Lucius Marcius Philippus (consul 38 BC)
Roman politician
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Lucius Marcius Philippus was a Roman politician who was elected suffect consul in 38 BC. He was step-brother to the future emperor Augustus, as well as his uncle (his wife's sister was Atia Balba, mother of Augustus).
Lucius Caninius Gallus
Unknown
Lucius Marcius Philippus | |
|---|---|
Silver denarius struck by Lucius Marcius Philippus, c. 56 BC. | |
| Suffect Consul of the Roman Republic | |
| In office 38 BC – 38 BC | |
| Preceded by | Appius Claudius Pulcher Gaius Norbanus Flaccus |
| Succeeded by | Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Lucius Caninius Gallus |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Lucius Marcius Philippus Unknown |
| Spouse | Atia |
| Children | Marcia |
| Parents |
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Life
PHILIPPVS
A-Q-V-A-(MAR)A member of the plebeian branch of the Marcia family, Philippus was the son of Lucius Marcius Philippus, the consul of 56 BC.[1] By 50 BC, he had possibly become an Augur, one of the priests of ancient Rome.[2] In 49 BC he was elected as Plebeian Tribune, where he vetoed the proposal to send Faustus Sulla, Pompey’s son-in-law, as propraetor to Mauretania, to persuade kings Bocchus II and Bogud to side with Pompey and abandon Julius Caesar.[3] In 44 BC he was elected praetor, and although he was granted a province to administer after his term had finished, he refused to accept the validity of the allotment of provinces agreed to in a Senate meeting of November 28, 44 BC.[4]
With his father's marriage to Atia, he became step-brother to Gaius Octavius, Julius Caesar's heir. His father used his influence to help Philippus to obtain the consulate as one of the suffect consuls of 38 BC; nevertheless, during his consulate Philippus did not declare himself openly for his step-brother in his rivalry with Mark Antony.[5] By 35 BC, he was appointed the proconsular governor of one of the two provinces of Hispania.[6] After serving there for two years, he returned to Rome, where he was awarded a triumph which he celebrated on April 27, 33 BC for his actions while governor.[7] With the spoils of his victories, he restored the Temple of Hercules Musarum in the Portico of Octavius, thereafter known as the Portico of Philippus (Porticus Philippi).[8] Augustus restored the adjacent Portico of Metellus, rededicating it as the Portico of Octavia.
Philippus did not appear to have any living sons to succeed him.[9] Philippus married Atia, daughter of Julia Minor and Marcus Atius Balbus and maternal aunt of Augustus.[10][11] They had a daughter, Marcia, who later married Paullus Fabius Maximus. Marcia had one son and possibly one daughter: Paullus Fabius Persicus and Fabia Numantina, who may have been the daughter of Maximus's brother Africanus Fabius Maximus.