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Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso (ca. 44 BC/43 BC - 20 AD), Roman statesman, was consul
Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Roman Empire. The title was also used in other city states, and revived in modern states, notably French Republic before the Napoleon I of Franceic counter-revolution....
 in 7 BC; subsequently, he was governor of Hispania
Hispania

Hispania was the name given by the Ancient Rome to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula . When Rome was a Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into Roman provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior....
 and proconsul of Africa
North Africa during the Classical Period

Carthage and the BerbersPhoenician traders arrived on the North African coast around 900 BC and established Carthage around 800 BC. By the sixth century BC, a Phoenician presence existed at Tipasa ....
.

In AD 17 Tiberius
Tiberius

Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, born Tiberius Claudius Nero , was the second Roman Emperor, from the death of Augustus in AD 14 until his own death in 37....
 appointed him governor of Syria
History of Syria

This article deals with the history of Syria, and the nations previously occupying its territory....
 (with an army of 4 legions). Some Roman sources of the period suggest that Tiberius gave Piso secret instructions to thwart and control Germanicus
Germanicus

Germanicus Julius Caesar Claudianus . Born in Lugdunum, Gaul , was a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty of the early Roman Empire. At birth he was named either Nero Claudius Drusus after his father or Tiberius Claudius Nero after his uncle and received the agnomen Germanicus, by which he is principally known, in 9 BC, when...
, who had been sent to supervise all Eastern provinces. Piso and Germanicus clashed on several occasions and, in AD 19, Piso had to leave the province.






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Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso (ca. 44 BC/43 BC - 20 AD), Roman statesman, was consul
Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Roman Empire. The title was also used in other city states, and revived in modern states, notably French Republic before the Napoleon I of Franceic counter-revolution....
 in 7 BC; subsequently, he was governor of Hispania
Hispania

Hispania was the name given by the Ancient Rome to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula . When Rome was a Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into Roman provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior....
 and proconsul of Africa
North Africa during the Classical Period

Carthage and the BerbersPhoenician traders arrived on the North African coast around 900 BC and established Carthage around 800 BC. By the sixth century BC, a Phoenician presence existed at Tipasa ....
.

In AD 17 Tiberius
Tiberius

Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, born Tiberius Claudius Nero , was the second Roman Emperor, from the death of Augustus in AD 14 until his own death in 37....
 appointed him governor of Syria
History of Syria

This article deals with the history of Syria, and the nations previously occupying its territory....
 (with an army of 4 legions). Some Roman sources of the period suggest that Tiberius gave Piso secret instructions to thwart and control Germanicus
Germanicus

Germanicus Julius Caesar Claudianus . Born in Lugdunum, Gaul , was a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty of the early Roman Empire. At birth he was named either Nero Claudius Drusus after his father or Tiberius Claudius Nero after his uncle and received the agnomen Germanicus, by which he is principally known, in 9 BC, when...
, who had been sent to supervise all Eastern provinces. Piso and Germanicus clashed on several occasions and, in AD 19, Piso had to leave the province. At the death of Germanicus during the same year most people suspected Piso of having poisoned him (although no definite proof was available).

The armed attempt of Piso to gain once more control of the province of Syria immediately after the death of Germanicus only aroused more indignation, and Tiberius was forced to order an investigation and a public trial in the Roman Senate
Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the Greek historian Polybius, our principal source on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate was the predominant branch of government....
 for Piso and his wife. Piso committed suicide
Suicide

Suicide is the intentional taking of one's own life. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest"....
, though it was rumoured that Tiberius, fearing incriminating disclosures, had put him to death. Tiberius and his mother Livia
Livia

Livia Drusilla, after 14 AD called Julia Augusta was the wife of Augustus and one of the most powerful women in the Roman Empire, being Augustus' faithful advisor....
 were able to avoid incrimination of his wife Plancina
Munatia Plancina

Munatia Plancina was a Roman noblewoman who lived in the early times of the Empire founded by Augustus. She was the wife of the governor of Syria, Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso....
.

Piso in fiction

He was played by Stratford Johns
Stratford Johns

Stratford Johns, born Alan Edgar Stratford-Johns, was a popular United Kingdom stage, film and television actor who is best remembered for his starring role as Detective Inspector Charlie Barlow in the innovative and long-running BBC police series Z-Cars, created by Troy Kennedy-Martin....
 in the BBC TV serial I, Claudius
I, Claudius (TV series)

I, Claudius is a 1976 BBC Television adaptation of Robert Graves's I, Claudius. Written by Jack Pulman, it proved one of the corporation's most successful drama serials of all time....
.

External links

  • entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith
  • - recently discovered decree of the senate summarizing the results of Piso's trial (in Latin)