Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus (48 BC – AD 32) was a prominent

Roman senator The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...

of the early

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

. His tenure as

pontifex A pontiff (from Latin ''pontifex'') was, in Roman antiquity, a member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs."Pontifex". "Oxford English Dictionary", March 2007 The term "pontiff" was late ...

led him sometimes to be called Lucius Calpurnius Piso Pontifex, to differentiate him from his contemporary,

Lucius Calpurnius Piso the Augur Lucius Calpurnius Piso (also known to contemporaries as Lucius Calpurnius Piso the Augur) (died AD 24) was a Roman senator who was appointed consul in 1 BC as the colleague of Cossus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus. He was also an augur. Life and ca ...

, consul in 1 BC. He was a confidant of the emperors

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

and

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...

Biography

He was the son of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus,

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

in 58 BC, and half-brother of Calpurnia, the third and last wife of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

. Piso was consul in 15 BC, and shortly thereafter engaged in

Mediolanum Mediolanum, the ancient city where Milan now stands, was originally an Insubrian city, but afterwards became an important Roman city in northern Italy. The city was settled by the Insubres around 600 BC, conquered by the Romans in 222 BC, and d ...

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 ' ...

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

refers to him as governor of

Pamphylia Pamphylia (; grc, Παμφυλία, ''Pamphylía'') was a region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the north by ...

in the years 13 to 11 BC; his province probably included

Galatia Galatia (; grc, Γαλατία, ''Galatía'', "Gaul") was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir, in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace (c ...

. In 11 BC, he was sent to

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...

legatus A ''legatus'' (; anglicised as legate) was a high-ranking Roman military officer in the Roman Army, equivalent to a modern high-ranking general officer. Initially used to delegate power, the term became formalised under Augustus as the officer ...

''pro praetore'' in order to put down a revolt. For his successes there, the

senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

honoured him with the ornamenta triumphalia. Piso may have also been proconsul of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and legate of

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, but this is disputed. He was ''

praefectus urbi The ''praefectus urbanus'', also called ''praefectus urbi'' or urban prefect in English, was prefect of the city of Rome, and later also of Constantinople. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, and ...

'' from AD 13 to 32, and a trusted adviser to both Augustus and Tiberius. He was a member of the

pontifical college A pontifical university is an ecclesiastical university established or approved directly by the Holy See, composed of three main ecclesiastical faculties (Theology, Philosophy and Canon Law) and at least one other faculty. These academic institute ...

and of the Arval Brethren. He died in 32, and was honoured with a state funeral. Piso's achievements and independence were highly regarded.

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

dedicated his '' Ars Poëtica'' to him (cf. ''Carmen'' 2.12), and several epigrams by

Antipater of Thessalonica Antipater of Thessalonica ( grc-gre, Ἀντίπατρος ὁ Θεσσαλονικεύς; c. 10 BC - c. AD 38) was a Greek epigrammatist of the Roman period. Biography Antipater lived during the latter part of the reign of Augustus, and perha ...

are dedicated to Piso.

Name

Piso's full nomenclature is somewhat uncertain.

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his t ...

simply refers to him as ''Lucius Piso'', while the ''Fasti Albenses'' call him ''Lucius Calpurnius Piso''. He is sometimes called ''Lucius Calpurnius Piso Pontifex'', to distinguish him from his contemporary, ''Lucius Calpurnius Piso Augur'', although both ''Pontifex'' and ''Augur'' are simply nicknames, rather than true cognomina.''PW'', "Calpurnius", No. 99. Drumann assigned Piso the agnomen ''Caesoninus'', which had been borne by his ancestors for four generations; but in later editions he is assigned the name ''Frugi'' instead. There are two grounds for the latter identification. First, Cassius Dio assigns him the surname ''Fourtios'', which is supposed to be a corruption of ''Frugi''. Secondly,

Theodor Mommsen Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th cent ...

identified his sons, to whom the ''Ars Poëtica'' is addressed, with Lucius Calpurnius Piso and Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi, consuls in AD 27. However,

Klebs Klebs is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Arnold Klebs (1870–1943), Swiss microbiologist and physician; son of Edwin Klebs *Edwin Klebs (1834–1913), German-born Swiss pathologist and army medic; father of Arnold Kleb ...

doubted this interpretation of ''Fourtios'', and it is not at all certain that the consuls of AD 27 were the sons of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Pontifex. They might instead have been the sons of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, consul in 7 BC.Tacitus, ''Annales'', iii. 16.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. III, pp. 375, 376 ("Calpurnius", Nos. 23–25). In this instance, Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi would be identified with the Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso whom the

compelled to change his praenomen. As a result, the question of whether Piso the pontifex was surnamed ''Caesoninus'' or ''Frugi'' is unresolved.

References

Sources

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

, ''Epistulae'' 83.14 {{DEFAULTSORT:Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, Lucius 48 BC births 32 deaths 1st-century BC Roman consuls 1st-century Romans Ancient Roman generals Caesoninus, Lucius Generals of Augustus Roman governors of Galatia Roman governors of Thracia Senators of the Roman Empire Urban prefects of Rome

Biography

Name

See also

References

Sources