Gaius Cocceius Balbus (fl. 1st century BC) was a Roman politician and military commander who served as

suffect consul A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...

in 39 BC.

Biography

A member of the

Plebeian In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words " commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of ...

gens Cocceia, Cocceius Balbus was a supporter of

Marcus Antonius Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the autoc ...

. He was probably elected as

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...

in 42 BC. In 39 BC, he was appointed

to replace Lucius Marcius Censorinus. In around 35 BC, Cocceius Balbus served as either

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...

ar governor of Macedonia, or as a Legatus in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. During his time in Greece, he was acclaimed as ''

Imperator The Latin word ''imperator'' derives from the stem of the verb la, imperare, label=none, meaning 'to order, to command'. It was originally employed as a title roughly equivalent to ''commander'' under the Roman Republic. Later it became a part o ...

'' by his troops. He eventually abandoned Marcus Antonius and threw his support behind Octavian after Antonius divorced Octavia the Younger.Stern, Gaius, ''Women, Children, and Senators on the Ara Pacis Augustae: A Study of Augustus' Vision of a New World Order in 13 BC'' (2006), pg. 351

Sources

* Broughton, T. Robert S., ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', Vol. II (1951) * Syme, Ronald, ''The Roman Revolution'' (1939)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cocceius Balbus, Gaius 1st-century BC Roman consuls Balbus, Gaius Roman Republican praetors Senators of the Roman Republic Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown