Suetonius: The Twelve Caesars - Index EFGHIJ

Egloge was Nero’s old nurse.

BookSixL She helped to deposit Nero’s ashes in the family tomb.

Egnatius Rufus, Marcus was a Roman senator and possibly the aedile in 22BC, who created the first fire brigade in Rome. As a result of the popularity gained the aedile was then elected praetor in 21BC. Rufus stood for the consulship of 19BC, but was subsequently accused of conspiracy and executed.

BookTwoXIX He was executed by Augustus in 19BC for conspiring against him.

Egyptians. Egypt was part of the Ptolemaic Empire until 30BC when Augustus defeated Mark Antony and deposed Cleopatra VII.

BookOneXI BookOneLII Caesar attempted to control Egypt, due to the people’s rejection of Ptolemy XII.

BookThreeXXXVI Tiberius banned the Egyptian rites in Rome.

BookSixXLVII Nero hoped the people might grant him Egypt as a prefecture if they could not forgive his sins enough to keep him in power.

Elephantis, is the supposed name of a Greek poetess or conceivably a variant of Elephantine, the sacred island in the Upper Nile valley in Egypt.

BookThreeXLIII Erotic works of hers, or from there.

Elogius, Quintus, was an unknown writer during the reign of Augustus.

BookSevenXXXVI A source used by Suetonius.

Ennia Naevia, or Eunia, or Thrasylla, was of Greek and Armenian descent. She was the daughter of the Egyptian Greek Thrasyllus of Mendes otherwise Tiberius Claudius Thrasyllus, and a Greek Princess, Aka II of Commagene, who was granddaughter or great-granddaughter of Antiochus I Theos of Commagene. Her father was an Alexandrian grammarian, editor of Plato and Democritus, and a noted astrologer, who became a friend to Tiberius. Eunia married the Praetorian prefect Naevius Sutorius Macro, appointed to replace Sejanus in 31AD. Through Macro’s position, Macro and Eunia gained considerable influence. Sometime in 38AD, they fell out of favour with Caligula and both committed suicide.

BookFourXII She was reputedly seduced by Caligula.

BookFourXXVI Condemned by Caligula.

Ennius, or Quintus (c. 239BC - c. 169BC) was a writer during the period of the Roman Republic, and is often considered the father of Roman poetry. He was of Calabrian descent born at Rudiae, a Messapian town near Lecce. Here the Messapian, Greek, Oscan, and Latin languages were in contact with one another. Ennius continued the nascent literary tradition by writing praetextae, tragedies, and palliatae, as well as his most famous work, a historic epic called the Annales an epic poem in eighteen books, covering Roman history from the fall of Troy in 1184BC down to the censorship of Cato the Elder in 184BC. It was the first Latin poem to adopt the dactylic hexameter used in Greek poetry, which become a standard metre in Latin. The Annales became a school text for Roman schoolchildren, eventually supplanted by Virgil’s Aeneid. About 600 lines survive.

BookTwoVI A quotation from the Annales, 155.

BookThreeXXI Augustus adapts a line, Annales, 363, replacing cunctando with vigilando.

Epaphroditus was a freedman and favourite of the Emperor Nero, and employed by him as a private secretary.

BookSixXLIX He assisted Nero’s suicide.

BookEightL Executed by Domitian.

Epidius Marullus, Gaius, a tribune of the people was deposed from office by Caesar in 44BC, after removing a royal emblem from Caesar’s statue.

BookOneLXXIX BookOneLXXX Mentioned.

Esquiline, the Esquiline Hill is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. Its southern-most cusp is the Oppius (Oppian Hill). It was a fashionable residential district.

BookThreeXV Tiberius lived there prior to his accession.

BookFourLIX The Lamian Gardens were located on the summit of the Esquiline, in the area around the present Piazza Vittorio Emanuele. They were originally the gardens of the consul Aelius Lamia, a friend of Tiberius, and by the time of Caligula were imperial property.

BookFiveXXV The Esquiline Field occupied both sides of the Servian Wall, and was occupied in part by the Gardens of Maecenas. The place of execution was probably outside the Porta Esquilina.

BookSixXXXI Nero’s Golden House, the Domus Aurea complex, covered parts of the slopes of the Palatine, Esquiline and Caelian hills.

Ethiopians are the inhabitants of Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa. The country is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, and Kenya to the south. A monarchy for most of its history, the Ethiopian dynasty traces its roots to the 10th century BC.

BookOneLII The country mentioned.

Etruria was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered parts of what now are Tuscany, Latium, Emilia-Romagna and Umbria. Its inhabitants were the Etruscans, whose isolate language Etruscan survives only in a few limited texts and in loan words to other languages. A few hundred individual words are understood with certainty.

BookOneXXXIV Overrun by Caesar.

BookTwoXCVII The word’ aesar’ in Etruscan meant ‘god’.

BookFiveXLII Claudius wrote a twenty-volume Etruscan history.

BookSevenXXIV Otho claimed descent from Etrurian princes.

Eunoe was the Moorish wife of Bogudes, King of Mauretania, and a mistress of Julius Caesar. She may have replaced Cleopatra in Caesar’s affections, when he arrived in North Africa prior to the Battle of Thapsus in 46BC.

BookOneLII She reputedly had an affair with Julius Caesar.

Euphorion was a Greek poet and grammarian, born at Chalcis in Euboea c. 275BC. He spent much of his life in Athens, where he amassed great wealth. About 221BC he assisted in creating the royal library at Antioch, and was librarian till his death. He wrote mythological epics, amatory elegies, epigrams and a satirical poem in the manner of the Ibis of Callimachus. Prose works on antiquities and history are also attributed to him. He was imitated or translated by Cornelius Gallus and also by Tiberius.

BookThreeLXX One of Tiberius’s favourite poets.

Euripides, (c. 480BC – 406BC) was the last of the three great tragedians of classical Athens (the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles).

BookOneXXX Quoted by Caesar.

BookSixXXXVIII The quotation is believed to be from Euripides’ lost play Bellerephon.

Eutychus was a charioteer of the Greens in the arena, who was a favourite of Caligula.

BookFourLV Caligula rewarded him with expensive gifts.

Eutychus was a peasant driving an ass, Nicon, their two names Prosper and Victor being an omen of Augustus’ victory at Actium.

BookTwoXCVI Augustus set up statues to them to commemorate the prophecy.

Fabius Maximus, Africanus was the younger son of Quintus Fabius Maximus (consul 45BC). He was consul in 10BC and proconsul of Africa in 6/5BC.

BookFiveII Claudius was born during his consulship.

Falacrinae has been recently identified with modern Cittareale, 35km northeast of Rieti, near which an extensive villa has been excavated (2009), possibly Vespasian’s summer palace and the place where he died.

BookEightII Vespasian’s birthplace.

Fannius Caepio was the senatorial leader of a plot against Augustus in 23BC, which failed.

BookTwoXIX He was executed by Augustus in 22BC for conspiring against him.

BookThreeVIII Tiberius prosecuted him on the treason charge in 23BC.

Faunus was the Roman horned god of nature. He was equated in literature with the Greek god Pan. Faunus was one of the oldest Roman deities, known as the di indigetes. According to Virgil, he was a king of the Latins who came with his people from Arcadia. His shade was consulted as a god of prophecy under the name of Fatuus, with oracles in the sacred grove of Tibur, around the well Albunea, and on the Aventine Hill.

BookSevenXXXVI King of the Aborigines.

Favonius, Marcus (c. 90BC – 42BC) was noted for his imitation of Cato the Younger, and his espousal of the Cynic philosophy. With Cato’s support he was chosen aedile around 52BC, and was later quaestor and legatus in Sicily. Cassius Dio wrote that Favonius ‘imitated Cato in everything’ while Plutarch wrote that Favonius ‘…supposed his own petulance and abusive manner of speech a copy of Cato’s directness’ Despite opposing Caesar, Favonius was not invited to participate in the assassination. After Caesar’s death Favonius opposed the Second Triumvirate, and was proscribed by them, and imprisoned, and subsequently killed, after Philippi. Favonius’ slave Sarmentus became a catamite of Augustus. Sarmentus was the subject of Quintus Dellius’ complaint to Cleopatra that while he and other dignitaries were served sour wine by Antony in Greece, Augustus’ catamite was drinking Falernian in Rome.

BookTwoXIII His imitation of Cato the Younger in everything.

Favor was a leading mimic who wore the death-mask at Vespasian’s funeral.

BookEightXIX His mockery of Vespasian’s stinginess.

Felix, Marcus Antonius, was a freedman of Claudius, whom Claudius made Procurator of Judaea 52AD - 58AD, in succession to Ventidius Cumanus. He was the younger brother of the Greek freedman Marcus Antonius Pallas who served as secretary to the Treasury. Felix married three times. His first wife was princess Drusilla of Mauretania, his second also named Drusilla, was the daughter of the King of Judea, Herod Agrippa I.

BookFiveXXVIII A favourite of Claudius’s.

Ferentiumwas a town in ancient Etruria. Later rebuilt by the Romans as Ferento, near Viterbo, it was razed and abandoned in 1172AD.

BookSevenXXIV The home of Otho’s ancestors.

BookEightIII The home of Flavius Liberalis.

Fidenae or Fidenes, home of the Fidenates, was an ancient town of Latium, situated about 8km north of Rome on the Via Salaria, which ran between it and the Tiber. As the Tiber was the border between Etruria and Latium, the left-bank settlement of Fidenae represented an extension of Etruscan presence into Latium. The site of the ancient town is probably on the hill on which lies the Villa Spada, though no traces of early buildings or defences are to be seen: pre-Roman tombs are to be found in the cliffs to the north. In 27AD, a wooden amphitheatre collapsed in Fidenae resulting in 20,000 dead out of a total probable audience of 50,000.

BookThreeXL BookFourXXXI Mentioned.

Flamen Dialis, was the high priest of Jupiter. The flamen dialis was one of three flamines maiores (of the fifteen flamines in total) serving the three gods of the Archaic Triad. According to tradition the flamines were forbidden to touch metal, ride a horse, or see a corpse. The office of flamen dialis, and the offices of the other flamines maiores, were created by Numa Pompilius, who himself performed many of the rites of the flamen dialis

BookTwoXXXI Augustus revived the office, possibly in 11BC.

Flavia Domitilla the Younger (c. 45AD – c.66AD) was the only daughter of Vespasian and Flavia Domitilla the Elder. At the age of fifteen, she was married to Quintus Petillius Cerialis, with whom she had a daughter, the later Christian saint Flavia Domitilla. She died before Vespasian became emperor in 69AD. She was later deified by her younger brother Domitian, who also bestowed the honorific title of Augusta upon her.

BookEightIII Her birth mentioned.

Flavia Domitilla was daughter of Domitilla the Younger by an unknown father, perhaps Quintus Petillius Cerialis. She married her cousin, the consul Titus Flavius Clemens, whom Domitian had executed. She herself was banished to Pandataria. Both apparently converted to Judaism, and Domitilla was subsequently claimed as a saint by the Catholic Church.

BookEightLIII Her steward Stephanus was involved in the successful plot to kill Domitian.

Flavia Domitilla, or Domitilla the Elder (d. before 69AD, perhaps c. 65AD) was the wife of the Roman Emperor Vespasian. She was a daughter of Flavius Liberalis, a quaestor’s clerk from Ferentium. Vespasian married her c. 38AD. She was the mother of Domitilla the Younger and of the emperors Titus and Domitian and died before Vespasian became Emperor.

BookEightIII Mentioned.

Flavia Julia Titi (64AD – 91AD) was the daughter of Titus and Marcia Furnilla. Titus offered her in marriage to his brother Domitian, who declined because of his infatuation with Domitia Longina. Later Julia married her second paternal cousin Titus Flavius Sabinus (consul in 82AD), brother to consul (95AD) Titus Flavius Clemens, who married her first cousin Flavia Domitilla. When her father and husband died, Domitian lived with her, though reconciled with Domitia. Julia died of what was rumoured to be a forced abortion. She was deified and her ashes later mingled with Domitian’s in the Temple of the Flavians, by her former nurse, Phyllis.

BookEightXXIX BookEightLIII BookEightXLVIII Mentioned.

BookEightXXX Titus conquered Jerusalem on her birthday, according to Suetonius. Traditionally the city was taken and the Second Temple destroyed on the 9th of Av in the Jewish Calendar, the 10th of August 70AD.

Flavius, see Domitian, Titus, Vespasian

Flavius Clemens was the son of Titus Flavius Sabinus (consul 69AD), brother to Titus Flavius Sabinus (consul 82AD) and a second cousin to Roman Emperors Titus and Domitian. Clemens married Flavia Domitilla (Vespasian’s granddaughter). He appears to have converted to Judaism, and is claimed as a saint by the Catholic Church.

BookEightLI He was executed by Domitian. Flavius had two sons both named Titus Flavius, born c. 88AD and c. 90AD, who were educated by Quintilian. Domitian named them as his heirs, changing their former names and calling the one Vespasian and the other Domitian.

Flavius Liberalis was of equestrian rank, from Ferentium (Ferento). A quaestor’s clerk, his daughter Flavia Domitilla married the future Emperor Vespasian.

BookEightIII Mentioned.

Flavius Petro, Titus was the paternal grandfather of the Emperor Vespasian. He married Tertulla (c. 40BC – after 9AD) and had a son Titus Flavius Sabinus.

BookEightI A brief life given.

Flavius Sabinus, Titus (c. 20BC - after 9AD) was the son of Flavius Petro and father of Vespasian and his brother Titus. With his wife, Vespasia Polla, he had two sons, the consul Titus Flavius Sabinus and the future emperor Vespasian, and a daughter who died in infancy, Flavia Vespasia.

BookEightI A brief life given.

BookEightV Omens of his son’s greatness.

Flavius Sabinus, Titus (8AD - 69AD) was the elder son of Titus Flavius Sabinus and Vespasia Polla, and brother of the Emperor Vespasian. He served as legate in 43AD, during the Roman conquest of Britain under Claudius. He was consul suffectus in 47AD, Governor of Moesia from c. 53AD to 56AD, and served two terms as Prefect of Rome, 56AD - 60AD and 62AD - 69AD. In 69AD, the Year of the Four Emperors, as Vespasian’s forces advanced towards Rome, Sabinus was besieged on the Capitoline Hill before being killed.

BookSevenL Vitellius bargained for his life with Flavius.

BookEightI His birth.

BookEightII His Senatorial rank.

BookEightIV Vespasian mortaged his estates to him.

BookEightXXXVII Domitian took refuge with Flavius in 69AD.

Flavius Sabinus, Titus, was the son of Titus Flavius Sabinus (consul suffectus in 47AD). He was suffect consul in May and June 69AD and one of the generals who fought for Otho against Vitellius during the Year of the Four Emperors, although he submitted to Vitellius once Otho had been defeated. He was besieged with his father in the Capitol, but escaped when it was burnt down. He was a cousin of Domitian, who later executed him on a pretext.

BookEightXLVI His death.

Flavius Sabinus, Titus, the son of Titus Flavius Sabinus (consul 69AD), and brother to Titus Flavius Clemens, was consul in 82AD. He married his paternal second cousin Julia Flavia.

BookEightXLIX Mentioned as causing annoyance to Domitian.

BookEightXLVIII Domitian seduced his wife Julia.

Floralia. Also known as the Florifertum, the Floralia was the ancient festival dedicated to Flora, the goddess of flowers and vegetation. It was held on the IV Calends of May, April 27 to May 3, and symbolized the renewal of the cycle of life, marked with dancing, drinking, and flowers. These days were considered by the prostitutes of Rome to be their own. While flowers decked the temples, Roman citizens wore colorful clothing instead of the usual white, and offerings were made of milk and honey.

BookSevenVI Galba ran the Games at the festival in AD20.

Fonteius Capito, Gaius, was the son of the father of the same name, who had been a friend of Mark Antony. He was consul in 12AD with Germanicus and later proconsul of Asia, In 25AD he was accused by Vibius Serenus of maladministration in Asia but was acquitted.

BookFourVIII Consul in 12AD when Gaius (Caligula) was born.

Fonteius Capito, Gaius was consul in 59AD, and possibly in 67AD also. As governor of Lower Germany, he drove Julius Civilis, leader of the Batavians, to rebellion in 69AD. He was replaced by Vitellius under Galba.

BookSevenXI Mentioned as a rival to Galba.

Formiae, the modern Formia, is located halfway between Rome and Naples. Cicero was assassinated on the Appian Way outside the town in 43BC, and a tower-tomb traditionally claimed to be his still stands.

BookSevenXLII Vitellius embezzled the town’s public revenues.

Forum: the Forum was located between the Palatine Hill and the Capitoline Hill. Citizens of the ancient city also referred to the location as the ‘Forum Magnum’. The oldest and most important structures of the ancient city were located in or near the Forum. The Rostra was an oratorical platform originally in the Comitium adjoining the Forum, and moved by Caesar into the Forum when he had the area remodeled.

BookOneX BookOneXXVI BookOneXXXIX BookOneLXXXIV BookTwoLXXII Mentioned.

BookOneLXXXV The column of yellow Numidian marble was removed by the anti-Caesararian party almost immediately.

BookTwoXXXI BookTwoLVI BookFiveXXXIII Augustus’ Forum was built between c. 20BC and 2BC when it was dedicated.

BookTwoLXXVI The Regia was located in the Forum, and was originally the residence or headquarters of the Kings of Rome and later the office of the Pontifex Maximus, or high priest. It was restored in 36BC, in marble, by Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus, on the original foundations.

BookThreeVII Tiberius as a young man gave gladiatorial displays there.

BookFourXV Caligula burned documents relating to accusations against his mother and brothers burnt there.

BookFourXXII Caligula incorporated the Temple of Castor and Pollux in the Forum into the Palace complex, as its vestibule.

BookFiveXVIII Claudius accosted by a crowd there during the grain shortages.

BookFiveXXV Claudius concluded treaties there, accompanied by sacrifice of a sow.

BookSixXXV Nero’s triumphal procession passed through it on his return from Greece in 67AD.

BookSixXLVII Nero hoped to deliver a plea for mercy from the Rostra.

BookSevenL The Temple of Concord, dedicated to the Roman goddess Concordia, at the western end of the Forum was built in the 4th century BC as a symbol of peace after a period of civil war. It was restored 7AD - 10AD under Tiberius.

BookEightIX The Forum of Vespasian and the Temple of Peace that dominated the complex was vowed by Vespasian in 71AD after the capture of Jerusalem and dedicated four years later.

Forum Appii is the modern Foro Appio, named for Appius Claudius Caecus builder of the Via Appia. It was an ancient post station on the Via Appia, 43 miles southeast of Rome.

BookThreeII Mentioned.

Fucinus, the Fucine Lake (Lago Fucino or Lago di Celano) was a large lake in central Italy, stretching from Avezzano in the North West to Ortuccio in the South East, and touching Trassaco in the South West. It was drained in 1875.

BookOneXLIV Caesar’s plans to drain the lake.

BookFiveXX BookFiveXXXII Claudius attempted to drain the lake by digging a tunnel through Monte Salviano, with the effect perhaps of halving the sixe of the original lake.

BookFiveXXI Claudius mounted a mock naval battle on the lake.

Fulvia Flacca Bambula (c. 83BC – 40BC), commonly referred to simply as Fulvia, was married to three of the best known Romans of her generation, Publius Clodius Pulcher, Gaius Scribonius Curio the Younger and Mark Antony. All three husbands were politically active tribunes, and supported Julius Caesar. Fulvia’s third and final marriage to Mark Antony took place in 47BC or 46BC, a few years after Curio’s death, though Cicero suggested that Fulvia and Antony had been in a relationship since 58BC. Together with Lucius Antonius, she raised eight legions in Italy to fight for Antony against Octavian. Fulvia died of an unknown illness in exile in Sicyon, near Corinth. Her son Marcus Antonius Antyllus was executed by Octavian in Alexandria in 30BC. Her youngest child, Iullus Antonius, was spared by Octavian and raised from 40BC by Octavia the Younger.

BookTwoXVII Her son Antyllus’ death.

BookTwoLXII Her daughter Claudia, by Publius Clodius Pulcher married Octavian in 43BC.

Fundi, modern Fondi, is a city halfway between Rome and Naples, an important settlement on the Via Appia, In 338BC at the time of the Latin War, its inhabitants (together with those of nearby Formia) gained minor Roman citizenship status (civitas sine suffragio). After a failed attempt at revolt led by Vitruvius Vaccus (330BC), Fondi remained a Roman prefecture; later (188BC) it received full citizenship, with a government led by 3 aediles.

BookThreeV BookFourXXIII Tiberius’ maternal grandmother, Aufidia, came from there.

BookSevenIV Mentioned.

BookSevenVIII Galba living there when appointed to Spain.

Furies. In Greek mythology the three Erinyes or Eumenídes (literally the ‘Kindly Ones’), equivalent to the Dirae in Roman mythology, were Alecto (unceasing), Megaera (grudging), and Tisiphone (avenging), female chthonic deities of vengeance or supernatural personifications of the anger of the dead.

BookSixXXXIV Nero was hounded by them after murdering his mother.

Furius Camillus, Marcus (c. 446BC – 365BC) was a Roman soldier and statesman of patrician descent. According to Livy and Plutarch, Camillus triumphed four times, was five times dictator, and was honoured with the title of Second Founder of Rome.

BookThreeIII He drove out the Gauls, under Brennus, who had captured Rome c. 390BC.

BookFiveXXVI Livia Medullina Camilla was a decendant of his.

Furius Camillus Scribonianus, Lucius Arruntius, was the adopted son of Marcus Furius Camillus and brother to Livia Medullina, the second fiancee of Claudius. He was the biological son of Lucius Arruntius (Consul 6AD). Scribonianus became consul in 32AD with Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (father of Nero). He instigated a revolt against Claudius in 42AD while governor of Dalmatia.

BookFiveXIII BookFiveXXXV BookSevenXXIV His attempt at revolution.

BookSevenXXV Otho born during his consulate.

Furius Leptinus was a praetorian who fought in a gladiatorial contest.

BookOneXXXIX Mentioned.

Gabinius, Aulus, was military tribune under Sulla and later his envoy to Mithradates VI. As tribune of the people in 67BC, he passed a law against the pirates, intended for Pompey’s use. He served under Pompey in the east and was made consul for 58BC by the Triumvirate, along with Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus. The consuls supported Clodius Pulcher against Cicero, and Gabinius received and exploited the rich province of Syria as his reward. He restored Ptolemy XII as king of Egypt and intervened in Judaea. He was prosecuted on his return and finally convicted of extortion, his enemy Cicero being forced by Pompey to defend him. He went into exile (54BC), was recalled by Caesar and fought for him in Illyria.

BookOneL Caesar was reputed to have had an affair with his wife, Lollia.

Gabinius Secundus Cauchius, Publius, was a governor of Germania Inferior, who supposedly recovered the last of the three standards lost in the Teutoberg Forest disaster of 9AD.

BookFiveXXIV Granted the surname Cauchius by Claudius after his conquest of a German tribe, the Cauchi.

Gades, ancient Gadir, modern Cadiz, in Spain, fell to Rome in 206BC, to forces under Scipio Africanus. Under the Romans, the city’s Greek name was modified to Gades and it flourished as a naval base. By the time of Augustus, Cadiz was home to more than five hundred equites (members of one of the two upper social classes), a concentration of notable citizens rivalled only by Padua and Rome itself. According to Greek legend, Gadir was traditionally founded by Hercules after performing his fabled tenth labor, the slaying of Geryon. One of the city’s notable features during antiquity was the temple (later the Heraklion) dedicated to the Phoenician god Melqart, who was associated with Hercules by the Greeks.

BookOneVII Caesar saw the statue of Alexander the Great in the Heraklion there.

Gaius (Emperor) see Caligula

Galba Caesar Augustus, Servius Sulpicius (3BC - 69AD) was Emperor for seven months, from 8 June 68AD until his assassination on 15 January 69AD. He was the first emperor of the Year of the Four Emperors. He came from a noble and wealthy family, but was unconnected either by birth or adoption with the first six Caesars. He became Praetor in 20AD and consul in 33AD; he earned a reputation in the provinces of Gaul, Germania, Africa and Hispania, for military ability, strictness and impartiality. On the death of Caligula, he refused to make a bid for the empire, and loyally served Claudius. For the first half of Nero’s reign he lived in retirement, until 61AD when Nero granted him the province of Hispania Tarraconensis.

BookSixXXXII Galba recast the images of the Household Gods of Rome which Nero had melted down.

BookSixXL Galba, born in December 3BC, did not reach 70 years old (or enter his seventy-first year) until December 68AD, which makes the Latin text, indicating the seventy-third as the year for Nero to beware of, suspect. Either Suetonius miscalculated or there is some other significance to the number.

BookSixXLII BookEightVI His insurrection in Spain in 68AD.

BookSixXLVII Nero considered throwing himself on Galba’s mercy during his last days.

BookSixXLVIII Support for Galba from the army in Rome.

BookSixXLIX His freedman Icelus.

BookSevenII Suetonius’ life of Galba follows.

BookSevenXX The Aurelian Way left Rome by the Aemilian Bridge and ran north-west to the coastal towns of Etruria. Galba’s gardens were somewhere on the right bank of the Tiber.

BookSevenXXVII BookSevenXXVIII Otho initially supported his cause, and hoped to be adopted by him as his successor.

BookSevenXXIX BookSevenXXXV Otho plans to overthrow him, and sends soldiers to kill him.

BookSevenXXX Otho haunted by his shade, tries to propitiate Galba’s ghost.

BookSevenXXXIII Otho anticipated a bloodless coup against him.

BookSevenXLII He appointed Vitellius to Lower Germany in 68AD. The army there was disaffected towards Galba, and on the verge of mutiny. The army of Upper Germany subsequently gave Vitellius their allegiance also.

BookSevenXLIV BookEightV Vitellius sent his army against Otho after the news of Galba’s assassination.

BookSevenXLV Vitellius punished the Praetorian Guard for their disloyalty to Galba.

BookEightV Galba was consul for a second time in 69AD.

BookEightXVI Vespasian reinstated taxes that Galba had repealed.

BookEightXXX Titus was sent to congratulate Galba on his accession but turned back on seeing the chaotic state of the empire.

Galeria Fundana (c. 40AD – after 69AD) was the daughter of an ex-praetor and the second wife (c. 50AD) of Vitellius. Her son, Vitellius the Younger, who was renamed Germanicus by his father in 69AD, was killed during the Flavian Revolt, together with Vitellius himself. Galeria’s life was spared and Vespasian enabled her daughter Vitellia to marry well.

BookSevenXLI Mentioned.

Gallius, Marcus, was a praetor (c. 44BC?) who fought for Antony at Mutina in 43BC.

BookThreeVI He adopted Tiberius as his heir in his will.

Gallius, Quintus was a praetor, imprisoned, tortured and exiled by Augustus. Appian (Civil Wars, 95AD) says that he was brother to Marcus Gallius, who was serving with Antony, and that he had asked Augustus for a command in Africa.

BookTwoXXVII Mentioned.

Gamala, or Gamla, was situated at the southern part of the Golan on a steep hill shaped like a camel’s hump, from which it derives its name. The city was founded as a Seleucid fort during the Syrian Wars (3rd century BC). It was annexed to the Hasmonean state under Alexander Jannaeus c. 81BC. Josephus Flavius, Commander of Galilee during the Jewish Revolt of 66AD, fortified Gamla as his main stronghold on the Golan. Josephus gives a description of the Roman siege and conquest of Gamla in 67AD by components of legions X Fretensis, XV Apollinaris and XV Macedonica, under Titus.

BookEightXXIX Subjugated by Titus in 67AD.

Gaul is the Roman name for the region of Western Europe approximating present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, but also sometimes including the Po Valley, western Switzerland, and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine. In English, the word Gaul may also refer to an inhabitant of that region although the expression may be used more generally for all ancient speakers of the Gaulish language (an early variety of Celtic).

BookOneXXV Gaul was subdued by Caesar.

BookFourXLVII Caligula’s Gallic allies.

BookSixXL The Gallic rebellion of 67/68AD under Julius Vindex.

Gemonian Stairs. The stairs were steps leading from the Capitoline Hill down to the Forum. As viewed from the Forum, they were flanked by the Tabularium and Temple of Concord on the left, and the Mamertine Prison on the right, roughly coinciding with the modern Via di San Pietro in Carcere. It is believed the stairs were built some time before the rule of Tiberius (14AD – 37AD), as they are not mentioned in prior texts. The condemned were strangled before their bodies were bound and thrown down the stairs. Among those executed there were Sejanus, and the Emperor Vitellius.

BookThreeLIII BookThreeLXI BookThreeLXXV Mentioned.

BookSevenLII Vitellius was killed there in 69AD.

Gergovia, in Gaul, the chief town of the Arverni, is identified with Merdogne, now called Gergovie, a village located on a hill within the township of La Roche-Blanche, near Clermont-Ferrand, in south central France. Some walls and earthworks still survive from the pre-Roman Iron Age. The Battle of Gergovia, won by the Gauls, took place in 52BC, fought between the Roman Republic’s army, led by pro-consul Julius Caesar, and the Gallic forces led by Vercingetorix. The Gauls won the battle.

BookOneXXV Mentioned as an example of a rare setback for Caesar.

Germanicus, Julius Caesar (c. 16BC - 19AD) was was born in Lugdunum, Gaul (modern Lyon). At birth he was named either Nero Claudius Drusus after his father or Tiberius Claudius Nero after his uncle. He received the agnomen Germanicus, in 9BC, when it was posthumously awarded to his father in honour of his victories in Germania. Germanicus was the grandson-in-law and great-nephew of the Emperor Augustus, nephew and adoptive son of the Emperor Tiberius, father of the Emperor Caligula, brother of the Emperor Claudius, and the maternal grandfather of the Emperor Nero. He married his maternal second cousin Agrippina the Elder, a granddaughter of Augustus, between 5BC and 1BC. The couple had nine children. Two died very young; another, Gaius Julius Caesar, died in early childhood. The remaining six were: Nero Caesar, Drusus Caesar, the Emperor Caligula, the Empress Agrippina the Younger, Julia Drusilla, and Julia Livilla. Augustus compelled Tiberius to adopt Germanicus as a son and name him as his heir. Upon this adoption, Germanicus’ name was changed to Germanicus Julius Caesar. He also became the adoptive brother of Tiberius’ natural son Drusus the Younger. Germanicus held several military commands, campaigning in Pannonia and Dalmatia. After Augustus’ death in 14AD, the Senate appointed Germanicus commander of the forces in Germania. After major campaigns which also resulted in the recovery of two of the three eagles lost in 9AD, Germanicus was then sent to Asia, where in 18AD he conquered Cappadocia and Commagene, turning them into Roman provinces. Germanicus died suddenly in Antioch, with Tiberius suspected in some quarters of involvement in his death. In 37AD, when Germanicus’ only remaining son, Caligula, became emperor, he renamed September Germanicus in honor of his father.

BookTwoXXXIV BookFourVII BookSevenXXIV His children.

BookTwoLXIV His marriage to Agrippina the Elder. He was the grandson of Octavia the Younger (his mother Antonia the Younger, was her daughter by Mark Antony)

BookTwoCI He and his sons were named as heirs of the second degree in Augustus’ will.

BookThreeXV BookFourIV BookFiveII His adoption by Tiberius in 4AD.

BookThreeXXV BookFourXVIII The army in Germany mutinied in 14AD and Germanicus, as commander, quelled the uprising.

BookThreeXXXIX BookThreeLII BookFourII His death in 19AD.

BookThreeLIV BookThreeLV BookThreeLXI His sons.

BookThreeLXXVI His son Caligula was named as co-heir in Tiberius’ will.

BookFourI Suetonius gives a brief life of Germanicus.

BookFourIII Suetonius gives a character description of Germanicus.

BookFourV BookFourVI The grief at Germanicus’s death.

BookFourVIII He was consul in 12AD when Gaius (Caligula) his son was born.

BookFourX Caligula accompanied him to Syria in 19AD.

BookFourXIII His memory was revered in Rome.

BookFourXV Caligula renamed September ‘Germanicus’ after his father.

BookFiveI BookFiveVII Brother of Claudius.

BookFiveXI Claudius produced a Greek comedy of Germanicus’s in his honour.

BookFiveXXVI His daughter Agrippina the Younger was the fourth wife of Claudius.

BookFiveXXIX His daughter Julia Livilla was executed on Claudius’s orders.

BookSixV His daughter Agrippina the Younger was also married to Domitius, the father of Nero by her.

BookSevenXXXVII Publius Vitellius was on his staff and successfully prosecuted Piso for his murder.

BookSevenXLIII Aulus Vitellius took the surname Germanicus.

Gesoriacum, modern Boulogne, probably also to be identified with Portus Itius, was known to the Romans also as Bononia, the major port connecting Britain to the Empire. Claudius used it as his base for the invasion of Britain, in AD43, and until 296AD it was the base of the Classis Britannica, the Channel Fleet.

BookFiveXVII Claudius launched his campaign in Britain from there in 43AD.

Glycias or Glicia, Marcus Claudius, was a freedman of Publius Claudius Pulcher, and nominated by him as dictator. The nomination was refused by the Senate.

BookThreeII Mentioned.

Glyco, was the physician who treated Vibius Pansa’s mortal wound.

BookTwoXI He was arrested on suspicion of poisoning Pansa, though Brutus refused to believe it and wrote to Cicero accordingly.

Gracchi Brothers, Tiberius and Gaius Cracchus both served as tribunes Tiberius c. 133BC and Gaius c. 123BC. They attempted to pass land reform legislation that would redistribute the major patrician landholdings among the plebeians. After achieving some early success as tribunes, both were soon assassinated.

BookThreeIII Mentioned.

Hadrian, Publius Aelius Hadrianus (as Emperor, Imperator Caesar Divi Traiani filius Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, and Divus Hadrianus after his apotheosis,) (76AD – 138AD) was the fourteenth emperor of Rome (from 117AD - 138AD), as well as a Stoic and Epicurean philosopher.

BookTwoVI Suetonius gifted him a statuette of Augustus.

Hadrumetum was a Phoenician colony that pre-dated Carthage and stood on the site of modern-day Sousse, Tunisia. It was one of the most important communities within the Roman territory in North Africa because of its strategic location on the coast of the fertile Sahel region.

BookEightIV Vespasian faced a riot there.

Halotus (c. 30AD – c.80AD), a eunuch, served Claudius as taster and chief steward, and was a suspect in the murder of the latter by poison. Nero retained Halotus as chief steward and taster until his, Nero’s, death in 68AD. Shortly after Galba became Emperor, he granted Halotus a procuratorship.

BookFiveXLIV Suspected of poisoning Claudius.

BookSevenXV Honoured by Galba.

Hannibal (248BC – c. 182BC) was the leading Carthaginian commander in the Second Punic War, and one of the most talented military leaders in history. His father Hamilcar Barca had been the leading Carthaginian commander during the First Punic War. Hasdrubal was a younger brother.

BookThreeII BookEightXLVI Mentioned.

Harpocras was a freedman of Claudius.

BookFiveXXVIII Claudius granted him special privileges.

Hasdrubal (d. 207BC) was Hamilcar Barca’s second son and a Carthaginian general in the Second Punic War. He was a younger brother of Hannibal.

BookThreeII Defeated by Claudius Tiberius Nero at the Metaurus River in 207BC.

Haterius, Quintus (d. 27AD) was father to consul Decimus Haterius Agrippa and grandfather to consul Quintus Haterius Antoninus. He was consul himself in 5BC. In 16AD, in the senate, he denounced the extravagance of senators.

BookThreeXXIX Mentioned.

Hector, was a Trojan hero in Homer’s Iliad. Killed by Achilles, his body was dragged behind Achille’s chariot.

BookThreeLII Tiberius jokingly refers to his death.

BookSixXXII The young Nero refers to his death.

Hecuba was the wife of Priam in Homer’s Iliad. Hecuba was of Phrygian birth, her father being Dymas, and her mother Eunoë, who was said to be a daughter of Sangarius, god of the Sangarius River, the principal river of ancient Phrygia.

BookThreeLXX The name of her mother was the subject of one of Tiberius’s questions to the grammarians.

Helius was a freedman of Nero.

BookSixXXIII Mentioned.

Helvetii were a people of the Swiss plateau, between the Rhine River, the Jura Mountains, Lake Geneva and the Rhone River. They feature prominently in Caesar’s commentaries on the Gallic War, which describes his conquest of Gaul, beginning with the Helvetii.

BookEightI Vespasian’s father was a banker among the Helvetii.

Helvidius Priscus, Gaius was a Stoic philosopher and statesman, under the emperors from Nero to Vespasian. Like his father-in-law, Thrasea Paetus, he was distinguished for his ardent republicanism. During Nero’s reign he was quaestor of Achaea (Peloponnese) and tribune of the plebs (56AD); he restored peace in Armenia but his declared sympathy with Brutus and Cassius occasioned his banishment in 66AD. He was recalled to Rome by Galba in 68AD. As praetor elect he opposed Vitellius in the senate, and as praetor in 70AD opposed Vespasian. He was again banished, and afterwards executed. His life, by Herennius Senecio, caused its author’s death in the reign of Domitian.

BookEightXV Exiled and executed under Vespasian.

BookEightXLVI His eulogy by Junius Rusticus (Suetonius) or Herennius Senecio (Tacitus, Pliny).

Helvidius Priscus the Younger, the son of Helvidius Priscus by his first marriage, and a friend of Tacitus and Pliny the Younger, became consul under Domitian but was executed c. 93AD.

BookEightXLVI Executed by order of Domitian.

Helvius Cinna, Gaius, was a poet of the late Roman Republic, a little older than the generation of Catullus and Licinius Calvus. His magnum opus Smyrna established his literary fame; a mythological epic poem focused on the incestuous love of Smyrna (or Myrrha) for her father Cinyras. Suetonius, Valerius Maximus, Appian and Dio Cassius all state that, at Julius Caesar’s funeral in 44BC, a certain Helvius Cinna was killed because he was mistaken for Cornelius Cinna, the conspirator. The last three writers mentioned above add that he was a tribune of the people, while Plutarch, referring to the affair, gives the further information that the Cinna who was killed by the mob was a poet. This suggests the identity of Helvius Cinna the tribune with Helvius Cinna the poet. Shakespeare adopted Plutarch's version of Cinna’s death in his Julius Caesar.

BookOneLII He was apparently the author of a draft bill to give Caesar the right to marry anyone he chose for the purposes of begetting an heir.

BookOneLXXXV Killed by the mob.

Hercules, the Greek mythological hero (Heracles), had a famous oracular temple, the Heraklion, at Cadiz (Gades), on the promontory which is now the island of Sancta Petri. The Roman historian Pomponio Mela claimed that Hercules’ remains were buried beneath the temple leading to its fame.

BookOneVII Alexander the Great’s statue in Hercules’ temple in Cadiz. Caesar consulted the oracle there regarding his dream.

BookTwoXXIX The Temple of Hercules and the Muses in the Circus Flaminius was erected by Marcus Fulvius Nobilior after his capture of Ambracia in 189BC.

BookTwoLXXII BookFourVIII The Temple of Hercules Victor at Tibur (Tivoli) used by Augustus.

BookFourXXXIV Caligula swears (mehercule) by the hero/god, with whom he identified.

BookSixLIII Nero aspired to be his equal.

BookEightXII There was an attempt to trace Vespasian’s origins to a companion of Hercules.

Hermogenes of Tarsus was apparently a historian at the time of Domitian, not to be confused with the later rhetorician who flourished under Marcus Aurelius.

BookEightXLVI Executed by Domitian.

Hiempsal II was King of Numidia, the son of Gauda, the half-brother of Jugurtha. In 81BC Hiempsal was driven from his throne by the Numidians themselves, or by Hiarbas, ruler of part of the kingdom, supported by Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, leader of the Marian party in Africa. Soon afterwards Pompey was sent to Africa by Sulla to reinstate Hiempsal. It is evident from the reference below that Hiempsal was alive in 62BC.

BookOneLXXI Caesar protects Masintha from the king.

Hilarion was a freedman secretary of Augustus.

BookTwoCI He helped transcribe Augustus’ last will in 13AD.

Hipparchus was a wealthy client of the lawyer Salvius Liberalis.

BookEightXIII Mentioned.

Hirtius, Aulus (c. 90BC - 43BC) was a legate of Caesar’s from 54BC and served as an envoy to Pompey in 50BC. During the Civil Wars he served in Spain, and in 47BC was at Antioch. He was a praetor in 46BC and governor of Transalpine Gaul in 45BC. Hirtius and Pansa became consuls in 43BC. Initially a supporter of Mark Antony, Hirtius was successfully lobbied by Cicero (a personal friend) and switched allegiance to the senatorial party. He then attacked Antony who was besieging Mutina. In concert with Pansa and Octavian, Hirtius forced Antony to retire but was killed in the fighting He was honored with a public funeral, along with Pansa who died a few days later. Hirtius added an eighth book to Caesar’s De Bello Gallico and is probably the author of De Bello Alexandrino. The ancients thought he also wrote the De Bello Africo and De Bello Hispaniensis, but it is now considered more likely that he acted as an editor. Hirtius’ correspondence with Cicero was published in nine books, but has not survived.

BookOneLVI His authorship of some of Caesar’s memoirs.

BookTwoX His death at Mutina.

BookTwoXI Claims that Augustus killed him, during the battle.

BookTwoLXVII Augustus accused of unnatural acts with him.

BookThreeV His consulship in 43BC.

Homer (8th century BC) was an Ionian Greek poet, the presumed author of the Iliad and Odyssey.

BookTwoLXV The quotation is from Iliad 3:40.

BookThreeXXI The quotation is from Iliad 10:246.

BookFourXXII The first quotation is from Iliad 2:204. The second, spoken by Ajax to Odysseus in their wrestling match, is from Iliad 23:724.

BookFourXXXIV Caligula considered banning his works, out of envy and malice.

BookFiveXLII The line is a partial quotation from Iliad 24:369, which is identical with Odyssey: 21:133.

BookSixXLVII Nero’s favourite crystal drinking cups were engraved with scenes from Homer’s verse.

BookSixXLIX The quotation is from Iliad 10:535.

BookSevenXX The line is a partial quotation from Iliad 5:254 which is identical with Odyssey 21:426

BookEightXXIII The quotation is from Iliad 7:213.

BookEightXLIX The quotation is from Iliad 2:204.

BookEightLIV The quotation is from Iliad 21:108.

Hortensius Hortalus, Quintus (114BC - 50BC), was a Roman orator and advocate. Having served during two campaigns (90BC - 89BC) in the Social War, he became quaestor in 81BC, aedile in 75BC, praetor in 72BC, and consul in 69BC. After Pompey’s return from the East in 61BC, Hortensius withdrew from public life and devoted himself to his profession. In 50BC, the year of his death, he successfully defended Appius Claudius Pulcher when accused of treason and corrupt practices by Publius Cornelius Dolabella, afterwards Cicero’s son-in-law.

BookTwoLXXII Augustus acquired Hortensius’ house on the Palatine.

BookThreeXLVII Mentioned.

Hortensius Hortalus, Marcus was the grandson of the orator. He was supported in maintaining a Senator’s rank by Augustus.

BookThreeXLVII He was pleading poverty again, under Tiberius, in 16AD.

Hylas, 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.

BookTwoXLV Mentioned.

Icarus, in Greek mythology was the son of Daedalus. His father made wax wings for him, but he attempted to fly too near the sun, fell into the sea, and was drowned.

BookSixXII The myth was enacted at Nero’s entertainment.

Icelus, Marcianus, was a freedman of Galba’s arrested by Nero on news of Galba’s rebellion but then freed. He agreed to the arrangements for Nero’s cremation before carrying the news of the Emperor’s suicide to Galba in Spain, as well as the news of the Senate and army’s endorsement of Galba for the succession. He was rewarded with the rank of knight, and the addition of Marcianus to his name. He supported Cornelius Laco and opposed Otho, who executed him after gaining power.

BookSixXLIX His agreement to Nero’s cremation.

BookSevenXIV His influence over Galba.

BookSevenXXII A sexual intimate of Galba.

Ilerda is the modern Lleida, in western Catalonia. The Battle of Ilerda took place in June 49BC between the forces of Julius Caesar and the Spanish army of Pompey the Great, led by his legates Lucius Afranius and Marcus Petreius. Unlike many other of the battles of the civil war, this was more a campaign of manoeuvre than actual fighting.

BookOneLXXV Caesar’s restrained behaviour there.

Illyricum, the Roman province, comprised most of the ancient Balkan region of Illyria. It stretched from the Drilon River in modern northern Albania to Istria (Croatia) in the west and to the Sava River (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in the north. Salona (near modern Split in Croatia) functioned as its capital. The regions which it included changed through the centuries though a large part of ancient Illyria remained part of Illyricum as a province, while south Illyria became Epirus Nova, part of Roman Macedonia.

BookOneXXIX BookTwoXXI Part of Caesar’s Governorship and a provincia or area of responsibility, rather than a province. The Roman administration did not establish a full province until Octavian’s wars in Illyricum, 35BC - 33BC.

BookOneXXXVI The defeats of Gaius Antonius and Dolabella there in 49BC.

BookTwoVIII Augustus there in 45BC - 44BC.

BookTwoXIX An orderly from the army stationed there tried to assassinate Augustus.

BookTwoXXV Freedmen used to guard the border colonies.

BookTwoXCVII BookTwoXCVIII BookThreeXXI Tiberius, sets off for Illyricum in 14AD, Augustus accompanying him part of the way, but returns due to Augustus’ last illness.

BookThreeXVI Tiberius’ successful campaign there in 7AD - 9AD.

BookThreeXXV The army mutinied there in AD14 and Drusus the Younger was sent by Tiberius to quell the uprising.

BookSevenXXIV Otho’s father Lucius helped quell Camillus’s rebellion in Dalmatia in 42AD.

Incitatus, meaning Speedy or Swift, was Caligula’s horse, which he provided with luxurious appointments and a lavish establishment for entertaining guests at the Games.

BookFourLV Caligula intended to make his horse Consul.

Indians, are the inhabitants of the Indian sub-continent, who apparently maintained overland and maritime trade relations with Augustan Rome, particularly after the conquest of Egypt.

BookTwoXXI Augustus received embassies from Indian kings in 26 and 20BC.

Isidorus the Cynic, was a philosopher who dared to taunt Nero.

BookSixXXXIX Banished by Nero.

Isis was a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious belief. She was worshipped as the idealised mother and wife as well as the patronness of nature and magic. Following the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great her worship spread throughout the Graeco-Roman world. According to Josephus, Caligula wore female garb and took part in her mysteries which he endorsed in Rome. Vespasian and Titus practised incubation in the Roman Iseum while Domitian built a further Iseum and a Serapeum.

BookSevenXXXV Otho was said to celebrate her rites, publicly.

BookEightXXXVII The young Domitian disguised himself as a follower of Isis in 69AD to escape his enemies.

Isthmus of Corinth, the Isthmus is the narrow land bridge which connects the Peloponnesian peninsula with the mainland of Greece, near the city of Corinth. The word ‘isthmus’ comes from the Ancient Greek word for ‘neck’ and refers to the narrowness of the land. To the west of the Isthmus is the Gulf of Corinth, to the east the Saronic Gulf. A canal was cut in 1893.

BookOneXLIV Caesar’s plans to cut a canal through the Isthmus.

BookFourXXI Caligula intended to cut a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth, and carry out the project initially planned by Caesar.

BookSixXIX Nero attempted to cut a canal through the Isthmus.

BookSixXXIV The Isthmian Games were one of the Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece, held on the Isthmus of Corinth.

Janus was the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings and endings, and probably related to the Indian god Ganesh. His month of January begins the New Year. He is most often depicted as having two faces or heads, facing in opposite directions, possibly to look both into the future and the past. The main Temple of Janus stood in the Roman Forum, and the temple doors were closed in times of peace and open in times of war. The closing of the temple was a rare event, said to have taken place for the first time under Numa Pompilius, for the second time under Titus Manlius in 235BC, a third time by Augustus in 29BC, a fourth time by Nero in 66AD and a fifth time under Vespasian in 70AD.

BookTwoXXII The gates closed under Augustus in 29BC.

BookSixXIII The gates closed under Nero in 66AD.

Jerusalem is the ancient city in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern edge of the Dead Sea. It was the Jewish capital of the Kingdom of David, and is sacred to a number of faiths. In 6AD, the city, and much of the surrounding area came under direct Roman rule as the Province of Judaea.

BookSixXL Astrologers predicted Nero would rule the East from Jerusalem after his deposition from the rule of Rome.

BookEightXXX Titus took the city, destroying the Second Temple, on the 10th of August 70AD (by tradition, the 9th of Av in the Jewish Calendar)

Jewish People, the Jewish community in the Roman Diaspora dates back to the second century BC and was comparatively large, perhaps fifty thousand upwards in the time of Augustus.

BookOneLXXXIV The Jewish community in Rome mourned Caesar who had not only opposed Pompey, the subjugator of Judaea in 63BC, but had acted mildly towards them, and was regarded as a benefactor.

BookTwoLXXVI There are seven official fast days in the Jewish calendar, none of which coincide with the Sabbath, contrary to the original text of Augustus’ letter.

BookTwoXCIII Augustus praised Gaius Caesar for not offering prayers at the Temple in Jerusalem.

BookThreeXXXII The use of the Jewish term Sabbath for Saturday, was widespread in Roman times. The Christian use of Sabbath for Sunday was a later introduction.

BookThreeXXXVI Tiberius banned the Jewish religion from Rome, and expelled the Jews under threat of slavery if they refused to obey.

BookFiveXXV Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome, possibly in 41AD or 49AD.

BookEightIV BookEightV Vespasian was sent to tackle the Jewish rebellion of 66AD in Judaea.

BookEightVI The Judaean legions swore allegiance to Vespasian in 69AD.

BookEightXXIX Titus commanded a legion in Judaea 66AD - 68AD.

BookEightXLVIII The Fiscus Judaicus was an agency instituted to collect the tax of that name imposed on Jews in the Empire after the destruction of the Temple in 70AD, for the upkeep of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome. The tax of two denarii was initially imposed by Vespasian in place of the levy payable towards the upkeep of the Temple in Jerusalem. Domitian expanded its scope to include not only those born Jewish, and all converts to Judaism, but also those who concealed the fact that they were Jews or merely observed Jewish customs.

Josephus (37AD – c. 100AD) born Yosef Ben Matityahu (Joseph son of Matthias) and later taking the name Titus Flavius Josephus, was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry. He fought in the First Jewish-Roman War of 66AD – 73AD as a Jewish military leader in Galilee. Prior to this, however, he had been sent to negotiatiate with Nero for the release of Jewish priests. He later returned to Jerusalem and was drafted as a commander of the Galilean forces. He surrendered to the Roman forces led by Vespasian and his son Titus, in July 67AD. In 69AD he was released, and according to his own account, played a role as a negotiator with the defenders during the Siege of Jerusalem in 70AD. In 71AD, he reached Rome in the entourage of Titus, becoming a Roman citizen and client of the ruling Flavian dynasty. His most important works are The Jewish War (c. 75AD) and Antiquities of the Jews (c. 94AD).

BookEightV His prophecy regarding Vespasian.

Juba I, King of Numidia (c. 85BC - 46BC, r. 60BC - 46BC) was the son and successor to Hiempsal II. Later Juba became Pompey’s ally. At the Battle of Thapsus seeing the certain defeat of Scipio’s army, Juba did not take part in the battle and fled with the Roman general Petreius. Finding their retreat cut off, they made a suicide pact, in which Petreius probably killed Juba and then committed suicide with the assistance of a slave.

BookOneXXXV BookOneLIX BookOneLXVI Defeated by Caesar at Thapsus.

BookOneLXXI Mentioned.

Juba II of Numidia (c. 50BC - 23AD) was initially king of Numidia and then later transferred to Mauretania. Augustus restored Juba as king of Numidia between 29BC - 27BC. In 25BC he was allocated Mauretania, and Numidia was divided between Mauretania and Afria Nova. In 21AD, Juba II made his son Ptolemy co-ruler. Juba died in 23AD.

Jugurtha or Jugurthen (c. 160BC – 104BC) was a Libyan King of Numidia, (North Africa), born in Cirta (modern Constantine). He fought against Rome in 112BC, was defeated, and died in prison in Rome.

BookOneXI Defeated by Marius (112BC)

Julia Caesaris (c. 130BC - 69BC) was a daughter of Gaius Julius Caesar II and Marcia (daughter of consul Quintus Marcius Rex). She was a sister of Gaius Julius Caesar III (the father of Julius Caesar) and Sextus Julius Caesar III. Around 110 BC she married Gaius Marius. They had a son, Gaius Marius the Younger. According to Plutarch, it was through the marriage to her, a patrician, that Marius launched his political career. Her reputation for virtue protected her even after Sulla’s persecution of Marius and his allies.

BookOneVI Julius Caesar delived her funeral eulogy.

Julia is the name of two daughters of praetor Gaius Julius Caesar and Aurelia Cotta, the parents of dictator Gaius Julius Caesar. The sisters were born and raised in Rome. The elder of the two sisters is only known from Suetonius’ mention (LXXXIII) of her two grandsons, Lucius Pinarius and Quintus Pedius. The second sister (101BC - 51BC) married Marcus Atius Balbus, a praetor and commissioner who came from a senatorial family of plebs status. Julia bore Balbus three daughters: Balbus died in 52BC and Julia died a year later. Julia’s youngest grandchild, her grandson Octavian (later the Emperor Augustus) delivered her funeral oration at age 12.

BookOneLXXIV One of the two sisters offered evidence at the trial of Publius Clodius.

BookTwoIV BookTwoXCIV Julia the Younger was the grandmother of Augustus.

BookTwoVIII Augustus delivered Julia the Younger’s funeral oration

Julia (Caesar’s daughter, d. 54BC) The daughter of Gaius Julius Caesar the Roman dictator, by his first wife, Cornelia Cinna, and his only child in marriage, Julia became the fourth wife of Pompey the Great in 59BC.

BookOneI Mentioned.

BookOneXXI Married to Pompey.

BookOneXXVI Her death in 54BC. Her newborn infant (sources disagree as to whether it was a boy or a girl) died soon after.

BookOneLXXXIV Her tomb on the Campus Martius.

BookTwoXCV Her tomb struck by lightning in 44BC, when Augustus returned to Rome.

Julia the Elder (39BC - 14AD), known as Julia Caesaris filia or Julia Augusti filia was the daughter and only natural child of Augustus. Augustus subsequently adopted several male members of his close family as sons. Julia resulted from Augustus’ second marriage with Scribonia. In 25BC she married her cousin Marcus Claudius Marcellus who died in 23BC. In 21BC Julia married Agrippa. The marriage resulted in five children: Gaius Caesar, Julia the Younger, Lucius Caesar, Vipsania Agrippina the Elder (mother of Caligula), and Agrippa Postumus. Tiberius then married her in 11BC forced by Augustus to divorce Vipsania Agrippina (daughter of a previous marriage of Agrippa’s). By 6BC the couple had separated. In 2BC she was arrested for adultery and treason. Reluctant to execute her, Augustus exiled her to the island of Pandateria (modern Ventotene). Five years later, Julia was allowed to return to the mainland, though Augustus never forgave her and ordered her to remain in Rhegium. He explicitly gave instructions that she should not be buried in his Mausoleum. When Tiberius became emperor, he ordered that she be confined to one room and deprived of human company. She died from malnutrition some time after Augustus' death in 14AD, but before 15AD.

BookTwoXIX BookTwoLXXI Mentioned.

BookTwoLXIII BookThreeVII Her marriages.

BookTwoLXIV Her five children by Agrippa.

BookTwoLXV BookThreeX BookThreeXI Banished in 2BC.

BookTwoLXXIII She made clothes for Augustus.

BookTwoCI Augustus decreed in his will that she should not be buried in the family Mausoleum after her death.

BookThreeX Tiberius leaves her behind in Rome in 6BC.

BookThreeL Tiberius’ severity towards her.

BookFourVII Her daughter Vipsania Agrippina the Elder married Germanicus.

BookFourXXIII Caligula claimed his mother Agrippina was the product of incest between Julia and her father Augustus.

Julia the Younger (19BC – c. 29AD) also known as Julilla (little Julia), Vipsania Julia Agrippina, and Julia Caesaris Minor, was the first daughter and second child of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder. Along with her sister Agrippina the Elder, Julia was raised and educated by her maternal grandfather Augustus and her maternal step-grandmother Livia Drusilla. Julia the Younger was the elder granddaughter of the Emperor Augustus, sister-in-law, stepdaughter and daughter-in-law of the Emperor Tiberius, maternal aunt of the Emperor Caligula and Empress Agrippina the Younger, second cousin of the Emperor Claudius, and maternal great-aunt of the Emperor Nero. In 8AD Julia was exiled for having an affair with, and possibly secretly marrying, Decimus Junius Silanus, a Roman Senator. She was sent to Trimerus, a small Italian island, where she gave birth to a child. Augustus rejected the infant and ordered its death. Silanus went into voluntary exile, but returned under Tiberius. Sometime between 1AD and 14AD, her husband Aemilius Paulus was executed as a conspirator and it may be that Julia’s exile was in fact for involvement in the conspiracy. Julia died on the island to which she had been exiled. Due to the accusation of adultery, Augustus stated in his will that she should never be buried in Rome. It may be that Ovid’s banishment for a ‘book and an error’ may be linked to the conspiracy (due to him witnessing the secret marriage?).

BookTwoXIX BookTwoLXXII Mentioned.

BookTwoLXIV Her upbringing.

BookTwoLXV BookFiveXXVI Banished c. 8AD.

BookTwoCI Augustus decreed in his will that she should not be buried in the family Mausoleum after her death.

Julia, Titus’ daughter: see Flavia Julia Titi

Julia Augusta, see Livia Drusilla

Julia Drusi, Caesaris Filia (5AD - 43AD) was the daughter of Drusus the Younger and Livilla and granddaughter to the Emperor Tiberius. In 20AD, Julia married her cousin Nero Caesar (the son of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder). Nero was incarcerated on the island of Pontia (Ponza) in 29AD. The following year he was executed or driven to suicide. In 33AD, Julia married Gaius Rubellius Blandus, who was consul suffect in 18AD and later proconsul of Africa. About 43AD, an agent of the Emperor Claudius’ wife, Messalina, falsely charged her with incest and immorality. Claudius, her uncle had her executed

BookTwoXCIX She was ill at the time of Augustus’ death.

BookFiveXXIX Executed on Claudius ‘s orders.

Julia Drusilla (16AD – 38AD) was the second daughter and fifth living child of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder. In 33AD, Drusilla was married to Lucius Cassius Longinus a friend of Tiberius. However, after Caligula became emperor in 37AD, he ordered their divorce and remarried his sister to his friend, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. During Caligula’s illness in 37AD, he changed his will to name Drusilla his heir, making her the first woman to be named heir in an imperial will, in an attempt to continue the Julio-Claudian line through any children she might have, leaving her husband to rule in the meantime. However, her brother recovered and in 38AD, Drusilla died, at the age of twenty-two. Her brother went on to deify her, consecrating her with the title ‘Panthea’ and mourning her at her public funeral as though a widower.

BookFourVII Mentioned.

BookFourXV Caligula included her and her sisters in the wording of formal oaths.

BookFourXXIV BookFourXXXVI Caligula supposedly committed incest with her.

Julia Drusilla (39AD - 41AD) was the only child of Caligula and his fourth and last wife Milonia Caesonia. She was murdered with her mother after the assassination of Caligula.

BookFourXXV Her birth and character.

BookFourXLII Caligula started a public collection of money to support her maintenance and provide her dowry.

BookFourLIX Murdered after Caligula’s assassination.

Julia Livilla (18AD - c. 42AD) was the youngest child of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder and the youngest sister of Caligula. In 33, she married Marcus Vinicius consul in 30AD and proconsul of Asia in 38/39AD. In 39AD, she was involved in the failed conspiracy to overthrow Caligula and to replace him by his brother-in-law Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Livilla and her sister Agrippina the Younger were banished to the Pontine Islands. She returned from exile on the orders of her paternal uncle, the Emperor Claudius. Later in 41AD, she fell out of favour with Messalina and was charged with adultery with Seneca. Both were exiled. She was most likely sent to Pandateria. In late 41AD or early 42AD, Claudius ordered her execution, apparently by starvation, on unsupported charges. Her remains were later brought back to Rome, probably when Agrippina the Younger became Empress; they were laid to rest in the Mausoleum of Augustus.

BookFourVII Mentioned.

BookFourXV Caligula included her and her sisters in the wording of formal oaths.

BookFourXXIV BookFourXXIX She and her sister Agrippina the Younger were exiled by Caligula.

BookFourXXXVI Accused of incest with her brother Caligula.

BookFourXXXIX Caligula sold off her and Agrippina’s property after they were exiled.

BookFiveXXIX She was executed on Claudius’s orders.

Julius Caesar, Gaius (Dictator) (100BC - 44BC) The son of Gaius Julius Caesar, a praetor, and Aurelia his wife. His family had noble, patrician roots, although they were neither rich nor influential at the time. His aunt Julia was the wife of Gaius Marius, leader of the Popular faction.

BookOneI Suetonius’ life of Caesar follows.

BookTwoII He restored the Octavii to patrician rank.

BookTwoVI He adopted Augustus and made him his heir in his will.

BookTwoVIII He decorated Augustus, during the African triumph of 46BC.

BookTwoX Augustus undertook to avenge his murder.

BookTwoXIII Augustus sent Brutus’ head to Rome to be flung at the feet of Caesar’s statue.

BookTwoXV It was claimed Augustus sacrificed prisoners at Caesar’s altar, after the fall of Perusia.

BookTwoXVII Caesarion took refuge at his father’s altar in Alexandria.

BookTwoXXXI He reformed the calendar in 46BC (effective 45BC).

BookTwoXXXI BookTwoXCIV BookTwoXCV BookFourLVII BookSixIII BookSixXXXVII BookSevenIII BookSevenXLIII BookEightV Mentioned.

BookTwoXXXV The Orcivi or freedmen of Orcus were freed slaves, and Mark Antony admitted some of them to the Senate claiming that Caesar had wished it.

BookTwoXLV His habit of dealing with paperwork during the Games.

BookTwoC Tiberius delivered one of the two eulogies for Augustus at the funeral, from the front of the Temple to the God Julius.

BookTwoCI Augustus exhausted his adoptive father’s legacy to him on State expenditure.

BookThreeIV Tiberius’ father, Tiberius Nero, commanded Caesar’s fleet at Alexandria.

BookFourXXXVII The Julian Basilica replaced the Basilica Sempronia in the Roman Forum. It was started in 54BC by Caesar and finished by Augustus before being damaged by fire in 9AD. After rebuilding it was dedicated to Gaius and Lucius Caesar. The basilica was both a business centre and a court of justice.

BookFourXXXVIII Caligula ignored discharge certificates issued by him.

BookFiveXVII His campaigns in Britain 55/54BC.

BookFiveXX His consideration of a new harbour at Ostia.

BookFiveXLI Claudius began his history with Caesar’s murder.

BookSixII He had been summoned before the Senate in 58BC on suspicion of defying the laws and auspices.

BookSixXXXIII The Julian law De sicariis, against assignation including poisoning introduced by Sulla was renewed by Caesar.

BookSevenXLIII Vitellius refused to countenance accepting the title of Caesar.

Julius Caesar, Gaius, III (father of the Dictator c. 140BC – 85BC) A Roman senator, supporter and brother-in-law of Gaius Marius, and father of Julius Caesar, the later dictator of Rome. Caesar was married to Aurelia Cotta, a member the of Aurelii and Rutilii families, and had two daughters, both named Julia, and the one son, Julius. He was the brother of Sextus Julius Caesar, consul in 91BC.

BookOneI He died when Julius his son was fifteen.

Julius Marathus, a freedman of Augustus, and his keeper of the records, who wrote a life of his master.

BookTwoLXXIX BookTwoXCIV Referenced.

Julius Vestinus Atticus, Marcus was consul in 65AD. His father was prefect of Egypt under Claudius from 60AD to 62AD. After the death of Nero’s second wife Poppaea Sabina, Vestinus was forced to commit suicide in 66AD, in order that Nero might marry his wife Statilia. He may have been involved in the Pisonian conspiracy.

BookSixXXXV Executed by Nero.

Julius Vindex, Gaius, of the Gaulish nobility of Aquitania, was governor of Gallia Lugdunensis. In 67/68AD, he rebelled against the tax policy of Nero. He supported the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, Servius Sulpicius Galba, as emperor. Vindex was defeated and killed by the commander of the Germania Superior army, Lucius Verginius Rufus, in a battle near Vesontio (modern Besançon).

BookSixXL BookSixXLI BookSixXLVI His rebellion against Nero.

BookSevenIX He urged Galba to assume the leadership.

BookSevenXI Galba was shocked by news of his death.

BookSevenXVI Galba denied the army in Germany the bounty due for its actions against the rebellious Vindex.

Junia Calvina (c. 15AD - after 79AD) was the first born daughter of Aemilia Lepida and Appius Junius Silanus. Through her maternal grandparents Julia the Younger and Lucius Aemilius Paulus she was a descendant of Augustus.

BookEightXXIII Mentioned.

Junia Claudilla (d. c. 37AD) also known as Junia Claudia, was the first wife of the Emperor Caligula before he came to power. They were married at Antium (Anzio) in 33AD. Her father was a distinguished senator named Marcus Silanus. She died while giving birth to Caligula’s first child, which also did not survive.

BookFourXII Mentioned.

Junius Novatus was a plebeian fined for libelling Augustus.

BookTwoLI Mentioned.

Junius Arulenus Rusticus, Quintus (c. 35AD - 93AD), was a Stoic and a friend and follower of Thrasea Paetus. He was tribune of the plebs in AD66, in the year Thrasea was condemned to death. He was Praetor in the civil wars after the death of Nero, (69AD) and attained the consulship in 92AD under Domitian, but in 93AD was condemned to death because of his panegyric on Paetus. Suetonius attributes to him a panegyric on Helvidius Priscus; though the latter work was composed by Herennius Senecio, according to Tacitus and Pliny.

BookEightXLVI Executed by order of Domitian.

Junius Silanus, Appius was consul in 28AD, with Publius Silius Nerva. Shortly after the accession of Claudius, in 41AD, when Silanus was governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, he was recalled to Rome and married to Domitia Lepida, mother of the empress Messalina. Having refused the advances of Messalina herself, he was put to death by Claudius at her instigation. He was the father of Lucius Junius Silanus.

BookFiveXXIX BookFiveXXXVII Executed on Claudius’s orders.

Junius Silanus, Decimus, was a consul in 62BC and possibly the son of Marcus Junius Silanus, consul in 109BC. He was the stepfather of Marcus Junius Brutus having married his mother, Servilia. He was aedile in 70BC, but lost the election for the consulship of 63BC. He was successful the following year, and so in consequence of his being consul designatus was first asked for his opinion by Cicero in the debate in the senate on the punishment of the Catilinarian conspirators.

BookOneXIV At first he spoke in favor of the supreme penalty for the conspirators, but when Julius Caesar suggested life imprisonment, Silanus insisted that that was what he had really meant. As such, it was left to Cato to force through the decision to actually execute them.

Junius Silanus, Lucius (d. 49AD) was praetor in 48AD. Claudius betrothed him to his daughter Claudia Octavia in 41AD, but this was broken off in 48AD when Empress Agrippina the Younger, hoping to secure Octavia as bride for her son Nero, falsely charged him with open affection toward his sister Junia Calvina. Claudius broke off the engagement and forced Silanus to resign from public office. He committed suicide on the day Claudius and Agrippina married.

BookFiveXXIV Claudius granted him the triumphal regalia when under age.

BookFiveXXVII He was betrothed to Octavia.

BookFiveXXIX Forced by Claudius to commit suicide.

Junius Silanus Torquatus, Marcus (c. 26BC - 37AD) was a senator who became suffect consul in 19AD. His daughter Junia Claudilla was the first wife of the Emperor Caligula (33AD). His brother, a senator, Decimus Junius Silanus, was banished for supposedly having an affair with Vipsania Julia during the reign of Augustus. He was Governor of Africa under Caligula.

BookFourXII Mentioned.

BookFourXXIII Caligula supposedly drove him to suicide.

Juno was an ancient Roman goddess, the protector and special counsellor of the state. She was a daughter of Saturn, sister-wife to Jupiter, and the mother of Mars and Vulcan. Her Greek equivalent was Hera.

BookEightXIX The Matronalia was a festival celebrating Juno Lucina, the goddess of childbirth and motherhood. In the original Roman calendar it was the first day of the year, the first of March, the month of Mars.

BookEightXL Her image on Domitian’s ceremonial crown.

Jupiter, in Roman mythology Jupiter or Jove was the king of the gods, and the god of the heavens and thunder. He was the equivalent of Zeus in the Greek pantheon, and titled Iuppiter (or Diespiter) Optimus Maximus (‘Father of the Gods, the Best and Greatest’). As patron deity of ancient Rome, he ruled over law and the social order. He was the chief god of the Capitoline Triad, consisting of himself, his sister/wife Juno, and Minerva. Jupiter also fathered the god Mars with Juno, and was thus the grandfather of Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome.

BookOneLXXIX BookOneLXXXIV BookTwoXXVI BookTwoXCI BookThreeLIII BookSevenL BookEightV BookEightXLII BookEightLI The ancient Capitoline Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus mentioned.

BookOneLXXXI Caesar dreamed of clasping Jove’s right hand, indicating his deification after death.

BookTwoXXIX BookTwoXCI The new Temple of Jupiter Tonans, Jupiter the Thunderer, built by Augustus, was dedicated in 22BC.

BookTwoXXX Augustus’ offerings at the Capitoline Temple.

BookTwoLVII Augustus funded and dedicated a statue of Jupiter Tragoedus in a City ward in Rome.

BookTwoLX The Temple of Olympian Zeus also known as the Olympieion, in Athens was begun in the 6th century BC but not completed until the reign of Hadrian in the 2nd century AD. The attempt mentioned in Augustus’ reign to do so was not carried through.

BookTwoLXX Jupiter synonymous with Augustus.

BookTwoXCIV Various omens of Jupiter referring to Augustus.

BookThreeXL Tiberius dedicated a Temple of Capitoline Jupiter at Capua in 26AD.

BookThreeLXV Tiberius’s Villa Jovis on Capri was situated in the extreme northeast of the island on Monte Tiberio. The largest of the twelve Tiberian villas on Capri mentioned by Tacitus, the entire complex, spanning several terraces and a difference in elevation of about 40 metres, covers some 7,000 square metres.

BookFourXXII BookFourLVII The statue of Jupiter from Olympia was the chryselephantine Zeus by Phidias (carved c. 432BC), regarded as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Jupiter Latiaris, Jupiter of Latium, was anciently worshipped at Alba Longa.

BookFourLII Caligula liked to dress as him, carrying his emblem the lightning-bolt.

BookSixX Nero’s poems were inscribed in gold and dedicated to Capitoline Jupiter.

BookSixXXII The Temple of Zeus, or Jupiter Cassius, at Cassiope on Corfu is mentioned.

BookSevenII Galba traced his paternal ancestry back to Jupiter.

BookSevenIX The Temple of Jupiter at Clunia in Spain mentioned.

BookSevenXII The Temple of Jupiter in Tarraco (Tarragona) Spain mentioned. The cathedral there was subsequently erected on the site of the Temple in 1171AD.

BookEightXL Domitian instituted quinquennial games in honour of Jupiter Capitolinus in 86AD.

BookEightXLI BookEightXLIV Domitian built a Temple of Jupiter Custos on the Capitoline.