Quintus Minucius Thermus ( fl. 74–43 BC) was a Roman politician.
He belonged to a long-established senatorial family. [1] His father, of the same name, had been a mint officer in 103 BC, and a war councilor in 89 BC during the Social War. [2] The younger Thermus entered the Senate with his election as quaestor in 75 or 74 BC, and his name appears on a decree of the Senate inscribed at the Greek town of Oropos, dated 73 BC. [3] [4] In 62 BC, having been elected tribune of the plebs, Thermus cooperated with his colleague Cato in forcibly opposing a bill by the praetor Julius Caesar to reassign responsibility for the reconstruction of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus to Pompey. [5] The attempt to overcome Cato and Thermus' veto triggered violent clashes and a senatus consultum ultimum before order was restored to the city. [6]
Thermus held the office of praetor at some unknown date, perhaps c. 60–58 BC or possibly as late as 53 BC. [7] From 51 to 50 BC, he was prorogued to Asia pro praetore and successfully administered the province. [8] [9]
During Caesar's civil war, still holding imperium, [10] he attempted to defend Iguvium (modern Gubbio) from Caesar's invasion of Italy, but his raw recruits deserted before the Caesarian advance under Curio, forcing him to retreat. [11] [12]
In 43 BC he was one of several envoys sent by the Senate to negotiate with Sextus Pompeius in Sicily. [13]