Lucius Arruntius was a Roman admiral. He saw action during the War with

Sextus Pompeius Sextus Pompeius Magnus Pius ( 67 – 35 BC), also known in English as Sextus Pompey, was a Roman military leader who, throughout his life, upheld the cause of his father, Pompey the Great, against Julius Caesar and his supporters during the la ...

, and the war of

Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman people, Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the Crisis of the Roman Republic, transformation of the Roman Republic ...

and Octavian (later named

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 ...

). He is most notable for his participation during the

Battle of Actium The Battle of Actium was a naval battle fought between Octavian's maritime fleet, led by Marcus Agrippa, and the combined fleets of both Mark Antony and Cleopatra. The battle took place on 2 September 31 BC in the Ionian Sea, near the former R ...

, where he was in command of victorious Augustus' central division. He was also instrumental in convincing Octavian to pardon Gaius Sosius, one of Mark Antony's generals, after his capture. Arruntius was consul in 22 BC as the colleague of Marcus Claudius Marcellus Aeserninus.

Life

Arruntius came of an opulent family at the Volscian city of Atina. His wealth made him a target in the proscriptions of the

Second Triumvirate The Second Triumvirate was an extraordinary commission and magistracy created at the end of the Roman republic for Mark Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian to give them practically absolute power. It was formally constituted by law on 27 November ...

, which he evaded by arming his '' clientes'' and slaves then fighting his way to the Italian coast, from whence he sailed to join the forces of Sextus Pompeius. At some point after the

Pact of Misenum The Pact of Misenum was a treaty to end the naval blockade of the Italian Peninsula during the war between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey. Signed in 39 BC, the triumvirs allowed Sextus Pompeius to retain his control of Sicily and S ...

was concluded in 39 BC, Arruntius was one of several Pompeians who switched sides and became a supporter of Octavian. Martha Hoffman Lewis included Arruntius among those elevated to patrician status in 29 BC. He attended the Ludi Saeculares in 17 BC according to an inscription as a '' quindecimviri sacris faciundis''. According to Gaius Stern, he appears on the Ara Pacis within the

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

of the ''quindecimviri sacris faciundis''. A Lucius Arruntius is also mentioned in Seneca's ''

Epistulae morales ad Lucilium ' (Latin for "Moral Letters to Lucilius"), also known as the ''Moral Epistles'' and ''Letters from a Stoic'', is a letter collection of 124 letters that Seneca the Younger wrote at the end of his life, during his retirement, after he had worked ...

'' as an imitator of

Sallust Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (, ; –35 BC), was a historian and politician of the Roman Republic from a plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became a partisan of Julius ...

ius' literary style and as the author of a historical work on the

Punic War The Punic Wars were a series of wars fought between the Roman Republic and the Carthaginian Empire during the period 264 to 146BC. Three such wars took place, involving a total of forty-three years of warfare on both land and sea across the w ...

.''Epistulae morales'', 114.17 This could either be the Arruntius mentioned above or his son.

Family

He had a son, Lucius Arruntius, consul AD 6, who played a prominent role in the Senate after Augustus died.

Notes

Sources

* Hoyos, B. (1989). A Forgotten Roman Historian: L. Arruntius and the ‘True’ Causes of the First Punic War. Antichthon, 23, 51–66. doi:10.1017/S0066477400003683 * Martha Hoffman Lewis, ''The Official Priests of Rome under the Julio-Claudians. A Study of the Nobility from 44 B.C. to 68 A.D.'', Rome 1955. * Gaius Stern, ''Women Children and Senators on the Ara Pacis Augustae'', University of California Berkeley dissertation 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Arruntius, Lucius (consul 732 AUC) 1st-century BC Romans Roman Republican admirals Lucius (consul 732 AUC) Arruntius, Lucius (732 AUC) Year of birth uncertain 1st-century BC Roman consuls People of the War of Actium