Cicero, Hybrida was condemned and went into exile at Kefalonia. He seems to have been recalled by Caesar, since he was present at a meeting of the Roman Senate in 44BC and was censor in 42BC.
BookTwoV He was consul in the year of Augustus’ birth, 63BC.
Antonius, Gaius (d. 42BC) was the second son of Marcus Antonius Creticus and Julia Antonia, and thus, younger brother of Mark Antony, the triumvir and enemy of Augustus. During the civil war, Gaius was a legate of Julius Caesar (49BC), and entrusted, with Publius Cornelius Dolabella, with the defence of Illyricum against the Pompeians. While Dolabella’s fleet was destroyed, Antonius was shut up in the island of Curicta and forced to surrender. After the assassination of Caesar, Gaius (as a Caesarean) was appointed governor to the Roman province of Macedonia. Marcus Junius Brutus and the other assassins, however, chose Macedonia as refuge from Octavian and dispossessed Antonius of his governorship. Brutus ultimately ordered his death.
BookOneXXXVI His defeat off Illyricum.
Antonius, Lucius was the younger brother and supporter of Mark Antony. After Caesar’s murder, he proposed an agrarian law in favor of the people and Caesar’s veterans, and took part in the operations at Mutina (43BC). In 41BC, he was consul with Publius Servilius Vatia. In that year, he raised an eight-legion army to fight against Octavian’s unpopular policies, subsequently marching on Rome, driving out Lepidus, and promising the abolition of the Triumvirate. On the approach of Octavian, he retired to Perusia in Etruria, where he was besieged by three armies, and compelled to surrender (40BC). The city was destroyed but his life was spared, and he was sent by Octavian to Spain as governor. Nothing is known of the circumstances or date of his death.
BookTwoIX BookTwoXIV BookTwoXV BookThreeIV Defeated by the forces of Augustus (Octavian) at Perusia.
BookTwoLXVII He accused Augustus of homosexuality.
BookThreeV His consulship in 41BC.
Antonius, Marcus (Mark Antony) (83BC – 30BC), was a Roman politician and general. He was an important supporter and the loyal friend of Gaius Julius Caesar as a military commander and administrator, being Caesar’s second cousin, once removed, by his mother Julia Antonia. After Caesar’s assassination, Antony formed an official political alliance with Octavian (Augustus) and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, called the Second Triumvirate. The triumvirate broke up in 33BC. Disagreement between Octavian and Antony erupted into civil war, the Final War of the Roman Republic, in 31BC. Antony was defeated by Octavian at the naval Battle of Actium, and in a brief land battle at Alexandria. He and his lover Cleopatra committed suicide shortly thereafter.
BookOneLII He had attested to Caesarion being Caesar’s son by Cleopatra.
BookOneLXXIX He attempted to crown Caesar in 44BC.
BookOneLXXXII He prevented Caesar’s assassins carrying out their plans after the assassination.
BookOneLXXXIII Caesar’s will was read at his house.
BookOneLXXXIV His speech before Caesar’s bier in the Campus Martius.
BookTwoII BookTwoIV BookTwoVI He poked fun at Augustus’ ancestry.
BookTwoVIII BookTwoXIII He formed the Second Triumvirate, with Octavian and Lepidus.
BookTwoIX BookTwoXI BookTwoXX BookTwoXLIX Defeated by Augustus (Octavian) at Mutina and finally at Actium.
BookTwoX Blocked Augustus’ application for tribuneship, and mocked his contribution to the first battle at Mutina.
BookTwoXII BookThreeIV He fled to join Lepidus after Mutina.
BookTwoXIV His brother Lucius in alliance with him.
BookTwoXVI Mark Antony’s taunting of Augustus regarding Naulochus.
BookTwoXVII His will opened, his defeat at Actium, and his suicide.
BookTwoXXI His standards lost to Parthia by his generals in 40BC and 36BC, were returned in 20BC.
BookTwoXXVIII His charge that Augustus was an obstacle to restoring the Republic.
BookTwoLXII Augustus married Antony’s step-daughter Claudia.
BookTwoLXIII His claim that Augustus had betrothed Julia to his son Antyllus.
BookTwoLXVII He accused Augustus of homosexuality.
BookTwoLXIX BookTwoLXX He accused Augustus of various adulteries and debaucheries.
BookTwoLXXXVI Augustus ridiculed his elaborate style of speech.
BookThreeLIX BookSixIII Mentioned.
BookFourXXVI Grandfather of Ptolemy of Mauretania.
BookFiveXI Claudius honoured his grandfather Antony’s memory.
Antonius, Marcus (Antyllus) (47BC - 30BC) or Marcus Antonius the Younger, also known as Antonius or Antyllus, was the son of Mark Antony by Fulvia. He was betrothed at one time to Octavian’s daughter Julia the Elder. After the alliance between his father and Octavian ended, the engagement was terminated. Between 40 and 36, he lived with his father, stepmother, Octavia the Younger, and siblings in his father’s mansion, in Athens. After 36BC, he lived his remaining years in Alexandria, at the court of Cleopatra VII of Egypt.
BookTwoXVII Augustus had him killed.
BookTwoLXIII Antony’s claim that Antyllus had been betrothed to Julia.
Antonius, Iullus (43BC - 2BC), was the second son of Mark Antony and his third wife Fulvia. He is best known for being the lover of Julia the Elder. Iullus became praetor in 13BC, consul in 10BC and Asian proconsul in 7BC, and was highly regarded by Augustus. In 2BC, when Augustus acted against his daughter Julia’s promiscuity, Antonius was exposed as her lover. He was charged with treason and sentenced to death; subsequently committing suicide.
BookFiveII Claudius born during his consulship.
Antonius Musa was a botanist and Augustus’ physician. In 23BC, when Augustus was seriously ill, Musa cured the illness with cold baths, drinks and compresses, but reputedly failed to save Marcellus in his illness. His brother Euphorbus was physician to King Juba II of Numidia.
BookTwoLIX Mentioned.
BookTwoLXXXI He treated Augustus after the Cantabrian Campaign, possibly for typhoid fever for which cold fomentations are a rational treatment, rather than liver abscess.
Antonius Primus, Marcus (b. before 36AD - d. after 81AD) was born at Tolosa (Toulouse) in Gaul. During Nero’s reign he was banished from Rome after a forgery charge. He was subsequently reinstated by Galba, and placed in command of a legion in Pannonia. During the civil war, Primus supported Vespasian. He gained a decisive victory over the Vitellians at Betriacum in October 69, and then stormed and set fire to Cremona. He then made his way to Rome. He must have been alive during the reign of Domitian, since four epigrams of Martial are addressed to him. His childhood nickname was Becco.
BookSevenLIII Mentioned.
Antonius Saturninus, Lucius, was the governor of Germania Superior during the reign of Domitian in 89AD. Motivated by a personal grudge he led a rebellion involving the legions Legio XIV Gemina and Legio XXI Rapax, camped in Moguntiacum (Mainz). His Germanic allies were prevented from joining him by a sudden thaw of the river Rhine, and the revolt was quickly put down by Domitian’s general Trajan, who afterwards burned Saturninus’ letters in an attempt to avoid implicating others.
BookEightXLII BookEightXLIII BookEightXLVI Mentioned.
Antyllus, see Antonius, Marcus
Apelles of Ascalon was a tragic actor, and a companion of Caligula.
BookFourXXXIII An incident involving him described.
BookEightXIX Vespasian rewarded him.
Apis or Hapis, was a bull-deity symbolic of strength and fertility worshipped in the Memphis region of Egypt. Excavation of the Serapeum at Memphis has revealed the tombs of over sixty sacred bulls, the animals dating from the time of Amenophis III. Ptolemy I Soter integrated Apis with aspects of Osiris to create the Egyptian-Hellenistic deity Serapis. In Rome, Serapis was worshipped in the Iseum Campense, the sanctuary of the goddess Isis located in the Campus Martius and built during the Second Triumvirate.
BookTwoXCIII Augustus disdained to visit the Apis sanctuary.
BookEightXXX Titus attended the Apis bull’s consecration ceremony at Memphis.
Apollo, in Greek and Roman mythology, was a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine, healing and plague; music, poetry, the arts; and more. Apollo in Greek mythology was the son of Zeus and Leto, and had a twin sister, Artemis.
BookTwoXVIII Augustus extended the temple of Apollo at Actium.
BookTwoXXIX BookTwoXXXI BookTwoLII BookSixXXV The Palatine Temple of Apollo built by Augustus in Rome was dedicated in 28BC.
BookTwoLVII Augustus funded and dedicated a statue of Apollo Sandalarius in the shoemakers’ ward in Rome.
BookTwoLXX Apollo the Tormentor or Executioner was supposedly a name under which the god was worshipped in Rome.
BookTwoXCIV An omen associated with Augustus’ birth. The serpent was associated with Apollo as a symbol after the god rid Delphi of the Python.
BookThreeLXXIV The ‘Apollo of Temenos’ was presumably from The Temple of Apollo on the island of Ortygia in Syracuse, Sicily, a Greek temple dating from the 6th century BC. Temenos simply means sacred space. This is the oldest peripteral (possessing a row of columns on each side) Doric temple in the world.
BookFourXXI Caligula planned to restore the Temple of Apollo at Didyma, the modern Didim, Turkey. Next to Delphi, Didyma was the most renowned oracle of the Hellenic world, and is mentioned in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo. Didyma was the largest and most significant sanctuary near the great classical city of Miletus.
BookSixXXV The Pythian Games (Delphic Games) were held every four years at the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi.
BookSixXXXIX Paeon, the Healer, was an epithet of Apollo, as was the contrary name of the Far-Darter. The god could ambivalently bring death or healing.
BookSixLIII Nero flatteringly acclaimed as his equal in music.
Apollodorus of Pergamon, was one of the two most prominent teachers of rhetoric in the 1st century BC, the other being Theodorus of Gadara.
BookTwoLXXXIX Augustus studied under him.
Apollonia was an Ancient Greek city and colony in northern Epirus, now modern-day Albania, located on the right bank of the Aous River; its ruins are situated in the Fier region, near the village of Pojani. It was founded in 588BC by colonists from Kerkyra (Corfu) and Corinth. Like Dyrrachium further north, it was an important port on the Illyrian coast as the most convenient link between Brundusium and northern Greece, and as one of the western starting points of the Via Egnatia leading east to Thessaloniki and Byzantium in Thrace. Augustus studied in Apollonia in 45BC - 44BC under the tutelage of Athenodorus of Tarsus; it was there that he received news of Caesar’s murder.
BookTwoVIII BookTwoX BookTwoLXXXIX BookTwoXCIV BookTwoXCV Augustus studied there in 45BC - 44BC.
Apollonius Molon was a Greek rhetorician who flourished about 70 BC. He was a native of Alabanda, a pupil of Menecles, and settled at Rhodes. He twice visited Rome as an ambassador from Rhodes, and Marcus Tullius Cicero (who visited him during his trip to Greece in 79BC - 77BC) and Gaius Julius Caesar both took lessons from him.
BookOneIV Caesar decided to study rhetoric with him.
Apollophanes, one of Sextus Pompey’s admirals.
BookTwoXVI Mentioned, commanding off Sicily c. 36BC.
Aponius Saturninus was a praetor at the time of Caligula.
BookFourXXXVIII Caligula knocked down an auction lot to him while he was asleep.
Appius, see Claudius and Junius
Appuleius, Sextus, was related to Augustus, and a consul in the year of Augustus’ death.
BookTwoC He was consul in 14AD.
Aquileia was a Roman city at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 km from the sea, on the river Natiso (modern Natisone), the course of which has altered since Roman times. The original Latin colony became a municipium c 90BC.
BookTwoXX Augustus there 12BC - 10BC.
BookThreeVII Tiberius’ child by Julia died there in 10BC.
BookEightVI The legions sent to Moesia rebelled there in 69AD.
Aquilius Niger, a historian used as a source by Suetonius. Nothing of his work has survived.
BookTwoXI He suggested that Augustus murdered Hirtius in battle.
Aquitania or Gallia Aquitania was a province of the Roman Empire, bordered by the provinces of Gallia Lugdunensis, Gallia Narbonensis, and Hispania Tarraconensis. It lies in present-day southwest France, where it gives its name to the modern region of Aquitaine. Caesar named Aquitania as the triangular territory between the Atlantic, the Pyrenees and the Garonne. He fought and almost completely subdued the tribes in 56BC, though rebellions ensued up to 27BC - 28BC, Agrippa gaining a great victory over the Gauls of Aquitania in 38BC. A land extension stretching to the Loire River was added by Augustus, and Aquitania became an imperial province.
BookTwoXXI Finally subdued by Agrippa.
BookSevenVI Galba was governor of Aquitania for almost a year.
BookSevenIX Galba received a request for aid from its governor.
Archelaus IV (d. 17AD) was the last King of Cappadocia. In 36BC, he was made king by triumvir Mark Antony, whom, however, he deserted after Actium. Augustus enlarged his kingdom by adding parts of Cilicia and Lesser Armenia. He was not popular with his subjects, who brought an accusation against him in Rome on which occasion he was defended by the young Tiberius. He was the great grandfather of Julius Tigranes, King of Armenia under Nero. After 8BC, Archelaus married Queen Pythodorida of Pontus. Subsequently he was accused by the Emperor Tiberius, of endeavouring to stir up revolution, and died in confinement in Rome. Cappadocia was then made a Roman province.
BookThreeVIII Tiberius acted as his advocate in Rome.
BookThreeXXXVII Detained by Tiberius.
Arelate, modern Arles, is a city in the south of France, in the former province of Provence. The Romans took the town in 123BC and expanded it into an important city, with a canal link to the Mediterranean in 104BC. However, it struggled to escape the shadow of Massalia (Marseille) further along the coast. Massalia however backed Pompey; and when Caesar emerged victorious, Massalia was stripped of its possessions, which were transferred to Arelate. The town was formally established as a colony for veterans of the Roman legion Legio VI Ferrata.
BookThreeIV Tiberius’ father, Tiberius Nero, established a colony of Caesar’s veterans there.
Areus, of Alexandria, was a Stoic or Pythagorean philosopher who enjoyed the favour of Augustus and Livia in Rome. His sons were Dionysius and Nicanor.
BookTwoLXXXIX Augustus studied under him.
Argivus was Galba’s steward who saw to the interment of his ashes.
BookSevenXX Mentioned.
Aricia lies in the Alban Hills of the modern Lazio (Latium) region and could now be considered an extension of Rome’s southeastern suburbs. Associated with the goddess Diana and the god Virbius, legend also recalls that it served as a temporary burial place of the Greek hero Orestes. Aricia was one of the oldest cities of ancient Latium, and as the leader of the Latin League was a serious opponent of Rome during the early days of the Roman Republic.
BookTwoIV Mentioned.
Ariminum, modern Rimini, is located on the Adriatic, near the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient Ariminus) and Ausa (Aprusa). Founded in 268BC Rimini was a road junction connecting central Italy (to Rome along the Via Flaminia) and northern Italy (along the Via Aemilia that led to Piacenza, and the Via Popilia) and it also opened up trade by sea and river.
BookTwoXXX The Via Flaminia to Rimini was rebuilt at Augustus personal expense.
Armenia is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the junction of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, and therefore a gateway to Parthia, the Kingdom of Armenia, under the Artaxiad Dynasty, was made a Roman protectorate by Pompey in 66/65 BC.
BookTwoXXI The Parthians accepted Augustus’ claim to Armenia (Mark Antony had annexed in it 34BC)
BookThreeIX BookThreeXI Tiberius there in 20BC.
BookThreeXLI The Parthians allowed to overrun Armenia c. 30AD - 37AD.
BookFiveXXV Armenian envoys at the court of Claudius.
BookSixXIII Tiridates I was King of Armenia from 53AD.
BookSixXXXIX Lucius Caesennius Paetus, governor of Cappadocia suffered a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Rhandeia in 62AD, losing the legions of XII Fulminata commanded by Calvisius Sabinus and IIII Scythica commanded by Funisulanus Vettonianus.
Arrecina Tertulla (d. 62/63AD) was the first wife of the Emperor Titus, and daughter of Marcus Arrecinus Clemens, Praetorian Prefect in 38 under Caligula. She had a brother, Marcus Arrecinus Clemens, who also served as Praetorian Prefect in 70AD under Vespasian.
BookEightXXIX First wife of Titus c. 62AD, dying shortly afterwards.
Arrecinus Clemens, Marcus was brother to Arrecina Tertulla, the first wife of the Emperor Titus. He served as Prefect of the Praetorian Guard under Vespasian, from 70AD until 71AD. In June of 71AD he was replaced by Vespasian’s eldest son Titus. He held two suffect consulships, in 73AD and 85AD, respectively, governing the province of Hispania Tarraconensis in between, and was made city prefect of Rome in 86AD. He appears to have fallen victim to Domitian.
BookEightXLVII Arraigned by Domitian.
Artabanus II of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire from about 10AD to 38AD. He was raised to the throne by those Parthians who refused to acknowledge Vonones I, whom Augustus had sent from Rome (where he lived as hostage) to succeed his father Phraates IV.
BookThreeLXVI His criticism of Tiberius.
BookFourXIV He courted Caligula’s favour.
BookSevenXXXVII Lucius Vitellius, father of the emperor, induced Artabanus to attend a conference and make obeisance to the standards.
Arverni were a Gallic tribe living in what is now the Auvergne region of France. One of the most powerful tribes in ancient Gaul, their most important stronghold was Gergovia, near the present-day commune of Clermont-Ferrand.
BookSixII Mentioned.
Asclepiades of Mendes, was an Egyptian theologian, and hymnist, who wrote a work on agreement between the various religions, which seems to be the Theologumena mentioned by Suetonius; a history of Egypt; and a work on Ogyges the mythical first king of Attica. Mendes was Djedet, the modern Tell El-Ruba.
BookTwoXCIV Referenced regarding an omen associated with Augustus.
Ascletarion was an astrologer who foretold Domitian’s fate.
BookEightLI He was executed by Domitian.
Asellius Sabinus, an unknown author.
BookThreeXLII Tiberius rewarded him extravagantly for penning a dialogue.
Asiaticus was a freedman and catamite of Vitellius.
BookSevenXLVII Mentioned.
Asillius was a slave or freedman of Augustus.
BookFourVIII Mentioned.
Asinius Epicadus, a man of mixed race and Parthian descent, conspired against Augustus, hatching a plot to liberate Agrippa Postumus from exile on the island of Planasia.
BookTwoXIX Mentioned.
Asinius Gallus Salonius, Gaius (d. 33AD) was the son of Pollio, and consul in 8BC, and proconsul of Asia in 6/5BC. He was a friend of Augustus and an opponent of Tiberius, who had him arrested in 30. Tiberius alleged that Asinius had committed adultery with Agrippina the Elder, and had his name erased from all public monuments. Gaius died in 33 of starvation. In 11BC he had married Vipsania Agrippina, daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa by his first wife Caecilia Attica, and the former wife of Tiberius. BookFiveXLI Claudius wrote a book defending Cicero from Asinius Gallus’s writings.
Asinius Gallus, Lucius was a grandson of Pollio, and son of Asinius Gallus Salonius. He conspired against Claudius in 46AD, and was forced to go into exile. He was later consul in 62.
BookFiveXIII His conspiracy against Claudius.
Asinius Marcellus, Marcus was consul in 54AD. Marcellus was a Senator in Claudius’ and Nero’s reigns. In 60, he was involved in a forgery case which discredited him, though he escaped punishment.
BookFiveXLV Claudius died during his consulship.
Asinius Pollio, Gaius (75BC – 4AD) was a soldier, politician, orator, poet, playwright, literary critic and historian, whose lost contemporary History, provided much of the material for Appian and Plutarch. Pollio was most famously a patron of Virgil and a friend of Horace and had poems dedicated to him by both men. He was consul in 40BC.
BookOneXXX BookOneLV Quoted.
BookOneLVI Considered Caesar’s memoirs inaccurate.
BookTwoXXIX From the spoils of war he rebuilt the Atrium Libertatis (completed 28BC) headquarters of the censors, located on the saddle which joined the Capitol to the Quirinal, a short distance from the Forum.
BookTwoXLIII His grandson Aeserninus was injured in the Troy Game, which led Asinius to complain to Augustus.
BookFiveXIII Asinius Gallus was his grandson.
Asprenas, see Nonius
Astura, now Torre Astura, formerly an island is now a peninsula, and lies on the coast of Latium, at the southeast extremity of the Bay of Antium, on the road to Circeii.
BookTwoXCVII Augustus reached there in 14AD and took ship for Naples, on the way to Beneventum, but became ill, and diverted to Capri.
BookThreeLXXII He fell ill at Astura in 37AD before carrying on to Circeii and then Misenum where he died.
Atalanta, was a huntress in Greek mythology who joined Meleager and other heroes in the Calydonian Boar Hunt. Meleager who lusted after her awarded her the boar-skin.
BookThreeXLIV Mentioned.
Atellan farces, also known as the Oscan Plays were a collection of vulgar farces, containing lots of low comedy and rude jokes. Popular in Ancient Rome, the farces were usually played after longer items such as pantomime. Named after Atella, an Oscan town in Campania, where they were invented, they were originally written in Oscan and imported into Rome in 391BC. In later Roman versions, only the comic characters spoke lines in Oscan, while the rest spoke Latin. The stock comic characters may have formed the basis for the characters of the Commedia dell'arte, and Punch and Judy.
BookThreeXLV BookThreeLXXV BookFourXXVII BookSixXXXIX Mentioned.
BookSevenXIII Onesimus would be a stock character presumably a Greek slave the name meaning ‘useful’ in Greek. Possibly the character was a byword for stinginess.
Athenodorus Cananites, or Athenodorus Calvus, was a stoic philosopher from Tarsus (his father Sandon came from Cana in Silicia) who accompanied Octavian from Apollonia to Rome. He became tutor to Claudius. He returned to Tarsus in old age.
BookFiveIV He was tutor to the young Claudius.
Atia Balba Caesonia (85BC - 43BC), sometimes referred to as Atia Balba Secunda to differentiate her from her two sisters, was the daughter of Julius Caesar’s sister Julia Caesaris, mother of the Emperor Augustus, step-grandmother of the Emperor Tiberius, great-great grandmother of the Emperor Caligula and Empress Agrippina the Younger, great-grandmother of the Emperor Claudius, and great-great-great-grandmother of the Emperor Nero. The name Atia Balba was also borne by the other two daughters of Julia Caesaris and her husband praetor Marcus Atius Balbus. Atia married the Roman Macedonian governor and senator Gaius Octavius. Their children were Octavia Minor and Gaius Octavius Thurinus (later known as Augustus). In 59BC, Gaius Octavius died on his way to Rome to stand for the consulship and Atia married Lucius Marcius Philippus, a consul of 56BC and a supporter of Julius Caesar. He raised Atia’s children alongside his own son and daughter from a previous marriage and arranged Octavia’s first marriage, to the consul and senator Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor.
BookTwoIV Mother of Augustus.
BookTwoLXI Her death in 43BC.
BookTwoXCIV An omen associated with the birth of Augustus.
Atilius, Marcus, a poet and playwright of the second century BC, mentioned by Cicero.
BookOneLXXXIV His Electra, a translation of Sophocles’ Electra, mentioned.
Atius Balbus, Marcus (105BC – 51BC) was the son and heir of an elder Marcus Atius Balbus (148BC – 87BC) and Pompeia. Pompeia was a sister to consul Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, father of triumvir Pompey. Balbus married Julia Minor, second eldest sister of Julius Caesar. Julia bore Balbus three daughters all named Atia of whom the second was Atia Balba Caesonia, mother of Octavia Minor (fourth wife of triumvir Mark Antony) and of first Emperor Augustus. Balbus served as a praetor in 62BC and obtained the government of Sardinia. Under Caesar in 59BC, Balbus was appointed along with Pompey on a board of commissioners under Julian Law to divide estates in Campania among the commoners. Cicero stated that Pompey would joke about Balbus, that he was not a person of any importance.
BookTwoIV Father of Atia.
Atta, see Claudius
Atticus Vestinus, Marcus, see Julius
Audasius, Lucius, was charged with forgery and conspired against Augustus.
BookTwoXIX Mentioned as seeking to free Julia the Elder from her confinement on the island of Pandateria (between 2BC and 4AD).
Aufidia, was a daughter of the Roman Magistrate Marcus Aufidius Lurco Her father originally came from Fundi (modern Fondi) She married the future praetor, Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus. They had at least two children: a daughter Livia Drusilla and a son Marcus Livius Drusus, who served as a Roman consul. Livia was the first Roman Empress and third wife of Augustus. Aufidia was the maternal grandmother of Tiberius.
BookThreeV Her native place, Fundi.
Aufidius Lurco, Marcus originally came from Fundi (modern Fondi). In 61BC, he was a Tribune of the Plebs. He was the maternal grandfather of Livia, who was Caligula’s maternal grandmother.
BookFourXXIII Caligula accused Livia of being of low birth.
Augustus, Gaius Julius Caesar (23 September 63BC – 19 August 14AD) was the first ruler of the Roman Empire, from January 27BC until his death. Born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, he was adopted posthumously by his great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar in 44BC, and between then and 31BC was officially named Gaius Julius Caesar. In 27BC the Senate awarded him the honorific Augustus (‘the revered one’). It is conventional to call him Octavius when referring to events between 63BC and 44BC, Octavian (or Octavianus) when referring to events between 44BC and 27BC, and Augustus when referring to events after 27BC. In 43BC, Octavian joined forces with Mark Antony and Lepidus in the Second Triumvirate, which was eventually torn apart, Lepidus being driven into exile, while Antony committed suicide after his defeat at the Battle of Actium by Octavian’s fleet commanded by Agrippa, in 31BC. Octavian restored the outward forms of the Roman Republic, with governmental power vested in the Roman Senate, but in practice retained autocratic power. It took several years to determine the framework of laws under which the former republican state was led by a sole ruler; the result being the Roman Empire.
BookOneLV He doubted the authenticity of some of Julius Caesar’s extant speeches.
BookOneLVI He forbade the circulation of some of Caesar’s minor works.
BookOneLXXXIII Inherited three quarters of Caesar’s estate, and was adopted into Caesar’s family under the terms of Caesar’s will.
BookOneLXXXVIII He decreed games to celebrate Caesar’s deification in 42BC.
BookTwoI Suetonius’ life of Augustus follows.
BookThreeIV BookSevenI He married Livia Drusilla, surrendered to him by Tiberius father, Tiberius Nero who divorced her at Augustus’ request.
BookThreeVII He co-funded the young Tiberius’ gladiatorial contests in honour of his father and grandfather.
BookThreeVIII Tiberius acted as advocate with Augustus presiding. The Murena conspiracy against Augustus was in 23BC.
BookThreeX He had adopted Gaius and Lucius in 17BC.
BookThreeXI Augustus was ill in 6BC, delaying Tiberius’ voyage to Rhodes.
BookThreeXII Tiberius’ uneasy relationship with Augustus 6BC to 2AD.
BookThreeXIII Augustus recalled Tiberius in 2AD, with Gaius’ agreement.
BookThreeXVII He refused proposals for Tiberius to be granted an honorific surname, in 9AD, but reiterated that Tiberius was his heir.
BookThreeXX Augustus presided over Tiberius’ Illyrian triumph in 12AD.
BookThreeXXI Augustus’ view of Tiberius as his successor.
BookThreeXXII Tiberius suppressed news of Augustus’ death until Postumus had been executed.
BookThreeXL Tiberius dedicated a Temple of the God Augustus at Nola in 26AD.
BookThreeXLVII BookThreeLXXIV BookFourXXI BookFourXXII The Temple of Divus Augustus was built between the Palatine and Capitoline, behind the Basilica Julia, on the site of the house that Augustus had inhabited before he entered public life. Tiberius made his last journey from his villa on Capri with the intention of dedicating the temple. However, he died at Misenum before he could set out for Rome. It was not until after Tiberius’ death in 37AD that the temple was completed and dedicated by Caligula, who bridged over it to join the Palace to the Capitol.
BookThreeXLVI His generosity compared with Tiberius.
BookThreeXLVII His support for marriage, and the fathering of children.
BookThreeXLVIII Tiberius doubled the legacies left to the army in Augustus’ will.
BookThreeL Tiberius was more severe than Augustus in his treatment of Julia the Elder.
BookThreeLI His comments about Tiberius in letters to Livia.
BookThreeLIII His granddaughter Agrippina the Elder.
BookThreeLVII His legacies left to the people.
BookThreeLVIII Tiberius’s abuse of the law of lese-majesty regarding Augustus.
BookThreeLXVIII His comments on Tiberius’s mannerisms.
BookThreeLXX Tiberius made a filial sacrifice in his memory.
BookFourIV Augustus had ordered Tiberius to adopt Germanicus.
BookFourVIII A letter of his quoted regarding Caligula.
BookFourIX BookFourXVIII The troops mutinied at the news of his death and Tiberius’s succession.
BookFourXV Caligula interred the ashes of his mother Agrippina the Elder and brother Nero in the Mausoleum of Augustus.
BookFourXVI Caligula re-adopted his practice of publishing the Imperial Accounts.
BookFourXXIII Caligula claimed that his mother was the product of Augustus’s incest with his daughter Julia the Elder.
BookFourXXV His habit of seducing other men’s wives.
BookFourXXXI The loss of Varus and his legions was a notable event during his reign.
BookFourXXXIV His relocation of statues to the Campus Martius.
BookFourXXXVIII Caligula ignored discharge certificates issued by him.
BookFiveI His love for Drusus the Elder, and his praise of him after his death.
BookFiveII An altar to him dedicated in Lyon, on 1st of August 10BC.
BookFiveIII His opinion of the young Claudius.
BookFiveVI Claudius associated with the Equestrian Order’s actions after Augustus’ death.
BookFiveXI Claudius made ‘By Augustus’ his most sacred oath.
BookFiveXIX BookFiveXXIII BookSixX The Lex Papia Poppaea was a law of 9AD to encourage and strengthen marriage. It included provisions against adultery and celibacy and complemented and supplemented Augustus’ Lex Julia de Maritandis Ordinibus of 18BC and the Lex Iulia de Adulteriis Coercendis of 17BC. The law was introduced by the suffect consuls of that year, Marcus Papius Mutilus and Quintus Poppaeus Secundus, though they themselves were unmarried.
BookFiveXXI BookEightXL He had revived the Secular Games in 17BC.
BookFiveXXV He had prohibited Romans in Gaul from participating in Druidic rites.
BookFiveXXVI Aemilia Lepida was his great-grandaughter.
BookSixIII BookSixIV BookSixX BookSixXII BookSixXXV Mentioned.
BookSevenIV Associated with an omen of Galba’s accession to power.
BookSevenVIII Galba was elected to the Sodales Augustales an order of priests instituted by Tiberius to maintain the cult of Augustus and the Iulii.
BookSevenXXXVI Vitellius’s paternal great-grandfather was a quaestor under Augustus.
BookSevenXLIII Vitellius deferred accepting the title Augustus.
BookEightII Vespasian was born five years before Augustus’s death.
BookEightIX Vespasian built the Colosseum which Augustus had planned.
Aurelia Cotta (120BC - 54BC) was the mother of Julius Caesar. A daughter of Rutilia and Lucius Aurelius Cotta, her father was consul in 119BC and her paternal grandfather of the same name was consul in 144BC. Her mother Rutilia, was a member of the gens Rutilius cognominated Rufus. She married a praetor, Gaius Julius Caesar III, the father of the dictator.
BookOneXXVI Her death in 54BC.
BookOneLXXIV She offered evidence at the trial of Publius Clodius.
Aurelius Cotta, Gaius (c. 124BC - 73BC) was a Roman statesman and orator. He was the uncle to Julius Caesar through Caesar’s mother, Aurelia Cotta. His brother was Lucius.
BookOneI He interceded on behalf of the young Julius Caesar.
Aurunculeius Cotta, Lucius, see Titurius. One of Caesar’s legates during the Gallic Wars, massacred with Titurius Cotta and their troops.
BookOneXXV His death mentioned as an example of a setback for Caesar.
Autronius Paetas, Publius, (called Lucius Autronius by Suetonius) was elected consul for 65BC, with Publius Cornelius Sulla, but before they could take office both were accused of electoral corruption by Lucius Aurelius Cotta and Lucius Manlius Torquatus. They were found guilty, their election was declared void and their accusers were appointed consuls in their place. Autronius conspired with Catiline to murder the new consuls, but the plot collapsed when Catiline gave the signal before all the conpirators were assembled. Autronius was implicated in Catiline's failed conspiracy to overthrow the government in 66BC. After his old friend Cicero refused to defend him, he was convicted and sent into exile in Epeirus.
BookOneIX Conspires with Julius Caesar in 65BC.
Axius, Quintus, a wealthy friend of Cicero and Varro.
BookOneIX Mentioned.