Lusius Quietus

Lusius Quietus was a Roman general and governor of Iudaea in 117.

Life

Originally a Berber ["Lusius Quietus was a Moor, himself a leader of the Moors", Cassius Dio, "Dio's Rome", Kessinger Publishing, 2004, v.5, p.117] prince, Lusius Quietus was the son of a tribal lord from unconquered Morocco. Lusius' father and his warriors had supported the Roman legions in their attempt to subdue Mauretania Tingitana (northern Morocco) during Aedemon's revolt in 46. This useful ally, on a notoriously difficult frontier, was honoured with the gift of Roman citizenship. Lusius served as an auxiliary officer in the Roman cavalry, recruiting from free tribes of Morocco. Emperor Domitian rewarded him with equestrian rank but later dismissed him for insubordination. Since practically every officer of calibre had been mistreated by this paranoid ruler this commended rather than harmed Lusius in the eyes of his brother officers. In due course it was one of these, a legionary commander from Hispania Baetica called Trajan, who occupied the throne. Lusius served as Trajan's cavalry commander during the tough Dacian campaigns (his barehead Berber cavalry can be seen on Trajan's column in Rome). He was made a senator, a governor of Iudaea Province and even appointed consul. The high profile of cavalry in the war against Parthia further strengthened his standing, while a brilliant rearguard action, which saved the whole army from destruction, made Lusius the darling of the legions. According to Heinrich Graetz, only the quick action of Hadrian, supported by Trajan's widow, prevented Lucius being acclamed emperor on the death of Trajan [Histoire des Juifs, Troisième période, I - Chapitre III - Soulèvement des Judéens sous Trajan et Adrien] . Hadrian had the infantry under Lusius' command quietly disarmed, but the North African cavalry proudly refused to surrender their arms and abandon their heroic commander. They had to be slaughtered to a man before Hadrian was in position to order the execution of his rival. Lusius was clearly an exceptional general, and although it seems unlikely that he would have made a better ruler than Hadrian, the wisdom of the Roman meritocracy is abundantly clear.

Kitos War

During the emperor's Parthian campaign the numerous Jewish inhabitants of Babylonia revolted, and were relentlessly suppressed by Quietus, who was rewarded by being appointed governor of Iudaea, also shocked by revolts. In consequence of this war, the Rabbis forbade the garlanding of brides on their wedding-day and the study of Greek literature (the latter prohibition probably being intended to cause a rupture with the Jews of the diaspora in Cyprus, Cyrene, and Egypt, with whom the rebellion had really originated). The confused Talmudic accounts imply that a cruel persecution took place under Quietus which exposed Jewish virgins to dishonor, while the "Hegemon" with whom R. Gamaliel came into official relations was the governor of Judea himself. Talmudic tradition relates further that the Roman general who caused the Jews such misery at this time was suddenly executed. The sources, indeed, appear to indicate Marcius Turbo as this general, but they more probably refer to Quietus, and the tradition contains a reminiscence of the fact that Lusius Quietus was recalled by Hadrian and executed shortly afterward as a possible rival. An inscription found in Palestine seems originally to have contained the name Quietus, which was perhaps later erased at the command of Hadrian.

African Connection

Quietus has been cited in Pan-African, and afrocentric literature as being a "black Roman". The basis for this is the fallacy that "all" Africans were black; however evidence suggests that Mauretania was in fact a Berber, as opposed to a sub-Saharan African, kingdom. In turn the name Lusius shares some resemblance to the name Lusus, legendary founder of Lusitania.

Bibliography

*Bartolomeo Borghesi, "Œuvres", i. 500;
*Heinrich Graetz, "Geschichte". 3d ed., iv. 116 et seq., 407 et seq.;
*Emil Schürer, "Geschichte" 3d ed., i. 617, 666-670;
*"Prosopographia Imperii Romani", ii. 308, No. 325;
*Adolf von Schlatter, "Die Tage Trajans und Hadrians", p. 90, (Gütersloh, 1897.)
* Michael Brett and Elisabeth Fentress. "The Berbers" p54-55. Blackwell, 1996. ISBN 978-0631207672

ee also

* Roman Prefects and Procurators of Iudaea Province, 6-132 AD

References

*JewishEncyclopedia