Lucius Calpurnius Piso (died AD 70) was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

senator 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 ...

active in the first century AD. During the

Year of Four Emperors A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hour ...

he was governor of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and supported

Vitellius Aulus Vitellius (; ; 24 September 1520 December 69) was Roman emperor for eight months, from 19 April to 20 December AD 69. Vitellius was proclaimed emperor following the quick succession of the previous emperors Galba and Otho, in a year of ci ...

. After the death of Vitellius he was killed by supporters of

Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...

Early life

Piso was the son of Lucius Calpurnius Piso, who had been forced to change his praenomen from Gnaeus to Lucius due to his father's involvement in a conspiracy against

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 ...

. The life of the younger Piso is not well known prior to his accession to

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 57 as the colleague of Emperor

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

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 ...

records an incident in the previous year where a conflict arose between the

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 ...

Vibullius and

Antistius Sosianus The gens Antistia, sometimes written Antestia on coins, was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Sextus Antistius, tribune of the plebs in 422 BC.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Myth ...

, the

plebeian tribune Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune ( la, tribunus plebis) was the first office of the Roman state that was open to the plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power o ...

, over whether to keep imprisoned some disorderly audience members; the Senate ruled against Antistius, and Piso went further and proposed that tribunes would no longer be permitted to try cases in their own houses.

Offices

He served as ''

curator aquarum The ''Curator Aquarum'' was a Roman official responsible for managing Rome's water supply and distributing free grain. Curators were appointed by the emperor. The first curator was Agrippa. Another notable ''Curator Aquarum'' was Frontinus, a R ...

'' for Rome from 60 to 63. In the year 62 the emperor Nero appointed Piso, along with

Aulus Ducenius Geminus Aulus Ducenius Geminus was a Roman senator active in the first century AD. Geminus is best known as Galba's appointment as Urban prefect of Rome during the Year of Four Emperors.Tacitus, ''Histories'', i.14 Geminus had family connections with Pata ...

and

Pompeius Paullinus Pompeius Paullinus was a Roman senator, who was active during the reigns of Claudius and Nero. He was suffect consul during a '' nundinium'' in either the year 53 or 54. According to Pliny the Elder, Paullinus was the son of Pompeius Paulinus, an ...

, to a commission to manage the public revenues. Then in AD 69, he was picked by the

sortition In governance, sortition (also known as selection by lottery, selection by lot, allotment, demarchy, stochocracy, aleatoric democracy, democratic lottery, and lottocracy) is the selection of political officials as a random sample from a larger ...

to be

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 ...

. He was a member of the Arval Brethren; although it is not known when he was co-opted into the ''

collegia A (plural ), or college, was any association in ancient Rome that acted as a legal entity. Following the passage of the ''Lex Julia'' during the reign of Julius Caesar as Consul and Dictator of the Roman Republic (49–44 BC), and their ...

'', Piso is recorded attending the meetings in the years 57, 58, 59, 60 and 63. Piso had a wife, Licinia Magna; their daughter Calpurnia married Calpurnius Galerianus, the son of Gaius Calpurnius Piso.

Death

While governing Roman Africa, the civil war known as the Year of Four Emperors erupted. Both the province and Piso supported Vitellius, who had been proconsul there not long before. The commander of the legion stationed in North Africa,

Gaius Calpetanus Rantius Quirinalis Valerius Festus Gaius Calpetanus Rantius Quirinalis Valerius Festus was a Roman Empire, Roman Roman senate, senator, general, and ''amicus'' to each of the Flavian dynasty, Flavian emperors. He proved his value to the Flavians when, as ''legatus legionis'', or com ...

, however, was in secret communication with Vespasian. Following the death of Vitellius, Claudius Sagitta, a prefect of horse, reached Africa. Sagitta told Piso that an order had been issued to put the proconsul to death, that his son-in-law had been executed, and Piso's only hope of safety was to either flee to those supporters of Vitellius who remained in Gaul and Spain, or to defend himself in

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

; Piso was not moved by this news. Shortly afterwards a messenger,

Gaius Licinius Mucianus Gaius Licinius Mucianus (fl. 1st century AD) was a Roman general, statesman and writer. He is considered to have played a role behind the scenes in the elevation of Vespasian to the throne. Life His name shows that he had passed by adoption fr ...

, arrived as an envoy from Mucianus, a partisan of Vespasian based in Rome, to parlay with Piso. Piso refused to leave his palace, which incensed the local population, who began to riot in the marketplace, demanding that Piso present himself. Piso avoided showing himself to the crowd, but managed to have the messenger brought to him, and on questioning him found that Mucianus had dispatched him to kill him. The proconsul ordered the messenger executed and refused to discharge any duties outside the palace, as an attempt to guard against a repeat of the riot.Tacitus, '' Histories'', IV.49 When Festus learned of the events in Carthage, he sent a troop of cavalry to murder Piso. Although none of the men knew Piso, he was identified for them by Baebius Massa, whom Tacitus described as "a man even then fatal to the good, and destined often to reappear among the course of the sufferings which he had ere long to endure." With Piso dead Festus was able to take control of the province and openly declared for Vespasian.Tactius, ''Histories'', IV.50

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calpurnius Piso (consul 57), Lucius 1st-century Romans 70 deaths Year of birth unknown Imperial Roman consuls Roman governors of Africa Calpurnii Pisones