Roman senator, general, praetor in 81 BC and governor of Asia
Marcus Minucius Thermus was an ancient Roman soldier and statesman. He was
praetor in 81 BC and governor of
Asia the following year,[1] succeeding
Murena.[2] The
capture of Mytilene occurred during his governorship; Mytilene had been in revolt against Rome and was suspected of actively or tacitly aiding so-called
pirates in the region.[3]Suetonius credits Thermus with the victory,[4] but the siege may have been conducted by or in coordination with
Lucius Licinius Lucullus. Little else is known of his life or career.[5]
Julius Caesar began his military service under Thermus after his pardon by
Sulla during the proscriptions of 82 BC.[6] It was Thermus who sent the young Caesar as an envoy to the court of
Nicomedes IV of Bithynia to request aid in the form of a
fleet.
Although Thermus was a Sullan partisan, in 86 BC his younger brother Quintus had been a
legate in Asia under appointment by the rival
Marians. Quintus had replaced
Fimbria after his mutiny.[5]
References
^T.R.S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, vol. 2 (New York 1952), pp. 76, 78, 81, citing
Suetonius, Divus Iulius 2.1, where he is identified as a praetor, and David Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor (Princeton University Press, 1950), vol. 1, p 246f. and vol. 2, p. 1124, note 41.
^Arthur Keaveney, Lucullus: A Life (Routledge, 1992), p. 182
online. Keaveney argues that Minucius assumed his post in Asia in 79 (pp. 182–187).
^Philip de Souza, Piracy in the Graeco-Roman World (Cambridge University Press, 2002), p. 123
online.
^Harold B. Mattingly, "C. Verres and the Pirates," in From Coins to History: Selected Numismatic Studies (University of Michigan Press, 2004). p. 180, note 10
online.
^
abRonald T. Ridley, "The Dictator's Mistake: Caesar's Escape from Sulla," Historia 49 (2000) 227–228.
^Matthias Gelzer, Caesar: Politician and Statesman, trans. Peter Needham (Oxford: Blackwell, 1968),
ISBN0-631-10430-5
Sources
Further discussion by
T. Corey Brennan, The Praetorship in the Roman Republic (Oxford University Press, 2000), vol. 2, p. 557
online.