Gaius Calpurnius Piso

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Gaius Calpurnius Piso was a Roman senator in the 1st century. He was the focal figure in the Pisonian Conspiracy of 65 A.D., the most famous and wide-ranging plot against the throne of Emperor Nero.

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[edit] Character and early life

Piso was extremely well liked throughout Rome. He inherited from his father (never identified) connection with many distinguished families, and from his mother great wealth. Piso came from the ancient and noble house of Calpurnii[1] and he distributed his great wealth among many beneficiaries of all Roman social classes. Among a wide range of interests, Piso sang on the tragic stage, wrote poetry, played an expert game of draughts, and owned a villa at Baiae.[2]

Piso was tall, good-looking, affable, and an excellent orator and advocate in the courts. Despite these facts Piso's overall integrity was questionable. According to Tacitus, Piso used his eloquence to defend his fellow citizens and was generous and gracious in speech, but lacked earnestness and was overly ostentatious, while craving the sensual.[1] In 40 A.D. Emperor Caligula banished Piso from Rome after he took a fancy to Piso’s wife. Caligula forced Piso's wife to leave him, and then accused Piso of adultery with her in order to establish cause for banishment.[3] Piso would return to Rome one year later after Caligula’s assassination.

[edit] Pisonian conspiracy and death

In 41 A.D. Emperor Claudius recalled Piso to Rome and made him suffect consul.[4] Piso then became a powerful senator during the reign of Emperor Nero and in 65 A.D. led a secret initiative to replace Emperor Nero that became known as the Pisonian Conspiracy.

Piso leveraged senatorial anger with Emperor Nero to gain power. Already in 62 A.D., there had been talk among those of senatorial rank, in the nobility, and among equities, that Nero was ruining Rome.[5] By 65 A.D. the city had endured the Great Fire of Rome and the persecution of the Christians, spurring groups of conspirators to come together under the leadership of Piso with the goal of killing Emperor Nero.

On April 19, 65 A.D. the freedman Milichus betrayed Piso’s plot to kill the Emperor[5] and the conspirators were all arrested. In all, 19 were put to death and 13 exiled,[5] revealing the massive scope of the conspiracy. Piso was ordered to commit suicide and so killed himself.

[edit] Notes

  • Piso is probably the one referred to by Calpurnius Siculus under the name of Meliboeus, and he is the subject of the panegyric De laude Pisonis.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Bunson, Matthew. "Piso, Gaius Calpurnicus." Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire. New York: Facts on File, 1994
  2. ^ Rogers, Robert Samuel. "Heirs and Rivals to Nero." Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philogical Association, Vol. 86. 1955, pp. 190-212
  3. ^ Hazel, John. "Piso, 1." Who's Who in the Roman World. London: Routledge, 2001.
  4. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. 5, VII ed. London: Cambridge University Press, 1970-2007.
  5. ^ a b c Bunson, Matthew. "Pisonian Conspiracy." Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire. New York: Facts on File, 1994.