Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus (consul 15 BC)

For other people with similar names, see Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, Lucius Calpurnius Piso, or Calpurnia (gens).
Portrait of L. Calpurnius Piso Pontifex from the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum.

Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus (PW 99) (48 BC – AD 32) was a prominent Roman senator of the early Empire. He was the son of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, consul in 58 BC, and brother of Calpurnia, the third and last wife of Julius Caesar. He was a confidant of the emperors Augustus and Tiberius. His tenure as pontifex led him sometimes to be called Lucius Calpurnius Piso Pontifex, to differentiate him from his contemporary, Lucius Calpurnius Piso the Augur, consul in 1 BC.

Piso was consul in 15 BC, and shortly thereafter engaged in Mediolanum as proconsul.[1] Cassius Dio refers to him as governor of Pamphylia in the years 13 to 11 BC; his province probably included Galatia. In 11 BC, he was sent to Thrace as legatus pro praetore in order to put down a revolt. For his successes there, the senate honoured him with the ornamenta triumphalia.[2][3]

Piso may have also been proconsul of Asia and legate of Syria, but this is disputed. He was praefectus urbi from AD 13 to 32, and a trusted adviser to both Augustus and Tiberius. He was a member of the pontifical college and of the Arval Brethren. He died in 32, and was honoured with a state funeral.[4]

Piso's achievements and independence were highly regarded. Horace dedicated his Ars Poëtica to him (cf. Carmen 2.12), and several epigrams by Antipater of Thessalonica are dedicated to Piso.

References

  1. ↑ Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Claris Rhetoribus 6.
  2. ↑ Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History liv. 34.7.
  3. ↑ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales, vi. 10.
  4. ↑ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales, vi. 10.

Additional Sources

See also

Preceded by
Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus
Publius Cornelius Scipio		 Consul of the Roman Empire
15 BC
With: Marcus Livius Drusus Libo		 Succeeded by
Marcus Licinius Crassus Dives
Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Augur
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