Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso

Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso (ca. 44 BC/43 BC - 20 AD), Roman statesman, was consul in 7 BC; subsequently, he was governor of Hispania and proconsul of Africa.

In AD 17 Tiberius appointed him governor of Syria (with an army of 4 legions). Some Roman sources of the period suggest that Tiberius gave Piso secret instructions to thwart and control Germanicus, 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 for Piso and his wife. Piso committed suicide, though it was rumoured that Tiberius, fearing incriminating disclosures, had put him to death. Tiberius and his mother Livia were able to avoid incrimination of his wife Plancina.

Piso in fiction

He was played by Stratford Johns in the BBC TV serial "I, Claudius".

References

* Tacitus, Annals, Books 1-3
* R. Syme, The Augustan Aristocracy. Oxford University Press 1986.
*1911

External links

* [http://virtualreligion.net/iho/piso.html Calpurnius Piso] entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith
* [http://ancientrome.ru/ius/library/sencons/piso.html Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone patre] - recently discovered decree of the senate summarizing the results of Piso's trial (in Latin)