Lucius Calpurnius Piso Licinianus
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Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi Licinianus was deputy Roman Emperor from January 10 to January 15, 69. He was appointed by the Emperor Galba to strengthen his own position when two of his legions in Germania Superior rebelled against him.
When the elderly Galba was choosing a young heir his consul, Titus Vinius, proposed Marcus Otho, but Galba disapproved of Otho's lax morals, believing he would be little better than his predecessor, Nero. Instead he chose Piso, on the advice of his Praetorian prefect, Cornelius Laco. Otho had expected to be chosen and, when he was disappointed, he decided to assassinate Galba and Piso and become emperor himself.
On January 15, Galba was hacked to death in the street by scores of soldiers. Vinius was also killed, despite shouting out that Otho had not ordered his death. Out of all the imperial bodyguards, only one centurion, Sempronius Densus, dared to stand against the assassins. Armed only with a dagger, he singlehandedly confronted a large body of fully armed men and, by denouncing their mutiny and fighting them to the death, he bought Piso time to escape. Piso fled and hid in the temple of the Vestal Virgins.
There he should have been safe, but the assassins were in no mood to respect the sanctuary of the temple. He was discovered by two soldiers, Statius Murcus of the Praetorian Guard and Sulpicius Florus, a British auxiliary who had just been granted Roman citizenship by Galba. They dragged him outside and killed him. He was thirty years old.
It was said by Tacitus that Otho "studied the victim's severed head with peculiar malevolence, as if his eyes could never drink their fill". But Piso's death was not enough: Otho also had Laco killed.
120 people tried to claim the credit for killing Galba and Piso, expecting to be rewarded, and to this end a list was made of their names. However, when Otho was deposed by Vitellius the new emperor found the list and ordered them all executed.
Piso did nothing of note during his five day term in office except to die.
Interestingly, this Piso comes from the same Piso family as the infamous Gaius Calpurnius Piso who masterminded the Pisonian Conspiracy just a few years earlier, in 65 CE in the aftermath of the Great Fire of Rome. Clearly, the Piso family was a major player in the court intrigues of Imperial Rome in the second half of the first century CE.
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Licinianus; Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Piso Licinianus |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Roman emperor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 38 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | |
| DATE OF DEATH | 15 January 69 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Rome |
