Avidius Cassius

See also: Cassius

Avidius Cassius ( Caius Avidius Cassus ) (v. 130 - July 175) is a Roman general of the emperor Marc-Aurèle. Wire of Caius Avidius Heliodorus, a senior official of Hadrian. Born in Cyrrhus and thus of Syrian origin, it begins a brilliant military career whose beginnings are badly known.

It is sent in 162 with Statius Priscus, under the orders of Lucius Verus, to fight the Parthes which in 161 invaded the Eastern provinces of the empire. Very quickly Lucius Verus gives up the reality of the military operations in Avidius Cassius which seizes Séleucie of the Tiger, then of Ctésiphon, the Parthian capital, in 165. It was shown, later, to have brought back, with its army, the epidemic of Peste antonine. In 166, Avidius Cassius is seen allotting the government of Syria.

One often considers that it accepted thereafter a broader command on the East, the exact limits of his jurisdiction being hardly precise. This assumption is not however certain. In 172, it enters to Egypt to the head of its legions to put an end to the revolt of Boukôloi, shepherds of the Delta of the Nile, who threaten Alexandria.

He believes his chance come in 175, when a false rumor of died of Marc-Aurèle arrives until him, and is made proclaim emperor thanks to a vast conspiracy who extends in Egypt and in the Eastern provinces. It is the fidelity of Martius Verus, the governor of Cappadoce, which saves Marc-Aurèle leaving him time to gather the Danubian legions which have just overcome the Quades and the Marcomans.

The Sénat declares Avidius Cassius public enemy, though that Marc-Aurèle expresses his will of forgiveness. At the time when the emperor prepares to walk on the troops of Avidius Cassius this one is assassinated in July 175 by its own revolted soldiers. Its head is sent to the emperor who refuses to see it and requires that it be buried.

Random links: