Aulus Terentius Varro Murena (died 24 BC) was a Roman general and politician of the 1st century BC.

Biography

Murena was the natural born son of Aulus Terentius Varro, and adopted brother to Lucius Licinius Varro Murena. He was well connected to the Augustan regime, with his sister, Terentia, married to

Gaius Maecenas Gaius Cilnius Maecenas ( 13 April 68 BC – 8 BC) was a friend and political advisor to Octavian (who later reigned as emperor Augustus). He was also an important patron for the new generation of Augustan poets, including both Horace and Virgil. ...

, the prominent adviser and friend of Augustus and patron of the arts, while his half-brother, Gaius Proculeius, was an intimate friend of

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

during his rise to power. Augustus dispatched Murena to lead an expedition against the Salassi tribe of the

Aosta Valley The Aosta Valley ( ; ; ; or ), officially the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, is a mountainous Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Fr ...

region in the northwestern

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

in 25 BC. The Salassi had proved troublesome to Roman armies using the Great St Bernard pass, which, as the shortest route from Italy to the Upper

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

river, had become strategically vital to the Romans since the completion of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

's conquest of Gaul in 51 BC. The Salassi were utterly defeated and, according to

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

, Murena deported and sold into slavery 44,000 tribespeople. According to

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

, he sold only males of military age and only for an indenture-term of 20 years. In 24 BC, Murena established a Roman colony of 3,000 settlers in the heart of Salassi country - ''Augusta Praetoria Salassorum'' (

Aosta Aosta ( , , ; ; , or ; or ) is the principal city of the Aosta Valley, a bilingual Regions of Italy, region in the Italy, Italian Alps, north-northwest of Turin. It is situated near the Italian entrance of the Mont Blanc Tunnel and the G ...

, Italy). Murena was nominated to be

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

, with Augustus, for the year 23 BC, but died shortly before his term in office began. His replacement was Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso. Shortly after Murena's death, his brother by adoption, Lucius Licinius Varro Murena, was accused of conspiring with Fannius Caepio against Augustus. Clifford Ando, ''Imperial ideology and provincial loyalty in the Roman Empire'', pg. 14
140
/ref>

Sources

Ancient

Dio Cassius Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

''Roman History'' (c. 130 AD) *

Geographica The ''Geographica'' (, ''Geōgraphiká''; or , "Strabo's 17 Books on Geographical Topics") or ''Geography'', is an encyclopedia of geographical knowledge, consisting of 17 'books', written in Greek in the late 1st century BC, or early 1st cen ...

'' (c. 10 AD)

Modern

* Ando, Clifford, ''Imperial ideology and provincial loyalty in the Roman Empire'', University of California Press, 2000 * Davies, Mark; Swain, Hilary; Davies, Mark Everson, ''Aspects of Roman history, 82 BC-AD 14: a source-based approach'', Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2010 * Raaflaub, Kurt A.; Toher, Mark, ''Between republic and empire: interpretations of Augustus and his principate'', University of California Press, 1993 * Smith's Dictionary of Roman Biography and Mythology (1873) * Swan, Michael, ''The Consular Fasti of 23 B.C. and the Conspiracy of Varro Murena'', Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Volume 71, pgs. 235 – 247, Harvard University Press, 1967 * Syme, Ronald, ''The Roman Revolution'', Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1939 * Wells, Colin Michael, ''The Roman Empire'', Harvard University Press, 2004

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Terentius Varro Murena, Aulus 24 BC deaths 1st-century BC Roman augurs 1st-century BC Roman generals Licinii Varro Murena, Aulus Year of birth unknown