Gaius Rabirius Postumus was a Roman banker. He is notable for having been defended by

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

(54 BC) in the extant speech ''Pro Rabirio Postumo'', when charged with extortion in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and complicity with Aulus Gabinius. Rabirius was a member of the

equites The (; , though sometimes referred to as " knights" in English) constituted the second of the property/social-based classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the senatorial class. A member of the equestrian order was known as an (). Descript ...

order who lent a very large sum of money to

Ptolemy XII Auletes Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysus ( – 51 BC) was a king of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, Egypt who ruled from 80 to 58 BC and then again from 55 BC until his death in 51 BC. He was commonly known as Auletes (, "the Flautist"), referring to ...

, king of

. Afterwards, Auletes, in lieu of repaying the money, appointed Rabirius as his finance minister ( dioiketes) and gave him license to recoup his debts by collecting taxes from the Egyptian subjects. After one year, the Alexandrian people, exasperated by Rabirius' exactions, rioted, and Auletes had Rabirius imprisoned. The latter escaped to Rome, where he was accused by the Senate of Rome. He was defended by

and acquitted on a technicality.

References

*Marcus Tullius Cicero ''Cicero's Speech Pro Rabirio Postumo.'' Oxford University Press, 2001

External links

''Pro C. Rabirio Postumo'', English translation
at ''attalus.org'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Rabirius Postumus, Gaius Ancient Roman equites 1st-century BC Romans Rabirii

See also

References

External links