Suetonius: The Twelve Caesars - Index OP
Octavia the Younger (69BC – c. 9BC), also known as Octavia Minor or simply Octavia, was the sister of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus (known also as Octavian), half-sister of Octavia the Elder, and fourth wife of Mark Antony. She was also the mother-in-law of the Emperor Tiberius, great-grandmother of the Emperor Caligula and Empress Agrippina the Younger, maternal grandmother of the Emperor Claudius, and paternal great-grandmother and maternal great-great grandmother of the Emperor Nero. Before 54BC her stepfather arranged her marriage to Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor, consul in 50BC.
BookOneXXVII In 54BC, her great-uncle Julius Caesar is said to have been anxious for her to divorce her husband so that she could marry Pompey who had just lost his wife Julia (Julius Caesar’s daughter, and thus Octavia’s cousin once removed). However, Pompey declined the proposal marrying Cornelia Metella. Her husband Gaius Marcellus continued to oppose Julius Caesar particularly during the crucial year of his consulship 50BC.
BookTwoIV Mentioned, as sister of Augustus.
BookTwoXXIX The Porticus Octaviae built by Augustus some time after 27BC in place of the Porticus Metelli, enclosed within its colonnaded walks the temples of Jupiter Stator and Juno Regina, next to the Theatre of Marcellus.
BookTwoLXI Her death, variously dated to 11BC - 9BC.
BookTwoLXIII BookThreeVI Her son Marcellus who married Julia, and daughter Claudia Marcella the Elder who married Agrippa.
BookTwoLXIV Germanicus was her grandson (son of her daughter by Mark Antony, Antonia the Younger).
BookTwoLXXIII She made clothes for Augustus.
BookFiveXLI She warned the young Claudius over the sensitivity of the work on history he was writing.
Octavia the Elder also known as Octavia Major was the daughter of the Roman governor and senator Gaius Octavius by his first wife, Ancharia. She was also an elder half-sister to Octavia the Younger and the Emperor Augustus.
BookTwoIV Mentioned.
Octavia, Claudia, (c. 40AD - 62AD) was a daughter of Claudius by his third marriage to Valeria Messalina. Claudius adopted Agrippina the Younger’s son Nero as his son and heir and arranged for Octavia and Nero to marry in 53AD. Nero subsequently banished Octavia to the island of Pandateria on a false charge of adultery, and finally had her executed.
BookFiveXXIV Her prospective husband was Lucius Junius Silanus, but the engagement was ended through Agrippina’s machinations.
BookFiveXXVII Mentioned.
BookFiveXXIX Her fiancée Lucius Silanus was executed on Claudius’s orders.
BookSixVII Her marriage with Nero
BookSixXXXV BookSixXLVI Her persecution by Nero ending in her execution.
BookSixLVII Nero died on the anniversary of her murder (9th June).
Octavius was a mentally disturbed individual
BookOneXLIX His abuse of Caesar, derived from the relationship with Nicomedes.
Octavius, of Velitrae, was a military leader, of the Octavii family.
BookTwoI Mentioned.
Octavius, Gaius, the father of Augustus, was praetor in 61BC. Subsequently proconsul of Macedonia, he defeated several Thracian tribes, and was saluted imperator by his troops. He died suddenly at Nola in 58BC.
BookTwoI Mentioned as the first of his family to enter the Senate.
BookTwoIII His career described.
BookTwoVI He defeated outlawed slaves near Thurii.
BookTwoVIII He died when Augustus was five years old.
BookTwoXXVII His colleage as aedile was Gaius Toranius.
BookTwoXCIV His prescient dream of Augustus’ future power.
BookTwoC Augustus died in the same room at Nola as his father.
BookTwoCI Augustus exhausted his father’s legacy to him on State expenditure.
Octavius, Gaius was the paternal great-grandfather of Augustus, a tribunus militum in 216BC, during the Second Punic War. He survived the Battle of Cannae, and in 205BC served in Sicily under the praetor Lucius Aemilius Papus.
BookTwoII Mentioned.
Octavius, Gaius was the paternal grandfather of Augustus, possessed considerable property, and lived quietly in his villa at Velitrae. He probably augmented his income by money-lending, for both Mark Antony and Cassius Parmensis called Augustus the grandson of a money-lender
BookTwoII BookTwoVI BookTwoXCIV Mentioned.
Octavius, Gnaeus and Gaius were the two sons of Octavius Rufus. The elder held high office while the younger remained a simple equestrian.
BookTwoII Mentioned.
Octavius, see Augustus
Octavius Rufus, Gaius (properly Gnaeus) quaestor c. 230BC, was the paternal ancestor of Augustus.
BookTwoII Mentioned.
Oculata. The Oculata sisters were Vestal Virgins who broke their vows under Domitian and whom he had executed.
BookEightXLIV Mentioned.
Oedipus was the prince of Thebes who unknowingly killed his father, Laius, King of Thebes, taking his place and marrying his own mother Jocasta.
BookSixXLVI Nero sang the part of ‘Oedipus in Exile’.
Olympia was an extensive sanctuary complex of ancient Greece in Elis, and the site of the Olympic Games, which were held every four years, starting in 776BC according to tradition.
BookFourXXII BookFourLVII The Statue of Zeus (Jupiter) at Olympia was made by the Greek sculptor Phidias, circa 432BC at the site where it was erected in the Temple of Zeus. Caligula ordered its dissassembly and transport to Rome.
BookSixXII The Priestesses of Demeter were allowed to view the athletics contests there.
BookSixXXIII BookSixXXV Nero initiated a music competition as part of the Games in 67AD.
BookSixXXIV Nero drove a ten-horse chariot in the Games there.
Oppius, Gaius, was an intimate friend of Julius Caesar. He managed the dictator’s private affairs during his absence from Rome, and, together with Lucius Cornelius Balbus, exercised considerable influence in the city. According to Suetonius many authorities considered Oppius to have written the histories of the Spanish, African and Alexandrian wars which are printed among the works of Caesar. It is now generally held that he may possibly be the author only of the last. He also wrote a life of Caesar and the elder Scipio.
BookOneLII Supposedly knew of Caesarion’s paternity.
BookOneLIII His comment on Caesar’s indifference to food.
BookOneLVI His possible authorship of some of Caesar’s memoirs.
BookOneLXXII Caesar’s kindness to him.
Oppius Sabinus, Gaius, was consul in 84AD, and Governor of Moesia in 85AD. In that year, he fought the Dacians near Novae. His force was destroyed and Sabinus decapitated.
BookEightXLII Mentioned.
Orcus was a god of the underworld in Roman mythology, more equivalent to the Roman Pluto than the Greek Hades. Orcus was by extension a name for the Underworld
BookSixXXXIX Nero is identified ironically as a ‘Lord of the Dead’.
BookSevenXXXI Otho was sacrificing to Dis, originally a chthonic god of riches, fertile agricultural land, and underground mineral wealth, later commonly equated with the Roman deities Pluto and Orcus, becoming an underworld deity.
Orestes, in Greek mythology, was the son of Agamemnon, murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, in retribution for the sacrifice of their daughter Iphigeneia in order to obtain favorable winds for the Greek voyage to Troy. Orestes avenged his father’s death by slaying his mother and her lover Aegisthus.
BookSixXXXIX His murder of his mother.
Ostia, the modern archaeological site known as Ostia Antica, was the main port for ancient Rome (19 miles northeast) and close to the modern town of Ostia. Once at the mouth (ostia) of the Tiber, due to silting and a drop in sea level, the site now lies 2 miles from the sea. The site is noted for the excellent preservation of its buildings, frescoes and mosaics. In 68BC, the town was sacked by pirates and destroyed. A walled town was re-built, by Cicero. The town was further developed under the influence of Tiberius, who commissioned its first Forum. A new harbor was excavated by Claudius. This harbour silted up, and another was built by Trajan and completed in 113AD. Ostia contained the earliest synagogue yet identified in Europe.
BookThreeX BookThreeXI Tiberius departed for Rhodes from Ostia in 6BC.
BookFourXV Caligula brought the ashes of his mother and brother Nero there.
BookFourLV Mentioned as a point of departure for North Africa.
BookFiveXII Claudius on a journey there.
BookFiveXVII Claudius sailed to Britain from there, but landed at Marseilles in 43AD.
BookFiveXX The Claudian harbour was started in 42AD and completed by Nero in 64AD.
BookFiveXXIV Claudius deprived the quaestors of their duties at Ostia.
BookFiveXXV BookEightVIII Claudius stationed troops there as firefighters.
BookFiveXXXVIII Claudius reprimanded its citizens for failing to meet him with boats when he reached the mouth of the Tiber.
BookFiveXL Claudius reacted angrily to a petition of the citizens.
BookSixXVI Nero planned to extend Rome’s walls to Ostia and build a sea-canal from there to the City.
BookSixXXVII Nero sailed the Tiber to Ostia on pleasure cruises.
BookSixXXXI Nero’s project to connect Ostia and Misenum.
BookSixXLVII Nero thought of fleeing to Ostia during his last days.
Otho, Marcus Salvius (28th April 32AD – 69AD), also called Marcus Salvius Otho Caesar Augustus, was Emperor for three months, from 15 January to 16 April 69AD. He was the second emperor of the Year of the Four Emperors. Suetonius appears to miscalculate his age, 36, at death/interment, and also the length of his reign, ninety-two days, which agrees with Cassius Dio’s ninety if the day Otho seized power and the day of his death are excluded from the reign.
BookSevenVI His reign foreshadowed.
BookSevenXVII The mutiny in Germany, and Galba’s error, opened the way to his accession.
BookSevenXIX His coup against Galba.
BookSevenXX Galba’s severed head delivered to him.
BookSevenXXIV Suetonius’ life of Otho follows.
BookSevenXLIV BookEightV BookEightVI Vitellius attacked him after he heard news of Galba’s assassination.
BookSevenXLV Vitellius received news of Otho’s death while still in Gaul.
BookEightXLVI Mentioned.
Paconius, Marcus, was a legatus of Gaius Junius Silanus (consul in 10AD, and proconsul of Asia), and one of his accusers in 22AD (prior to Silanus’ banishment by Tiberius to the island of Cynthus). He was the father of Paconius Agrippinus the stoic philosopher.
BookThreeLXI He was executed by Tiberius for treason.
Pacuvius, Marcus (220BC - 130BC) was the greatest of the tragic poets of ancient Rome prior to Lucius Accius. He was the nephew and pupil of Ennius.
BookOneLXXXIV A quotation from his play Armorum Judicium.
Paetus, Publius Clodius Thrasea, see Clodius
Palatine Hill, the hill is the most central of the Seven Hills of Rome and one of the most ancient parts of the city. It stands 40 metres above the Forum Romanum, looking down on it on one side, and on the Circus Maximus on the other. Many affluent Romans of the Republican period had their residences there. During the Empire several emperors resided there; in fact, the ruins of the palaces of Augustus, Tiberius, and Domitian can still be seen. Augustus also built a temple to Apollo there, beside his own palace. The Palatine Hill was also the site of the festival of the Lupercalia.
BookTwoV Augustus born there in the Ox-Heads quarter.
BookTwoLVII BookTwoLXXII Augustus’ house there destroyed by fire in 3AD, and rebuilt.
BookThreeV Tiberius born on the Palatine.
BookFourLVI The Palatine Games mentioned were held in honour of Augustus. Caligula was assassinated on the last day, the fourth, January 24th 41AD.
BookSixXXXI BookSixXXXVIII Nero’s Golden House, the Domus Aurea complex, covered parts of the slopes of the Palatine, Esquiline and Caelian hills.
Palfurius Sura, was a courtier under Nero, expelled from the Senate by Vespasian and re-instated by Domitian under whom he acted as an informer. He was a Stoic, and orator of some note. He was tried and executed under Trajan.
BookEightXLIX A public call for his re-instatement in the Senate.
Pallas, Marcus Antonius, (c. 1AD – 63AD) was a prominent Greek freedman and secretary during the reigns of the Emperors Claudius and Nero. His younger brother was Marcus Antonius Felix, procurator of Iudaea. Pallas was originally a slave of Antonia the Younger, Claudius’s mother. He served as secretary to the Treasury under Claudius and amassed great wealth. He was dismissed by Nero in 55AD and killed in 63AD.
BookFiveXXVIII A favourite of Claudius.
BookSixXXXV Poisoned by Nero.
Palumbus, meaning the Dove, was a gladiator, whose name Claudius made a joke on.
BookFiveXXI Mentioned.
Pandataria, or Pandateria, the modern Ventotene, is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, 25 nautical miles off the coast of Gaeta at the border between Lazio and Campania. It is the remains of an ancient volcano, and part of the Pontine Islands. The island has a length of 3 kilometres and a maximum width of about 800 metres. It is the island to which Augustus banished his daughter Julia the Elder in 2BC, and Tiberius banished his grandniece Agrippina the Elder in 29AD. It was also where Agrippina's youngest daughter, Julia Livilla was exiled twice; by her brother Caligula for plotting to depose him, and by her uncle, Claudius, at the instigation of his wife, Messalina, in 41AD. Claudia Octavia, the first wife of Nero, was banished to Pandateria in 62AD and executed on the orders of her husband.
BookThreeLIII Agrippina’s banishment there.
BookFourXV Caligula recovered Agrippina’s ashes from there in 37AD.
Paneros, was a noted moneylender under Nero.
BookSixXXX Nero lavished gifts and money on him.
Pannonians were the Illyrian inhabitants of Pannonia the Roman province, bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. In 35BC as allies of the Dalmatians they were attacked by Augustus, who conquered and occupied Siscia (Sisak). The country was not, however subdued until 9BC, when it was incorporated into Illyricum, the frontier of which was thus extended as far as the Danube. In 6AD, the Pannonians, with the Dalmatians and other Illyrian tribes, revolted, and were overcome by Tiberius and Germanicus, after a three year campaign. Later Illyricum was dissolved, its lands divided between two new provinces of Pannonia in the north and Dalmatia in the south.
BookTwoXX BookTwoXXI Augustus’ generals campaigned there.
BookThreeXVII Tiberius’ successful campaign there in 6AD - 9AD.
BookThreeXX Bato was a chieftain of the Pannonians.
BookSevenXXXII Otho drew on troops from Pannonia in 69AD.
BookSevenL The legions in Pannonia swore allegiance to Vespasian in 69AD.
Pansa, see Vibius
Paphos, old Paphos, modern Kouklia, on Cyprus, was not far distant from the Zephyrium promontory and the mouth of the River Bocarus, about 16 kilometres from new Paphos, the modern city. The temple of Venus-Aphrodite there was rebuilt by Vespasian after an earthquake.
BookEightXXX Titus consulted the oracle of Venus-Aphrodite there.
Parilia, or Palilia, was the festival celebrated at Rome every year on the 21st of April, in honour of Pales, the tutelary divinity of shepherds. This was also the day of the year on which Romulus supposedly commenced the building of the city, so that the festival was at the same time solemnized as the birthday of Rome itself.
BookFourXVI Caligula’s accession was presumably dated by the Senate decree as taking place on the Parilia. He had entered Rome on the 28th March 37AD, after Tiberius’s death on the 16th.
Paris, Lucius Domitius, was an actor in the Roman theatre of Nero’s time. He was a slave of Domitia Lepida who became wealthy enough to buy his freedom, adding her praenomen and cognomen to his own name. Nero later declared him freeborn, despite his involvement in Lepida’s plotting.
BookSixLIV It was claimed he was executed by Nero (in 67AD), out of jealousy.
Paris was the prince of Troy who abducted and married Helen of Sparta, thereby initiating the Trojan War, according to Homer’s Iliad.
BookEightXLVI Oenone was a mountain nymph, Paris’s first wife, whom he abandoned for Helen.
Paris was an actor in the Roman theatre of Domitian’s time. According to Suetonius he had an affair with Domitian’s wife Domitia Augusta.
BookEightXXXIX Mentioned.
BookEightXLVI Perhaps this implies that he had Paris executed also.
Parrhasius of Ephesus was the son of Evenor. He settled in Athens, and was distinguished as a painter before 399BC. His picture of Theseus adorned the Capitol in Rome. His other works, besides the obscene subjects with which he is said to have amused his leisure, are chiefly mythological groups.
BookThreeXLIV An erotic painting by him.
Parthenius of Nicaea, or Myrlea in Bithynia, was a Greek grammarian and poet. He was taken prisoner by Cinna during the Mithridatic Wars and brought to Rome in 72BC. He subsequently visited Neapolis, where he taught Greek to Virgil, according to Macrobius. He is said to have lived until the accession of Tiberius in 14AD. He was a writer of elegies, especially dirges, and of short epic poems, and was sometimes called ‘the last of the Alexandrians’.
BookThreeLXX One of Tiberius’s favourite poets.
Parthenius was Domitian’s Head Valet, who took part in the conspiracy to assassinate the Emperor in 96AD. He persuaded Nerva to take power but was killed shortly afterwards by soldiers, along with the other conspirators.
BookEightLII BookEightLIII His involvement in the plot.
Parthians, Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire. The Romans and Parthians fought a series of wars beginning with Crassus’ invasion in 52BC - 53BC and ending with Macrinus’ ignominious defeat and retreat in 217AD. During this time it became clear to both sides that a natural boundary existed in northern Mesopotamia beyond which it was difficult, if not impossible, for either side to maintain a permanent foothold.
BookOneXLIV BookTwoVIII Caesar’s plans to attack them in 45BC.
BookOneLXXIX It was prophesied that only a king would conquer them.
BookTwoXIX Asinius Epicadus a mixed-race conspirator of Parthian descent.
BookTwoXXI They accepted Augustus’ claim to Armenia (Mark Antony had annexed in it 34BC)
BookTwoXLIII Augustus paraded Parthian hostages at the Games.
BookThreeIX Crassus lost the standards there, and was killed, in 53BC.
BookThreeXVI They send envoys to Augustus (c. 4AD).
BookThreeXLI Allowed to overrun Armenia c. 30AD - 37AD.
BookThreeXLIX Vonones I was king of Parthia and later Armenia.
BookFourV Tokens of mourning in the Parthian court at Germanicus’s death.
BookFiveXXV Their envoys at the court of Claudius.
BookSixXXXIX The Parthians were noted archers, firing from horseback.
BookSixXLVII Nero considered throwing himself on their mercy during his last days.
BookSixLVII Their support mentioned for the Pseudo-Neros, who claimed to be reincarnations of Nero (c. 80AD and 88AD).
BookSevenXXXVII Artabanus II their king (c. 10AD - 38AD).
BookEightVI BookEightXXXVIII Vologases 1 was their king (c. 51AD - 78AD)
BookEightXXIII Their king referred to, possibly the accession of Vologases II, or Pacorus II his uncle who deposed him c. 79AD.
Pasiphae, the wife of Minos of Crete in Greek mythology, was impregnated by a bull from the sea.
BookSixXII The myth was enacted at Nero’s entertainment.
BookSevenII Galba traced his maternal ancestry back to Pasiphae.
Passienus Crispus, Gaius Sallustius (d. 47AD) was the adopted grandson and biological great, great nephew of the historian Sallust. He was consul in 27AD and 44AD. His first marriage was to Augustus’ great niece Domitia in 33AD. Passienus married Agrippina the Younger in 41AD. His stepson was Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, who would later become the Roman Emperor Nero. Passienus died in 47AD, possibly poisoned by his wife.
BookSixVI He bequeathefd an inheritance to his stepson Nero.
Patavium, the modern Padua, is on the Bacchiglione River, 40 km west of Venice and 29 km southeast of Vicenza. The Brenta River, which once ran through the city, still touches the northern districts. To the city’s south west lie the Euganean Hills. Padua claims to be the oldest city in northern Italy. According to tradition it was founded in 1183BC by the Trojan prince Antenor. The city was a Roman municipium from 45BC. The hot springs at Abano Terme, 10km southwest, were known to the Romans as Aponi fons (the springs of Aponus, or perhaps Maponus the Celtic god equated with Apollo, and celebrated as Apollo Aponus at Ribchester). An oracle of Geryon (whose myth is connected to Heracles, the sun-hero, and whose island lay in the far west, and who is perhaps therefore a mask of Apollo) was situated nearby, and the sortes Praenestinae, small inscribed bronze cylinders found there in the 16th century, may have been the oracular lots.
BookThreeXIV Tiberius consulted the oracle nearby.
Patrobius Neronianus was a favourite freedman of Nero’s put to death by Galba in 68AD after being paraded in chains through Rome.
BookSevenXX His freedman avenged him, by purchasing Galba’s severed head in order to throw it down on the spot where his patron was killed.
Paulus, see Aemilius
Pedius, Quintus (d. 43BC) was the great nephew of Julius Caesar. In 57BC he served as general during Caesar’s conquest of Gaul. During the Civil War in 49BC, he allied himself with Caesar. In 48BC, he was promoted to the praetorship in Rome and in that year killed Titus Annius Milo. In early 45BC, he served as a legatus against Sextus Pompeius in Spain. Pedius claimed victory and Caesar honored him with a triumph and the title of proconsul. In Caesar’s will, Pedius was named as an heir, but renounced his inheritance in favor of the main heir, his cousin Octavian (Augustus). In August 43BC, Octavian and Pedius were elected as consuls after marching on Rome with an army. During the consulship, Pedius created a law called the Lex Pedia which sentenced the murderers of Caesar or those who called for Caesar’s death. Pedius controlled Rome, while Octavian left for Northern Italy to join Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, in forming the Second Triumvirate.
BookOneLXXXIII He inherited an eighth of Caesar’s estate.
BookSixIII Gnaeus Domitius was condemned under the Lex Pedia.
BookSevenIII Galba’s great-grandfather condemned under the Lex Pedia.
Peloponnese, is the large peninsula and region in southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth. During the late Middle Ages and the Ottoman era, the peninsula was known as the Morea a name still in colloquial use.
BookTwoXVII Augustus’ met with a storm at sea between there and Aetolia in 30BC.
Pergamon, Pergamum or Pérgamo was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, today located 16 miles (26 km) from the Aegean on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus (modern Bakırçay), and was the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 281BC – 133BC. The main sites of ancient Pergamon are to the north and west of the modern city of Bergama.
BookTwoLXXXIX Augustus studied under Apollodorus of Pergamon.
Perusia, modern Perugia, first appears as one of the 12 confederate cities of Etruria. It is first mentioned in the account of the war of 310/309BC between the Etruscans and the Romans. In 216BC and 205BC it assisted Rome in the Hannibalic war, but afterward it is not mentioned until 41BC - 40BC, when Lucius Antonius took refuge there and the city was reduced by Octavian after a long siege.
BookTwoIX BookTwoXIV BookTwoXV Augustus (Octavian) involved in civil war there.
BookTwoXCVI A prophecy of Augustus’ victory there.
BookThreeIV Tiberius father, Tiberius Nero, fought there.
Petreius, Marcus (110BC – April 46BC) was a politician and general. He cornered and killed the notorious rebel Catiline at Pistoria. From 55BC, he and Lucius Afranius administered the Spanish provinces as Legates, while the official governor Pompey remained in Rome. After the outbreak of the Civil War in 49BC, Petreius and Afranius marched against Caesar, who wished to secure Spain before moving against Pompey in Greece. The two Legates were forced to capitulate and disband their army on August 2 at Ilerda. Caesar allowed Petreius and Afranius their freedom, and the two traveled to Greece to join Pompey. After Pompey’s defeat at Pharsalus, they fled from the Peloponnese to North Africa, where Petreius continued to serve as Legate. Together with Titus Labienus, Petreius again achieved several successes against Caesar. After the defeat of the Pompeians at Thapsus, Petreius fled with the Numidian King, Juba. As they realized the hopelessness of their situation, Petreius and Juba took their lives on an estate near Zama: Petreius and Juba decided upon a duel, in which Petreius killed Juba. Petreius then took his own life with the help of a slave.
BookOneXXXIV Defeated by Caesar in Spain.
BookOneLXXV His behaviour at Ilerda.
Petronia was the first wife (before 40AD) of the emperor Vitellius and the daughter of Petronius Pontius Nigrinus. She and Vitellius had a son Aulus Vitellius Petronianus. She subsequently married Cornelius Dolabella who was executed on Vitellius’s accession in 69AD.
BookSevenXLI Mentioned.
Petronianus was the son of Vitellius and Petronia. He was blind in one eye.
BookSevenXLI Murdered by his father.
Phaethon, in Greek mythology, was the son of the Sun-god, Helios, who borrowed his father’s chariot and was unable to control the horses of the sun, thereby scorching the earth and falling from the chariot to his death.
BookFourXI Caligula likened to him.
Phaon was a freedman of the Emperor Nero.
BookSixXLVIII BookSixXLIX He offered his villa in the north-eastern suburbs as a hiding place for Nero. The Via Nomentana ran from Rome to Nomentum (Mentana), it merged beyond Nomentum with the Via Salaria which ran from Rome to Castrum Truentinum (Porto d’Ascoli) on the Adriatic coast.
Pharmacussa, modern Pharmakonisi (Farmakonisi), is an island between the Dodecanese islands to the west, and the coast of Asia Minor (Turkey) to the east. To the north is the island of Agathonissi, to the west the islands of Lipsi, Patmos and Leros, and to the south the islands of Kalymnos and Pserimos. It is two square miles in area, and known traditionally for its rich flora, hence the name.
BookOneIV Julius Caesar was captured by pirates off the island.
Pharnaces II, (d. 47BC) was the son of Mithridates VI, an enemy of the Roman Republic. In 49BC, civil war broke out between Julius Caesar and Pompey, and Pharnaces made himself ruler of Colchis and Lesser Armenia. Deiotarus, the king of Lesser and the Romans fought Pharnaces at Nicopolis in Anatolia. Pharnaces defeated the small Roman army and overran Pontus. Caesar subsequently brought him to battle near Zela (modern Zile inTurkey), where Pharnaces was routed and escaped with a small detachment of cavalry. The historian Appian states that he died in battle; Cassius Dio says he was captured and killed.
BookOneXXXV Caesar’s victory at Zela.
Pharsalus, now Farsala, is a city in southern Thessaly, in Greece, located in the southern part of Larissa Prefecture. A decisive battle of Caesar’s Civil War was fought there, on 9 August 48BC when Caesar and his allies defeated Pompey.
BookOneXXX Mentioned.
BookOneXXXV Pompey defeated there.
BookOneLXIII An incident after the battle, when Caesar crossed the Hellespont.
BookOneLXXV Caesar’s clemency there.
BookSixII Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, the consul of 54BC, died there.
BookEightI Vespasian’s paternal grandfather fought there.
Philemon was a slave who acted as Caesar’s amanuensis.
BookOneLXXIV He conspired to poison Caesar, the plot failed, and was executed, but Caesar showed clemency in not having him tortured.
Philip II (382BC – 336BC) was king of Macedon from 359BC until his assassination in 336BC. He was the father of Alexander the Great. He was reputedly killed by one of his bodyguards, Pausanias of Orestis.
BookFourLVII Mnester ominously danced the tragedy Cinyras on the day of Caligula’s assassination, which had been played at the death of Philip.
Philippi was the final battle in the Wars of the Second Triumvirate between the forces of Mark Antony and Octavian and those of Julius Caesar’s assassins Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. It took place in 42BC, at Philippi in Macedonia. Cassius was defeated by Antony, and committed suicide after hearing a false report that Brutus had also failed. A second encounter defeated Brutus’ forces, and he committed suicide in turn, leaving the Triumvirate in control of the Roman Republic.
BookTwoIX BookTwoXIII Augustus (Octavian) involved in civil war there.
BookTwoXXII Augustus received an ovation or minor triumph after Philippi in 40BC.
BookTwoXCI A warning in a friend’s dream that saved Augustus’ life there.
BookTwoXCVI A prophecy of Augustus’ victory there.
BookThreeV Tiberius born during the Civil War that ended there.
BookThreeXIV The altars there burst into flame when Tiberius passed by in 20BC.
Phoebe, was a freedwoman in Julia the Elder’s confidence who comitted suicide.
BookTwoLXV Mentioned.
Phyllis was nurse to Domitian. She cremated his body and mingled the ashes with those of Flavia Julia Titi, who had also been one of her charges.
BookEightLIII Mentioned.
Picenum, a region of ancient Italy, was the birthplace of Pompey and his father Pompeius Strabo. It was situated in what is now the region of Marche in modern Italy.
BookOneXXXIV Overrun by Caesar.
Pinarius, a knight suspected of being a spy by Augustus.
BookTwoXXVII Mentioned.
Pinarius Scarpus, Lucius was a great nephew of the dictator Gaius Julius Caesar through one of his sisters (sororum nepotes). His cousins were the consul Quintus Pedius, Octavia Minor (the fourth wife of Triumvir Mark Antony) and Octavian (Augustus).
BookOneLXXXIII He inherited an eighth of Caesar’s estate.
Pincian Hill: the hill lies to the north of the Quirinal, overlooking the Campus Martius. Several important families in Ancient Rome had villas and gardens (horti) on the south-facing slopes in the late Roman Republic, including the Horti Lucullani (created by Lucullus), the Horti Sallustiani (created by the historian Sallust), the Horti Pompeiani, and the Horti Aciliorum. The hill came to be known in Roman times as Collis Hortulorum (the Hill of Gardens). Its current name comes from the Pincii, one of the families that occupied it in the 4th century AD.
BookSixL The site of the family tomb of the Domitii.
Piso, see Calpurnius
Pitholaus, Lucius or Marcus, Voltacilius,was an orator and historian. From 81BC onwards he taught rhetoric in Rome, and his students included Pompey whose biography he wrote. He also produced a history of Rome (Suetonius De illustribus Grammaticis, 27). The Pitholeon mentioned in Horace’s Satires (1, 10, 22), has been claimed as the same person.
BookOneLXXV Lampooned Caesar but was not prosecuted.
Placentia, the modern Piacenza, is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It lies at the confluence of the Trebbia, which drains the northern Apennines, and the River Po. Piacenza (like Cremona) was founded as a Roman military colony in May of 218BC.
BookOneLXIX In 47BC, Caesar faced a mutiny of his veteran Gallic legions billeted in Placentia, who refused to cross to Africa to fight Pompey. He disbanded the Ninth before re-instating it, while the Tenth marched to Rome demanding their discharges, back-pay and bonuses.
BookSevenXXXII Otho’s army won a minor engagement there in 69AD.
Plancus, see Munatius
Plautia Urgulanilla was the first wife of Claudius. Claudius divorced her c. 24AD, on grounds of adultery and his suspicion of her involvement in the murder of her sister-in-law Apronia. Her father was Marcus Plautius Silvanus, consul for the year 2BC. She gave birth to a son, Claudius Drusus (who died young), and a daughter, Claudia, who was born five months after the divorce. As Claudia was widely assumed to be the illegitimate daughter of the freedman Boter, Claudius repudiated the child.
BookFiveXXVI First wife of Claudius.
BookFiveXXVII Her children Drusus and Claudia.
Plautius, Aulus was suffect consul for the second half of 29AD, and held a provincial governorship, probably of Pannonia, in the early years of Claudius’s reign. He led the Roman conquest of Britain in 43AD, and became the first governor of the new province, serving from 43AD to 47AD.
BookFiveXXIV Awarded an ovation by Claudius.
BookEightIV Vespasian fought under him in Britain.
Plautius, Aulus was possibly the son of the Aulus Plautius who conquered Britain. He was allegedly the lover of Agrippina the Younger, and was murdered by Nero.
BookSixXXXV His murder.
Plautius, Rufus, was convicted of conspiring against Augustus possibly in 6BC.
BookTwoXIX Mentioned.
Plautius Silvanus, Marcus, was consul in 2BC and proconsul of Asia in 4AD - 5AD. He also served in Pannonia in 9AD, and Dalmatia and Illyricum in the time of the Great Illyrian Revolt. He had a son of the same name who was praetor in 24AD, and a daughter Plautia Urgulanilla who married Claudius c. 9AD.
BookFiveIV His son mentioned.
Plinius Secundus, Gaius (23AD – 79AD), known as Pliny the Elder, was an author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote an encyclopedic work, Naturalis Historia. He died on August 25, 79AD, while attempting a rescue by ship from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius which destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum.
BookFourVIII One of Suetonius’s sources.
Plotius, unknown sponsor of a bill to recall Lucius Cornelius Cinna and others from exile.
BookOneV Mentioned.
Polemon Pythodorus, Marcus Antonius, Polemon II of Pontus (c. 11BC - 74AD) was a Roman client king. Through his maternal grandmother he was a direct descendant of Mark Antony. In 38AD, he succeeded his mother as the sole ruler of Pontus, Colchis and Cilicia. In 62, Nero induced Polemon to abdicate the Pontian throne, and Pontus, including Colchis, became a Roman province. From then until his death, Polemon only ruled Cilicia.
BookSixXVIII Pontus was changed from a client kingdom to a province by Nero in 62AD.
Polla, see Vespasia
Pollentia, modern Pollenzo, is a city the left bank of the Tanaroin the Province of Cuneo, Piedmont. In antiquity Pollentia was in the territory of the Ligurian Statielli, with Augusta Bagiennorum (modern Roncaglia) 16 km to its south. Its position on the road from Augusta Taurinorum (modern Turin) to the coast at Vada Sabatia (modern Vado Ligure, near Savona), at the point of divergence of a road to Hasta (modern Asti) gave it military importance.Decimus Brutus managed to occupy it an hour before Mark Antony in 43BC.
BookThreeXXXVII Punished by Tiberius.
Pollio, see Asinius, Clodius, Vespasius
Pollux, or Polydeuces, and Castor were twin brothers in Greek and Roman mythology, the Dioscuri or Gemini. They were the sons of Leda by Tyndareus and Zeus respectively. Their role as divine horsemen made them particularly attractive to the Roman equites and cavalry. Each year on July 15, the feast day of the Dioskouroi, the 1,800 equestrians would parade through the streets of Rome in an elaborate spectacle. The construction of the Temple ofCastor and Pollux, in the Roman Forum was undertaken to fulfil a vow sworn by Aulus Postumius Albus Regillensis in gratitude for the Roman victory at the Battle of Lake Regillus c. 498BC. According to legend, the twins fought at the head of the Roman army and subsequently brought news of the victory back to Rome.
BookOneX Mentioned.
BookThreeXX BookFourXXII The archaic temple was completely reconstructed and enlarged in 117BC by Lucius Cecilius Metellus Dalmaticus after his victory over the Dalmatians. Gaius Verres again restored this second temple in 73BC. Tiberius rebuilt and restored the Temple, destroyed by fire in 14BC, and re-dedicated it in 6AD. The remains visible today are from the temple of Tiberius, except the podium, which is from the time of Metellus. Caligula incorporated the Temple into the Palace complex, as its vestibule.
BookSixI The twins’ presence at the battle of Lake Regillus. They sent Lucius Domitius to carry the news of the victory to Rome.
Polus was a freedman of Augustus forced to take his own life for adultery with Roman wives.
BookTwoLXVII Mentioned.
Polybius, was a freedman secretary of Augustus.
BookTwoCI He helped transcribe Augustus’ last will in 13AD.
Polybius, Gaius Iulius, was a freedman of Claudius’s who assisted Claudius as a researcher and took up an official role in the imperial bureaucracy, with the title ‘a studiis’. He was executed for crimes against the state.
BookFiveXXVIII Granted special privileges.
Polycrates, son of Aeaces, was the ‘enlightened’ tyrant of Samos from c. 538BC to 522BC. He plundered the islands of the Aegean and the cities on the Ionian coast of Asia Minor, defeating the navies of Lesbos and Miletus. On Samos he built an aqueduct, a temple of Hera (the Heraion) and a palace.
BookFourXXI Caligula planned to restore his palace on Samos, mentioned by Herodotus (History of the Persian Wars, Book III:42). Its site was at Pythagorion.
Pompeia, daughter of Quintus Pompeius Rufus, a son of a former consul, and Cornelia, the daughter of the Roman dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla, was the second wife of Julius Caesar.
BookOneVI Marriage and divorce.
BookOneLXXIV Accused of adultery with Publius Clodius.
Pompeia Magna, daughter of Pompey, (b. 80/75BC – d. before 35BC) was the only daughter and second child born of Pompey from his third marriage, to Mucia Tertia. Her eldest brother was Gnaeus Pompeius and her younger brother was Sextus Pompey. Pompeia was betrothed to Quintus Servilius Caepio, but married Faustus Cornelius Sulla, a politician who was the son of the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla by his wife Caecilia Metella. In about 47BC, Faustus died in the African War against Julius Caesar. Her two sons fell into Caesar’s hands however he dismissed and pardoned them. After 46BC, Pompeia married politician Lucius Cornelius Cinna, who was brother of Julius Caesar’s first wife Cornelia Cinna minor and the maternal uncle of Caesar’s late daughter with Cornelia, Julia Caesaris.
BookOneXXVII Caesar asked unsuccessfully for her hand as part of a political arrangement with Pompey.
BookThreeVI Her gifts to the infant Tiberius in 40BC.
Pompeius, was an unknown Equestrian who annoyed Tiberius in the Senate.
BookThreeLVII Mentioned.
Pompeius, Sextus, was consul in the year of Augustus’ death. He was a descendant of Pompey the Great, was related to Augustus, was a friend of Germanicus, and became proconsul of Asia.
BookTwoC He was consul in 14AD.
Pompeius Magnus Pius, Sextus (67BC - 35BC), or Sextus Pompey, was the youngest son of Pompey the Great (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus) by his third wife, Mucia Tertia. His elder brother was Gnaeus Pompeius. In 45BC, Caesar managed to defeat the Pompeius brothers at the battle of Munda, in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula, comprising modern Spain and Portugal). Gnaeus Pompeius was executed, but Sextus escaped to Sicily. Following concerted opposition to Mark Antony he was captured in Miletus in 35BC and executed without trial (an illegal act since Sextus was a Roman citizen).
BookOneXXXV BookOneXXXVI BookTwoVIII BookTwoIX Defeated by the forces of Augustus (Octavian) at Munda in 45BC.
BookTwoXVI BookTwoXLVII Defeated in the naval battles at Mylae and Naulochus in 36BC.
BookTwoLXVII He accused Augustus of homosexuality.
BookTwoLXXIV His admiral Menas betrayed him.
BookThreeIV He offended Tiberius father, Tiberius Nero.
BookThreeVI His sister Pompeia Magna.
Pompeius Macer, Gnaeus, a praetor in Tiberius’ reign, he had been appointed by Augustus to oversee the setting in order of his libraries.
BookOneLVI Forbidden by Augustus to circulate some of Caesar’s minor works.
Pompeius Magnus, Gnaeus (Pompey) (106BC – 48BC) He came from a wealthy Italian provincial background, and established himself in the ranks of the nobility by successful leadership in several campaigns. Sulla addressed him by the cognomen Magnus (the Great) and he was awarded three triumphs. He joined his rival Marcus Licinius Crassus and his ally and father-in-law Julius Caesar in the military-political alliance known as the First Triumvirate. After the deaths of Crassus and Julia, Pompey’s wife and Caesar’s daughter, Pompey and Caesar contended the leadership of the Roman state in a civil war. Pompey sided with the optimates, the conservative and aristocratic majority of the Roman Senate. When Caesar defeated him at the battle of Pharsalus he sought refuge in Egypt, where he was assassinated.
BookOneXV Caesar proposed Pompey take over the Capitol restorations.
BookOneXIX He was a member of the First Triumvirate with Caesar and Crassus, which was unofficial, and lasted from 60BC until Crassus’ death in 53BC.
BookOneXX Caesar fabricated the tale of a plot against Pompey’s life, for political purposes.
BookOneXXI BookOneXXII His marriage to Caesar’s daughter, Julia.
BookOneXXIV The First Triumvirate re-affirmed at Lucca in 56BC.
BookOneXXVI Nominated as sole consul for 52BC.
BookOneXXVIII His Senate bill regulating official privileges.
BookOneXXIX Caesar believed his veterans were superior to Pompey’s newly levied troops in 50BC.
BookOneXXX Quoted regarding Caesar’s need for public turmoil.
BookOneXXXIV He fled to Epirus via Brundisium in 49BC.
BookOneXXXV BookThreeLVII His defeat at Pharsalus in 48BC.
BookOneXXXVI BookOneLXVIII His incomplete victory over Caesar at Dyrrachium in 48BC where Caesar was forced to retreat, but Pompey failed to pursue the advantage.
BookOneXLIX BookOneLXIX BookSixII Mentioned.
BookOneL Caesar was reputed to have had an affair with his wife, Mucia.
BookOneLIV Caesar extorted tribute from Ptolemy XII for himself and Pompey.
BookOneLXXV He treated political neutrals as enemies.
BookOneLXXX BookOneLXXXIV BookTwoXXXI BookTwoXLV BookThreeXLVII BookFourXXI BookFiveXI BookFiveXXI BookSixXLVI The Portico of Pompey was in his Theatre complex, on the edge of the Campus Martius, and was dedicated early in 55BC. The theatre was one of the first permanent (non-wooden) theatres in Rome and was considered the world's largest theatre for centuries. The East Portico was the probable place of Julius Caesar’s assassination. Augustus relocated Pompey’s statue there. It was damaged by fire in 21AD, after which Tiberius undertook to restore it, though the restoration was not completed until after his death, by Caligula and Claudius. An arch dedicated to Tiberius was built nearby. The temple of Venus Victrix was sited at the top of the theatre with the auditorium setas forming a tiered approach to it, along with shrines of Honos, Virtus and Felicitas. The theatre was also decorated with statues of the fourteen nations Pompey had subdued, sculpted by Coponius, and placed at the entrance to the porticoes, which gave the entrance hall its name of the Porticus ad Nationes: it was later restored by Augustus.
BookOneLXXXI The king-bird, avis regaliolus, seen in the Portico, suggests, based on various myths and legends, the wren, or one of the crested kinglets (firecrest, goldcrest etc).
BookTwoIV Atius Balbus related to him through Balbus’ mother Pompeia.
BookThreeXV Pompey’s house on the Esquiline was on the modern Via di Grotta Pinta, in the Carinae district, near the temple of Tellus. The house was ornamented with a rostra, the beak-like prow of a captured pirate ship, and therefore called Domus Rostrata. After Pompey’s death the house, was granted to Antony by Julius Caesar. The house later became the property of Tiberius, and the Imperial family.
BookEightI Vespasian’s grandfather fought for Pompey.
Pompeius Magnus, Gnaeus (d. 47AD) was a son of the consul of the year 27AD, Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi. He married Claudia Antonia, Claudius’ daughter in 43AD.
BookFourXXXV Caligula deprived him and his descendants of the surname Magnus ‘Great’.
BookFiveXXVII Mentioned as the first husband of Claudia Antonia.
BookFiveXXIX Executed on Claudius’s orders.
Pompeius Rufus, Quintus (d. 87BC), was the son of Quintus Pompeius Rufus, consul in 88BC, by an unnamed woman. He married Cornelia Sulla, the first daughter of the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Cornelia and Pompeius had two children a son Quintus Pompeius Rufus and a daughter Pompeia, who married the future dictator Gaius Julius Caesar as his second wife. He was murdered in the Roman Forum in 88BC, by the supporters of Gaius Marius.
BookOneVI His daughter Pompeia married Caesar.
Pomponius Flaccus, Lucius, the brother of Ovid’s friend Graecinus, served in Moesia c. 12AD and again as governor in 18AD or 19AD. He was subsequently Governor of Syria in 32AD (Tacitus Annales 6.27). He was an energetic soldier, close to Tiberius.
BookThreeXLII A drinking companion of Tiberius, he was rewarded by him with the Governorship of Syria.
Pomptine, the Pontine Marshes, termed Pomptinus Ager by Livy, Pomptina Palus (singular) and Pomptinae Paludes (plural) by Pliny the Elder, today the Agro Pontino, is an approximately quadrangular area of former marshland in the Lazio Region of Central Italy. Sparsely inhabited throughout much of their history, the Pontine Marshes were the subject of extensive land reclamation work performed periodically.
BookOneXLIV Caesar’s plans to further drain the marshes.
Pontia or Pontiae, the modern Ponza, is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, opposite the Circeian promontory. It is the most considerable of a group of three small volcanic islands and is about 5 miles long, but in places only a few hundred yards across. The two minor islands of the group, Palmaruola and Zannone, are at the present day uninhabited. It was here that Nero, the eldest son of Germanicus, was put to death by order of Tiberius.
BookThreeLIV Nero, the son of Germanicus, killed there.
BookFourXV Caligula, his brother, recovered Nero’s ashes from there in 37AD.
Pontius Aquila (d. 43BC) was a tribune of the plebs, probably in the year 45BC. A staunch Republican, Pontius was one of Caesar’s assassins. After the Ides of March, he served Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus as a legate in Cisalpine Gaul. He defeated T. Munatius Plancus, and drove him out of Pollentia. However, he fell at the Battle of Mutina, in which Aulus Hirtius decisively defeated Mark Antony.
BookOneLXXVIII Offended Caesar, by not rising as a mark of respect.
Pontius Nigrinus, Gaius Petronius was consul in 37AD the year of Tiberius’s death.
BookThreeLXXIII Consul in 37AD.
Pontus, the Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was derived from the Greek name for the Black Sea: Pontos Euxeinos (‘Hospitable Sea’), or simply Pontos. With the subjection of the kingdom by Pompey in 64BC, part was now annexed to the Roman Empire, being united with Bithynia in a double province called Pontus and Bithynia: this part included only the seaboard between Heraclea (Ereğli) and Amisus (Samsun), the ora Pontica.
BookOneXXXV Caesar’s campaign there in 47BC.
BookOneXXXVI Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus crushed by Pharnaces there at Nicopolis in Armenia in 48BC.
BookOneXXXVII Regarding the speed of his Pontic Campaign Caesar coined the phrase: Veni, Vidi, Vici, ‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’
BookOneXLIV Caesar’s plans to push back the Dacian incursions there.
BookSixXVIII The eastern half of Pontus was changed from a client kingdom to a province by Nero in 62AD.
Poppaea Sabina (30AD - 65AD) after 63AD known as Poppaea Augusta Sabina and sometimes referred to as Poppaea Sabina the Younger to differentiate her from her mother of the same name, was the second wife of the Emperor Nero from 62AD. Prior to this she was the wife of the future Emperor Otho.
BookSixXXXV Her marriage to Nero, and his treatment of her leading to her death, as well as the death of her son Rufrius Crispinus mentioned.
BookSevenXXVI Her relationship with Otho mentioned.
Poppaeus Sabinus, Gaius (d. 35AD), consul in 9AD, was governor of Moesia under Augustus, and in 15AD Tiberius confirmed his governorship and added Achaia and Macedonia. He governed till his death. He was granted triumphal ornaments in 26AD for action against the Thracians. He was the maternal grandfather of Poppaea Sabina, Nero’s wife.
BookEightII Vespasian was born in his consulship.
Porius was a gladiator, an essedarius who fought from a British chariot, who set a slave free to celebrate a victory.
BookFourXXXV Caligula envied him the adulation he received from the crowd.
Posides was a freedman of Claudius, and a eunuch.
BookFiveXXVIII Claudius awarded him a military prize.
Postumia, the wife of Servius Sulpicius.
BookOneL Caesar was reputed to have had an affair with her.
Praeneste, modern Palestrina, is a city, c. 35 km east of Rome, and connected to it by the Via Prenestina. Its citizens were offered Roman citizenship in 90BC during the Social War. Later the city was removed from the hillside to the lower ground at the Madonna dell Aquila, and the sanctuary and temple of Fortune was enlarged so as to include much of the space occupied by the ancient city. Under the Empire it was a favorite summer resort of wealthy Romans. Horace ranked ‘cool Praeneste’ with Tibur and Baiae as favored resorts.
BookTwoLXXII BookTwoLXXXII Augustus spent time there.
BookThreeIV Tiberius father, Tiberius Nero, took refuge there.
BookThreeLXIII BookEightLI The Temple of Fortuna Primigenia was connected with the oracle known as the Praenestine lots (sortes praenestinae). The temple was redeveloped after 82BC on four levels, linked by monumental stairs and ramps. The oracle continued to be consulted, until Constantine the Great, and later Theodosius I, forbade the practice.
Priam, was the King of Troy in Homer’s Iliad.
BookThreeLXII He saw his whole family destroyed by the Greeks.
Priapus was a minor rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, and gardens, and associated for fertility reasons with the male genitalia.
BookFourLVI His name used as a mock password by Caligula.
Priscus, see Caesonius, Helvidius, Tarquinius
Proserpine, the Greek Persephone, was abducted and raped by Pluto, the Greek Dis, King of the Underworld, and forced to remain with him for six months of each year, as Queen of the Dead.
BookSixXLVI Mentioned.
Psylli, were members of an ancient North African tribe or ethnic group. It is claimed that they employed tests in order to find out if their offspring was genuine and their wives faithful. Infant Psylli were subjected to snake-bites. If the infant died of the snakebite, illegitimacy was supposed to be implied.
BookTwoXVII Augustus supposedly summoned them to try and save Cleopatra’s life.
Ptolemy XII (Auletes) (117BC – 51BC) was a Hellenistic ruler of Egypt of Macedonian descent. He is assumed to have been an illegitimate son of Ptolemy IX Soter since it can not be confirmed if he was the son of Cleopatra IV of Egypt. His reign as king was interrupted by a general rebellion that resulted in his exile from 58BC – 55BC. Thus, Ptolemy XII ruled Egypt from 80BC – 58BC and from 55BC until his death in 51BC.
BookOneXI Rejected as an illegitimate ruler by the Alexandrians.
BookOneLIV Caesar extorted tribute from him for himself and Pompey.
BookTwoXVIII The Tomb of the Ptolemies mentioned.
BookFiveXVI His refusal to repay a loan mentioned.
Ptolemy XIII, Theos Philopator (62/61BC – 47BC, reigned from 51BC) was one of the last members of the Ptolemaic dynasty (305BC – 30BC) of Egypt. After opposing Caesar who allied himself with Cleopatra VII, Ptolemy was driven from Alexandria and supposedly died crossing the Nile in flight.
BookOneXXXV Pompey was murdered on his orders.
Ptolemy XIV (60/59BC – 44BC, r. 47BC – 44BC), was a son of Ptolemy XII of Egypt and one of the last members of the Ptolemaic dynasty ofEgypt. Following the death of his older brother Ptolemy XIII of Egypt in 47BC, he was proclaimed Pharaoh and co-ruler by their older sister and remaining Pharaoh, Cleopatra VII of Egypt. Cleopatra married her new co-ruler but continued to ally herself with Julius Caesar. Ptolemy is considered to have reigned in name only. An inscription mentioning him as alive was dated at July 26, 44BC. It has been assumed but remains uncertain that Cleopatra poisoned her co-ruler, after Caesar’s death, to replace him with Ptolemy XV Caesarion, her son by Caesar who was proclaimed co-ruler on September 2, 44BC and whom his mother intended to support as successor of his father.
BookOneXXXV Co-ruler of Egypt with his sister/wife Cleopatra.
Ptolemy of Mauretania was the son of King Juba II and Cleopatra Selene II of Mauretania. He was brought up in Rome, and inherited the throne of Mauretania from his father in 23AD. The Kingdom of Mauretania was one of the wealthiest Roman Client Kingdoms and Ptolemy continued to reign without interruption. In late 40, Caligula invited Ptolemy to Rome and welcomed him with appropriate honours. He then ordered Ptolemy’s assassination for reasons unknown.
BookFourXXVI BookFourXXXV Assassinated in Rome on Caligula’s orders.
BookFourLV Mentioned.
Puteoli, modern Pozzuoli, is a city in the province of Naples, in Campania, and the main city of the Phlegrean peninsula. It was a main port for the Alexandrian grain ships, and other vessels from the Roman world, and an export hub for Campanian goods including blown glass, mosaics, wrought iron, and marble. The largest Roman naval base was at nearby Misenum. It was also the site of the Roman Dictator Sulla’s country villa and the place where he died in 78BC.
BookTwoXLIV BookTwoXCVIII BookSevenXLVII Mentioned.
BookFourXIX BookFourXXXII Caligula constructed a bridge of boats over the gulf to Baiae.
BookFiveXXV BookEightVIII Claudius stationed troops there as firefighters.
BookEightXXX Titus there in 70/71AD.
Pylades was a pantomimic actor who exceeded the licence allowed his profession and was punished by Augustus. Pantomimics wore masks, were silent, and used only gesture and movement in performance. The accompanying story text was sung by a singer, or chorus, or accompanied by a flute. Pylades (Palates of Cilicia) was a freedman of Augustus,
BookTwoXLV Augustus temporarily exiled him in 18BC.
Pyrallis was a concubine for whom Caligula had a passion.
BookFourXXXVI Mentioned.
Pyrgi was an ancient Etruscan port in Latium, central Italy, to the north-west of Caere. Its location is now occupied by Santa Severa, a small sea resort on the Via Aurelia, c. 8 km south of Santa Marinella and 50 km north of Rome.
BookSixV Neros’ father, Domitius, died there in 40AD.
Pyrrhus, (319BC - 272BC) was a Greek general of the Hellenistic era. He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house (from c. 297BC), and later became King of Epirus (306BC - 302BC, 297BC - 272BC) and Macedon (288BC - 284BC, 273BC - 272BC). He was one of the strongest opponents of earlyRome. Some of his battles, though successful, cost him heavy losses, from which the term ‘Pyrrhic victory’ was coined. He is the subject of one of Plutarch’s Parallel Lives.
BookOneXXXIX BookSixXII The Pyrrhic sword dance is unrelated, and appears to have been a dance with weapons and armour, miming warfare. The name is possibly derived from the mythological Pyrrhus (Neoptolemus) the son of Achilles.
BookThreeII Appius Claudius Caecus warned against any alliance with him.