Chapter 5

Travels and Tribulations in the Orient

17–10 October 19 CE

Triumph and Treachery in Rome

Germanicus would have to wait a while for the promised second consulship. He did not sit idly, however, during his time in Rome. He continued to offer his services as a popular advocate in court, in the process enhancing his reputation for personal integrity and fiery oratory.¹ To his religious duties as augur and Arval Brother was added the new post of flamen divorum Augustalis, a new priesthood of the imperial house, honouring the divine Augustus.² 17 CE was the inaugural year for the cult priesthood and, being a lifetime position, it publicly demonstrated the high esteem in which Tiberius held his adopted son. These cults traced their origin back to the centuries-old tradition of ancestor worship – the di parentes – celebrated both at home and in public over nine days from the Ides of February.³ The cult followed the model established several years before for the Divine Iulius, whose current priest was Sex. Apuleius. The new priesthood and its rites established for Augustus elevated his status, and, by reason of his adoption by him, also that of Tiberius. The appointment of Germanicus as flamen divorum carried with it great prestige. During the ceremonial rites, Germanicus would don the apex, the distinctive spiked cap worn by the flamen.

Among his many public duties, Germanicus consecrated a Temple to Spes, the personification of hope, which had been erected in fulfillment of a vow made during the Punic Wars by A. Atilius.⁴ Many of the temples in Rome had been built by grateful and victorious generals returning from war centuries before, but their upkeep was often neglected by future generations. The Temple of Hope was one of several sacred buildings that were refurbished under Tiberius, owing to their old age or damage caused by destructive floods and fires.⁵ The restorations not only beautified the city, but publicly proclaimed Tiberius’ piety to the gods and his commitment to maintaining their good favour.

The series of ancient religious festivals and sacred rites gave the Roman calendar its distinct shape and peculiar character. In celebration of the days and months of the Roman year and the astronomical influences and popular traditions underpinning them, Ovid was busily composing his elegiac poem, the Fasti. Each book of the epic poem describes a month and the origins and customs, by day. There is a hint in his writings that he finished it in its entirety, but only six books have survived to the present day, covering January through June.⁶ Originally dedicated to Augustus, Ovid changed it in favour of his adoptive grandson, opening his poem with the self-deprecating personal appeal:

Receive, Caesar Germanicus, this work with benign aspect, and direct the course of my timid bark; and not disdaining a mark of attention thus slight, be propitious to this act of duty consecrated to you.⁷

Whether Germanicus ever read the poem dedicated to him is not known. As a translator of the Aratus, the work would have had obvious appeal. Ovid, by now exiled in Tomis on the shore of the Black Sea, saw Germanicus as a kindred spirit – an educated and cultured man – but, most importantly, as someone who could help improve his lot in life. In Scythia Minor, hardly anyone spoke Latin and brutal barbarian tongues predominated. The Fasti was one of several works in which the isolated Roman lauded the young Caesar, in the hope that he might bring his influence upon the emperor and advocate for the repeal of his banishment. The connection with his tutor Salanus might imply that he was at least known to him, but, even if he was an acquaintance, Germanicus probably did not know Ovid intimately. His grandfather’s reasons for punishing Ovid with exile in 8 CE are still unclear – he never explicitly says why, in any of his writings – and Tiberius made no attempt to repeal the sentence after his predecessor’s death in 14 CE.⁸ Ovid had long since become a persona non grata in Rome. His appeals to his friends were all in vain.⁹ Far from his beloved Rome, his imagination conjured up life in the city, and it is through his writings that we are able to visualize the great celebratory event of Germanicus’ life.

On 26 May 17 CE, the long-anticipated triumph of Germanicus Caesar finally took place.¹⁰ Rome was abuzz with anticipation to see its young and dashing hero in his ‘brilliant triumph’.¹¹ It was advertised as a celebration of ‘his triumph over the Cherusci, Chatti, and Angrivarii, and the other tribes which extend as far as the Elbe’.¹² In exile, Ovid was stirred into describing the joyful day, imagining the Palatinus Hill as ‘decorated with wreaths, and the frankincense is crackling in the blaze, and by its smoke is obscuring the day’.¹³ Cheering crowds thronged the processional route from the Campus Martius, outside the walls on a plain north-west of the city, to the Forum Romanum. Germanicus rode in a glittering gilded four-horse chariot (inaurati carrus) decorated with ornately carved winged victories and a laurel wreath. As triumphator, he wore the purple dyed toga purpurea, or toga picta, which is known from representations on coins to have been a gown elaborately embroidered – probably with thread wrapped in gold – with borders, tendrils and curlicues over a tunica palmata, so named because it was adorned with a palm leaf, the traditional symbol of a victor (fig. 7).¹⁴ According to ancient tradition, his face, and possibly his entire body, was daubed a deep red colour with cinnabar or red lead.¹⁵ Holding the reins of the four horses draped in garlands in one hand, and a sceptre surmounted with an eagle in the other, Germanicus stood proudly in the two-wheeled chariot.¹⁶ As it moved at a sedate pace, a public slave or a chosen companion held a laurel wreath over his head, uttering the words respice post te! Hominem te memento! (‘Look behind you! Remember that you are a man!’). It had become customary for members of the family of the triumphant commander to stand with him in the chariot or ride on horseback alongside. ‘The admiration of the beholders’, writes Tacitus, ‘was heightened by the striking comeliness of the general and the chariot which bore his five children’ – Nero, Drusus, Caius, Iulia and Drusilla.¹⁷ Velleius Paterculus remarked how well ‘the magnificence of his triumph corresponded to the grandeur of his exploits’ – in part, a tribute to Tiberius’ generosity.¹⁸

Figure 7. Germanicus shown celebrating his triumph on 26 May 17 CE, riding in the triumphator’s chariot (obverse) and holding one of the recovered legionary standards lost by Varus (reverse). Drawn by the author.

Behind Germanicus and his young guests marched the men of the legions who had fought for him and endured hardships during three years of the Bellum Germanicum. This was their moment of celebration, too. Held high were the two eagle standards of the legions lost at Teutoburg and recovered by Germanicus. Behind them rolled a long procession of floats and wagons, piled high with magnificent war trophies. ‘There were borne in procession spoils, prisoners, and representations of the mountains, rivers and battles’, conveniently described on placards, carried aloft on poles so that they could be read by the crowd, all to the lively accompaniment of horns and flutes, while soldiers sang bawdy victory songs.¹⁹

Paraded prominently among the exhibits of this spectacle were the captives from the myriad nations of Germania, a veritable roll call of V.I.P.s of barbaricum,

amongst whom were Segimundus, the son of Segestes, the chief of the Cherusci, and his sister, named Thusnelda, the wife of Armenius, who led the Cherusci when they treacherously attacked Quintilius Varus, and even to this day continues the war; likewise his son Thumelicus, a boy three years old, as also Sesithacus, the son of Segimerus, chief of the Cherusci, and his wife Rhamis, the daughter of Ucromirus, chief of the Chatti, and Deudorix, the son of Baetorix, the brother of Melo, of the nation of the Sicambri; … There was also led in triumph Libes the priest of the Chatti, and many other prisoners of the various vanquished nations, the Cathylci and the Ampsani, the Bructeri, the Usipi, the Cherusci, the Chatti, the Chattuarii, the Landi, the Tubattii.²⁰

Segestes – the father-in-law of Arminius and now seemingly an isolated figure – had a privileged view of the entire event, ‘he being held in honour by the Romans’, wrote Strabo. Ovid imagines the humiliating scene, contrasting the exhibited and the spectator:

the countenances of some changed with their fortunes, those of others still firm, and forgetful of their condition. Some of them will be enquiring the reasons, and the circumstances, and their names: some will be telling, although they know little about it.²¹

Who among the cheering onlookers cared who these conquered barbarians were, anyway? This was Germanicus’ victory day. The day was made all the sweeter by a gift of 300 sestertii to every plebeian from the purse of Tiberius Caesar.²²

The grand procession wound its way along the route of the ancient cobbled Via Sacra, through the monumental Forum Romanum, passing the Temple of Iulius Caesar, the Rostra and Senate House, before taking a sharp left turn at the Golden Milestone towards the Temple of Saturn. A narrow street zigzagged up the Capitolinus to the Temple of Iupiter Optimus Maximus. There, Germanicus and his children descended from the chariot. A blood sacrifice and prayers were offered. Imagining the event, the exiled poet wrote, ‘the white victim, struck on its neck with the planted axe, is dying the ground with its crimson blood’, in fulfilment of vows made by Rome’s leaders to the nation’s friendly gods to bring them victory.²³ Curls of smoke, spiked with fragrant incense crackled in the fires at the temples, rose skyward. The smell of sizzling choice cuts of meat and offal soon filled the air. In the closing moments of this religious rite, ‘the war, seeing that he had been forbidden to finish it, was taken as finished’.²⁴ ‘By this fierce Germany’, sang Ovid, ‘like the rest of the world, you may have bent the knee to the Caesars’.²⁵ The message for public consumption was ‘mission accomplished’:

There was peace: and the occasion of your triumph, Germanicus, The Rhine had now surrendered to you its subservient streams.²⁶

At the age of 32, Germanicus’ curriculum vitae was a veritable list of all the important magistracies and religious positions in the Roman state, and he was the most popular man in the Empire to boot. Publicly, he was being presented as a key figure in the ruling triad with Tiberius and Drusus, not just in Rome, but in the provinces, too. On the coast of western Gaul at Mediolanum Santonum (Saintes), a double arch was dedicated on 1 January 18 CE, surmounted by an equestrian statue of Tiberius flanked by effigies of his ‘co-regents’, Germanicus and Drusus, both on foot (plate27).²⁷ The question now being asked was what to do with Germanicus. Tacitus presents a somewhat cynical view of Tiberius’ response:

Failing to obtain credit for sincere affection, he resolved to get the young prince out of the way, under pretence of conferring distinction, and for this he invented reasons, or eagerly fastened on such as chance presented.²⁸

Tiberius was, above all else, a pragmatist, and he needed to deploy Germanicus’ talents where they could best serve the interests of the nation. The East provided him with just the place to invest his deputy’s skills and intellect. Suetonius asserts that the objective of Germanicus’ new assignment was to ‘restore order in the Orient’, while Josephus explains the mission as to ‘settle the affairs of the East’.²⁹

The first trouble spot was Rome’s arch-nemesis, Parthia. Two years earlier, the Parthians had expelled their king, Vonones, who was the eldest son of Frahâta IV.³⁰ The Parthians saw him as too Roman. In his youth, he had been handed over to Augustus by Frahâta as a hostage along with his three brothers under the terms of a peace treaty.³¹ When Frahâta died, civil war broke out and, at the request of a deputation of nobles from Parthia, Vonones set off from Rome to take the throne.³² While he travelled east, first Tigranes IV, and then the woman Erato, reigned briefly.³³ In 16 CE, Vonones finally arrived in the capital, Ctesiphon. Tired of years of instability, the reaction of the local people to their new king was initially warm; but then a sense of resentment grew at having been forced to accept a regent, in effect, chosen by their enemy, and during whose exile he had adopted foreign ways. Vonones did not help his own cause by seeming to disdain Parthian traditions – in particular, hunting, preferring to be carried about in a litter and attended to by his Greek staff – and scorning nationally cherished festivals while touring the country.

The Parthians were wrong to think that their chief Roman adversary approved of their new king. Tiberius never officially recognized Vonones as ruler of Parthia. Indeed, his governor of Syria, Q. Caecilius Metellus Creticus Silanus, fretted about the possibility that he might be dragged into an unwanted war with Parthia, in order to defend Vonones’ right to rule there.³⁴ The Parthian nobles secretly turned to a member of the royal Arsacid family to oust the unpopular incumbent. His name was Artabanus. He was a young man who had grown up among the Scythian tribe of the Dahae, and yet was seen as a better embodiment of Parthian ways – or, at least he was not tainted by Roman ways. The rebels rallied around Artabanus, providing him with troops. At the first engagement, Vonones’ army defeated his rival, but, in the second encounter, he won, and he was crowned Artabanus II.³⁵ Hoping to keep him under surveillance in Syria lest he cause trouble, Silanus promptly sent for Vonones, though he let him keep his royal title and the pomp that went with it.³⁶ Like a wild bird kept in a cage, Vonones would never accept his captivity, no matter how comfortable. He staged a daring escape and fled to Armenia.

Crisis brewed in neighbouring Cappadocia, Cilicia and Commagene, too. The rugged mountainous kingdom of Cappadocia had been ruled for the past fifty years by Archelaus Sisinnes.³⁷ He was now old and infirm, and he had a history with Tiberius – and not a good one. In 25 BCE, Tiberius had represented the king in court, but, during his self-imposed exile in Rhodes, the regent had failed to show the son of Livia the required respect. Members of the household of Augustus, eager to talk up Caius Caesar’s rising prospects, counselled the king to be wary of the princeps’ disgraced stepson. Now Tiberius was princeps and he remembered clearly the way the old king had disrespected him: it was payback time.³⁸ Livia summoned Archelaus to Rome and, in the letter she sent to him, urged him to show humility. In return, she promised he could expect leniency from her son. On his arrival, however, the old king was received coldly and summarily arraigned before the Senate on what Tacitus describes as charges ‘fabricated against him’.³⁹Cassius Dio elaborates on the story, telling us that Archelaus was suffering with dementia and gout and had to be brought to the Senate House in a litter, from which he occasionally leaned out to address the conscript fathers.⁴⁰ If found guilty, the penalty was death. In the event, he was spared, but, shamed by his treatment or just from the anxiety brought on by the legal process, the poor man died shortly afterwards, some said by taking his own life.⁴¹ Cappadocia was reduced to a province of the empire in the care of an equestrian governor.⁴² Mazaca, the principal city of Cappadocia, was renamed Caesarea in Tiberius’ honour.⁴³ With the accretive revenue stream brought by the new province, Tiberius announced that he would reduce the tax levied on the sale of goods, then at 1 per cent, to precisely half that amount.

South and east of Cappadocia respectively, the kingdoms of Cilicia and Commagene also saw trouble. Cilicia was a cleft country, divided into highland peoples, who lived in the Isaurian Mountains partly by banditry, and settled communities living peacefully in the plain below.⁴⁴ By an unfortunate coincidence, both Philopator II of Cilicia and Antiochus III of Commagene had recently died. The élite classes there saw a chance to advance their own status and wealth by seeking Roman intervention, but the common people were still loyal to the old dynasties and wanted their new rulers to come from the same trusted royal families.⁴⁵ If that was not enough, the Roman provinces of Iudaea (under procurator Valerius Gratus) and Syria (now rid of Creticus Silanus), ‘exhausted by their burdens, implored a reduction of their tribute’.⁴⁶

Bringing stability to the region called for a firm and, particularly important for Tiberius, a loyal pair of hands. Those belonged to his adopted son:

Tiberius accordingly discussed these matters and the affairs of Armenia, which I have already related, before the Senate. ‘The commotions in the East’, he said, ‘could be quieted only by the wisdom of Germanicus; his own life was on the decline, and Drusus had not yet reached his maturity.’ Thereupon, by a decree of the Senate, the provinces beyond the sea were entrusted to Germanicus, with greater powers wherever he went than were given to those who obtained their provinces by lot or by the emperor’s appointment.⁴⁷

It was another example of Tiberius replicating tried and tested policy established by his forebear. Just as Augustus had first sent his son-in-law M. Vipsanius Agrippa to Syria as Orienti praepositus – commander or overseer of the East – in 23 BCE, and then C. Caesar twenty-two years later, so now Tiberius dispatched his adopted son with imperium proconsulare to the same region of the Roman world.⁴⁸ Germanicus was clearly being sent to get an important job done with the full confidence of the princeps and Senate. Velleius Paterculus praised Tiberius for making the appointment, exclaiming ‘in what an honourable style did he send his Germanicus to the transmarine provinces!’⁴⁹ In contrast, with his slanted editorial bias, Tacitus reads sinister motives into Tiberius’ choice:

The commotion in the East was rather pleasing to Tiberius, as it was a pretext for withdrawing Germanicus from the legions which knew him well, and placing him over new provinces where he would be exposed both to treachery and to disasters.⁵⁰

Studying the statement closely, it seems a dubious claim for Tacitus to make. Germanicus was no stranger to difficult situations. He was parting from the company of the commanders and troops of eight legions along the German frontier, whose loyalty he had earned, but he had once had to win over these men, and risked his own life in putting down the mutiny of 14 CE. In the transfer to the East, he was assuming responsibility for fewer legions – four in Syria and two in Aegyptus – but the greater geographic area with its affluent populations and the strategic importance of the frontier region suggest that his new appointment was clearly a promotion.⁵¹ His reputation for courage and fairness would go before him, so he was more likely than not to be warmly received on arrival, by military and civilian officials alike. Moreover, while any incoming new commander had to establish his credibility with the men reporting to him, his legal power ensured that he would be obeyed. Under the army reforms of Augustus, when Roman troops took thesacramentum militiae on enlistment, they swore ‘to follow the commanders to whatever wars they may be called, and neither desert the signa nor shrink from death on behalf of the res publica’.⁵² To fail to uphold the oath was mutiny, and Germanicus had already proved he could face one down. Additionally, for the safety of his own person and of his family, Germanicus would take with him his complement of twelve lictors and possibly an allocation of units of the Cohors Praetoria from Italia.⁵³

Suetonius also describes Germanicus’ departure for the East as expulsus, meaning ‘hurried’ or ‘sudden’.⁵⁴ This seems an unnecessarily dark interpretation. The nature and speed of Germanicus’ appointment was probably not due to any animosity or odium on Tiberius’ part. Firstly, it was in response to the urgency of the perceived deteriorating state of affairs in the region, which appeared to grow more perilous by the day. Germanicus was unquestionably the best man available to carry out the complex mission of restoring order in the Orient, and a man who had proven his unswerving loyalty to the princeps, despite multiple temptations to act otherwise. Secondly, the sooner he left for the East, the better: the hazards of travel could delay an official on business from reaching his destination, and Tiberius had already made it clear that his deputies had to be en routeto their assignments by June at the latest.⁵⁵

The occasion of Germanicus’ appointment as special envoy to the East may have been the reason for creating the so-called Grand Camée de France (Gemma Tiberiana, plate 24), an extraordinary engraved five-layered sardonyx cameo, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.⁵⁶ Scholars have long debated the significance of the symbolic imagery on the gem – the largest cameo to survive from the ancient world.⁵⁷ Many believe that it depicts the central figure of the enthroned Tiberius, bidding farewell to Germanicus, shown in the panoply of a military commander, as he takes up his new mission. Standing behind Germanicus are Agrippina and Caligula, depicted in a child-size cuirass, pteryges, paludamentum and greaves. Who commissioned it is also not known, but the quality of the piece and the likely high cost of its manufacture suggest someone very important.

Yet there was a potentially unsettling development. At the same time as Germanicus was due to head east, Tiberius also recalled Silanus to Rome. The vacancy in the governor’s office in Syria was filled by Cn. Calpurnius Piso.⁵⁸ The character of this man could not have been more different from Germanicus’. Tacitus describes him as ‘a man of violent temper, without an idea of obedience, with indeed a natural arrogance’.⁵⁹ He came from a patrician family with a known streak of independence and a propensity for superciliousness. During the civil war which followed Iulius Caesar’s assassination, Piso’s father sided with Brutus and Cassius. When the last of the conspirators had been dispatched, Piso refused to grovel before the victorious Triumvirate and did not pursue political advancement. Only when Augustus offered him a consulship, did he accept it. His son Cnaeus followed suit and felt he was at least the equal of Tiberius. He looked down on the princeps’ children – which included Germanicus – as ranking far beneath him. As propraetor of Syria, Piso would report to Germanicus. It was an awkward arrangement for Germanicus, but Piso had important family connections. He had married the wealthy Plancina, herself of strong character, but, importantly, she was a personal friend of Livia, Germanicus’ grandmother.

Alternative explanations for the choice of propraetor are that Germanicus was being tested; that it was a safeguard, intended to limit Germanicus’ ambitions; or that Tiberius was punishing his adopted son. The long-established family connection between Piso and the imperial family carried great weight. Augustus looked after his friends, but expected loyalty in return. It was an approach Tiberius continued. Tiberius would later state that Piso ‘was my father’s representative and friend, and was appointed by myself on the advice of the Senate, to assist Germanicus in the administration of the East’.⁶⁰ Nevertheless, the choice of deputy ensured that the relationship would be troubled, unless handled with deftness. It might have thus been intended as a test of Germanicus’ character: he would have to prove his ability to ‘take the rough with the smooth’ and learn how to manage rivals, if he was to be Tiberius’ successor. Tacitus suggests a more overtly politically motivated reason, however. His appointment was a counterbalance to Germanicus. ‘He [Piso] thought it a certainty’, writes the historian, ‘that he had been chosen to govern Syria in order to thwart the aspirations of Germanicus’.⁶¹ Implicit in that rationale is that Tiberius still distrusted his adopted son, and saw in Piso a man who could rein him in if he became too haughty or ambitious. Perhaps the choice was driven by Tiberius’ doubting personality. He could bear a grudge over many years, but delighted in achieving the final revenge. If this interpretation holds true, by appointing Piso, he could take an impish delight, watching from afar as Germanicus wriggled and squirmed in dealing with this pompous and unpredictable patrician.⁶²

Perhaps Tiberius was jealous of his popular adopted son. There was a precedent for this. In the literature, there is a rumour that, years before, at one point in their otherwise close relationship, Tiberius hated his popular brother Drusus – Germanicus’ birth father. The story reported by Suetonius tells how Tiberius purposely disclosed a letter he had received from his brother, in which he proposed that Augustus should step down for the Republic to be restored.⁶³ If the inflammatory comments were intended to cause a rift between Drusus the Elder and his stepfather, it did not have the intended effect. While there is no other story that survives to back-up a long-harboured resentment of the older brother towards the younger, yet it is in the realms of possibility. Tiberius was a complicated man. In Germanicus, it could be said, Drusus the Elder was reborn. Not unnaturally, Tiberius would be expected to favour his own son, Drusus, for preferment, yet his deeds more often than not benefited Germanicus. Tiberius’ relationship with Drusus the Younger was not an easy one. His son’s vices and dissolute lifestyle actually exasperated him.⁶⁴ Tacitus asserts that the imperial household sensed this discord and divided into two camps: the supporters of Germanicus faced off those of Drusus.⁶⁵ Beyond Tacitus’ account, there is no other evidence to support the notion of a family divided; but a fractious, politically-charged hothouse on the Palatinus is nevertheless a possibility. Those supporting Germanicus could point to the fact that he was descended from an illustrious family-tree: his grandfather was M. Antonius, and his great-uncle was Augustus; moreover, he was married to Agrippina, the grand-daughter of Augustus. In contrast, Tiberius came from the gens Claudia through his father and gens Drusi through his mother: he had come into the gens Iulia only through adoption and by marriage to Augustus’ daughter. If Tiberius felt inferior to his adopted kin, his own son Drusus apparently did not. Tacitus frankly admits that ‘the brothers were singularly united, and were wholly unaffected by the rivalries of their kinsfolk’.⁶⁶ Indeed, it was to meet Drusus that Germanicus now headed, since it would be a while before they might have that opportunity again.

The Occidental Tourist

If Germanicus’ new appointment was swiftly decided, his journey to the East was leisurely undertaken. Long distance travel in the first century CE was dictated by the vagaries of the weather as much as the mode of transport and route taken. Rather than go by road, he chose to go by sea. The usual departure point from Italy was the seaport of Brundisium (map 11). Accompanying Germanicus was his personal staff of companions, advisors, adjutants and lictors. Between them, these men had many years of combat and administrative experience. Among them were his comes P. Vitellius, who had been with him in Germania in charge of Legiones II Augusta and XIV Gemina; quaestor P. Suillius Rufus, a man in his thirties and a former praetor; the current praetor Q. Servaeus; Cn. Sentius, one of the older men in the group; C. Silius, former legate of Germania Superior and recently a tax auditor in Tres Galliae; Q. Veranius, a former praetor; and Vibius Marsus.⁶⁷ On this trip, only six-year-old Caius went along, his older brothers and sisters probably remaining in Rome in the care of Antonia or Claudius; but another child was on the way – Agrippina was pregnant again.⁶⁸ The family boarded a sleek trireme with a complement of some 122 oarsmen and modest accommodation for guests on deck.⁶⁹

Map 11. Germanicus’Journeys in the East, 17–18 CE.

The first stop on the journey took them to Dalmatia. Drusus was residing on the coast – probably at Salona or Apollonia or Dyrrhachium – before departing to lead a new campaign in Germania.⁷⁰ Travelling the Adriatic Sea was a treacherous business. While pirates were no longer a threat, natural hazards persisted. The Italian coast had few recognizable landmarks to navigate by, or places at which to harbour, and there was a multitude of dangerous shallows.⁷¹ In the event, Germanicus’ flotilla reached the Illyrian shore without difficulties. For the moment, the brothers and their families could enjoy each other’s company in relaxed circumstances. Germanicus likely shared his insights about the lands across the Rhine and lessons he had learned about the officers and men awaiting their new commander. Livilla was probably with her husband Drusus, completing something of a family reunion. Then they exchanged farewells, and the flotilla set sail into the clear aquamarine-coloured sea, following the craggy coastline as it headed south-southeast towards the Greek peninsula.

For long distance voyages, sea captains had many choices of route, but ancient navigators tended to follow well-established shipping lanes (cursus maritimi).⁷² Currents and winds, however, dictated the ease or difficulty of sea crossings. Mediterranean currents still generally circulate anti-clockwise, while winds generally blow between north-east and north-west.⁷³ For safety, shipping in antiquity hugged the coastlines and travelled along the chain of islands populating the region, their captains mindful of the unpredictable Maestro, a wind which blows in the summer months when the pressure is low over the Balkan peninsula. At Nikopolis the travellers berthed and entered the city.⁷⁴ Here a courier caught up with the travellers and delivered the long-expected news that Germanicus had been confirmed as consul for the second time with Tiberius Caesar as his co-consul on 1 January 18 CE.⁷⁵ This was yet more public affirmation of the princeps’ confidence in Germanicus and of his position as heir presumptive.⁷⁶

The ‘City of Victory’ in Epirus was fast becoming a tourist attraction in its own right, living off its association with Augustus and panoramic view (plate 28) of the site of the Battle of Actium of 31 BCE. A description of the place as it appeared four decades before Germanicus’ visit survives in Strabo’s Geography:

Nikopolis is populous, and its numbers are increasing daily, since it has not only a considerable territory and the adornment taken from the spoils of the battle, but also, in its suburbs, the thoroughly equipped sacred precinct – one part of it being in a sacred grove that contains a gymnasium and a stadium for the celebration of the quinquennial games, the other part being on the hill that is sacred to Apollo and lies above the grove. These games – the Actia, sacred to Actian Apollo – have been designated as Olympian, and they are superintended by the Lacedaemonians. The other settlements are dependencies of Nikopolis. In earlier times, also the Actian Games were wont to be celebrated in honour of the god by the inhabitants of the surrounding country – games in which the prize was a wreath – but at the present time they have been set in greater honour by Caesar.⁷⁷

The raison d’être of the city was the Actian War monument. Strabo describes it:

Near the mouth [of the Gulf of Ambracia] is the sacred precinct of Actian Apollo – a hill on which the temple stands; and at the foot of the hill is a plain which contains a sacred grove and a naval station, the naval station where Caesar dedicated, as first fruits of his victory, the squadron of ten ships – from vessel with single bank of oars to vessel with ten; however, not only the boats, it is said, but also the boat-houses have been wiped out by fire.⁷⁸

Modern archaeology has located the victory complex built just two years after the epoch-making battle. Situated below a three-sided covered portico erected on the site of Octavianus’ camp, it took the form of a monumental wall displaying the cast bronze beaks from the ships captured from M. Antonius and Kleopatra and consecrated to Mars and Neptune.⁷⁹ Perhaps while he was there, Germanicus paused to view the bronze statues of the ass named Nikon and its driver called Eutychus, which the victor of Actium had erected in memory of an encounter with them before the battle, and had since become a draw for tourists.⁸⁰

The visit concluded, Germanicus’ ships set off again on the next leg of the journey. It would be prematurely short. A storm suddenly blew up in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Epirus and several ships were damaged during it – sufficiently seriously that the travellers had to pull in to shore to make repairs. These would take several days to complete. Taking the unexpected opportunity for some additional sightseeing, Germanicus set off for Cape Aktion at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf to view the actual site of the famous Battle of Actium for himself. The place had a special meaning for the young commander. Here, almost a half century before, his grandfather Antonius had clashed with his adoptive grandfather Augustus: it made quite an impression on Germanicus. A man who appreciated history and was gifted with an artist’s eye, ‘vivid images of disaster and success rose before him on the spot’.⁸¹

With repairs completed and taking advantage of better weather, the flotilla departed once again. By mid-summer Germanicus reached the western Peloponnese. His party headed inland to Olympia on the Alfeios River. Athletic competitions had been held there in honour of Zeus, according to tradition, since 776 BCE and 17 CE was the year of the 199th Olympiad. A limestone block, perhaps of pedestal for a statue, erected by M. Antonius Peisanus, attests to Germanicus Caesar as having entered a race of chariots (tethrippon) drawn by four fully grown horses.⁸² It is not clear if he drove the chariot himself or had a professional driver represent him. Races were held in the hippodrome and required charioteers to successfully complete twelve laps, a distance of 72 stadia or 13,167 metres (43,200 feet). Driving the stripped down two-wheeled racing cart – based on the war chariot of earlier times – required strength, skill, agility and courage. Crashes frequently occurred as chariots sped round the tight bends and drivers momentarily lost control. Amazingly, the name of Germanicus appears – in a corrupted form – in the official list of victors (Olympionikes) for that year. There is no suggestion that the result was fixed before the race.

Rather than going around the Peloponnese (map 11), they probably retraced their route and traversed the Isthmus of Corinth using the ancient Diolkos, just as young Octavianus had done in 31 BCE, after his victory at Actium, to gain a time advantage over Antonius and Kleopatra en route to Egypt.⁸³ It was also by this shorter route that Ovid travelled to Athens in December 8/January 9 CE on his way into exile.⁸⁴ The travellers of Germanicus’ party eventually reached the port of Piraeus and triumphantly entered the city of Athens.⁸⁵ He considered the visit as a pilgrimage and he paid homage to its people. ‘There, as a concession to our treaty with an allied and ancient city’, notes Tacitus, ‘he was attended only by a single lictor’.⁸⁶ Germanicus dispensed with his lictors when entering free towns, a behaviour which demonstrates a personal sensitivity to local custom and a profound respect for those who championed their hard-won liberty.⁸⁷ His gesture was warmly appreciated:

The Greeks welcomed him with the most elaborate honours, and brought forward all the old deeds and sayings of their countrymen, to give additional dignity to their flattery.⁸⁸

The reaction of the Athenians, in particular, was reassuringly favourable to him. Though an unwavering patriot, in Germanicus the Greek-speaking world found a philhellene at the highest level of Roman society. He spoke and wrote Greek and was enamoured with its culture. It was an idiosyncracy his enemies tried to use against him. Just a few days before, Calpurnius Piso, on his own outbound trip, had stopped by and tried to stir up trouble prior to Germanicus’ arrival.⁸⁹ Tacitus records in detail his adversary’s premeditated antics, when he writes of how Piso

terrified the citizens of Athens by his tumultuous approach, and then reviled them in a bitter speech, with indirect reflections on Germanicus, who, he said, had derogated from the honour of the Roman name in having treated with excessive courtesy, not the people of Athens, who indeed had been exterminated by repeated disasters, but a miserable medley of tribes. As for the men before him, they had been Mithridates’ allies against Sulla, allies of Antonius against the Divine Augustus. He taunted them too with the past, with their ill-success against the Macedonians, their violence to their own countrymen, for he had his own special grudge against this city, because they would not spare at his intercession one Theophilus whom the Areopagus had condemned for forgery.⁹⁰

It was Germanicus’ one and only visit to the city of the legendary warrior-king Theseus. Once a world superpower, its glory days were long since over and, by the first century CE, Athens had degenerated into a theme-park of tourist attractions, famous for its exquisite antiquities, painted porticoes, and fine temples, supreme among which was that of Athena Parthenos on the acropolis, with its statue of the goddess created by renowned sculptor Pheidias.⁹¹ Visitors from overseas admired the collections of the finest bronze statues on public display throughout the city and could order faithful marble copies to take home with them to grace their villas. Rich men sent their sons here to be taught by renowned orators, among whom was Germanicus’ own grandfather. Patrician benefactors, such as Iulius Caesar and Cicero’s friend Atticus, lavished largesse on the city, funding repairs to old structures and commissioning new ones, like the forum located north of the acropolis and east of the older agora. On his tour of the Hellenic antiquities, Germanicus made a point of stopping at the tombs of distinguished men and offering sacrifices to honour their memories.⁹² The travellers probably stayed for the winter of 17 CE, waiting for fair weather in the spring.

Leaving Attica, Germanicus’ flotilla crossed the narrow Euripus Strait to Euboea.⁹³ From there, the travellers island-hopped across the Aegean Sea to Lesbos, where they rested in its major city, Mytilene.⁹⁴ The third-largest island in the Aegean, it had only come under the direct control of the Romans in 79 BCE. It had been home to Sappho the poet and Pittakos, one of the Seven Sages of the Greek World. Pittakos was credited by Diogenes Laertius as coining several notable sayings, among which was ‘know your opportunity’ – an insight that Germanicus would have done well to heed.⁹⁵ On Lesbos, Agrippina gave birth to another girl. The Roman sources give the name Iulia Livia (Livilla) to this baby, the couple’s ninth child.⁹⁶ The news of the arrival of the little girl was greeted with joy by the local people, who responded by deifying the mother.⁹⁷ With Agrippina still recovering from childbirth, Germanicus’ entourage departed Lesbos. Rather than heading south, they now went north, following the coast of Asia Minor, which is now Turkey. Tacitus comments cryptically that they ‘penetrated to the remoter parts of the province of Asia’.⁹⁸ Slicing through the sea that Homer famously described as ‘wine-dark’, they reached Thrace and the city of Perinthus.⁹⁹ For the Romans, it was an exotic world of untamed landscapes, where the mythical tales of Hercules and Jason took place, and was home to ancient races and colourful kings. King Roimetalkes of Thrace, who had come to the aid of the Romans during the Great Illyrian Revolt, had died in 12 CE, and his kingdom had been split up by Augustus between Roimetalkes’ son Kotys (Cotys) VIII and his surviving brother Riskuporis (Rhescuporis) II.¹⁰⁰ Despite the division, the region remained stable and pro-Roman. Nevertheless, it seems that Tiberius had designs on the territory and secretly manufactured a subterfuge, which resulted in Kotys usurping and re-uniting the kingdom, only to be murdered by Reskuporis, who, in turn, was arrested and charged with a capital crime by Roman authorities, transferred as a prisoner to Alexandria, and put to death after allegedly attempting to escape.¹⁰¹ Thrace was again divided, this time between Riskuporis’ son Roimetalkes and the sons of Kotys, but, as they were too young to rule, Trebellienus Rufus, an ex-praetor, was appointed to govern the kingdom and act as guardian for the children.¹⁰² If Germanicus was involved in any way – and if not, what he personally thought of the sordid affair – it is not recorded in the sources that have come down to us.

The flotilla then moved north-eastwards, passing through the Dardanelles strait into the Propontis (Sea of Marmara), until they reached Byzantium.¹⁰³ It was not yet a great world-class metropolis, but a modest trading city, thriving on its unique access to and from the Black Sea. Emboldened to go further, and motivated ‘by an anxious wish to become acquainted with those ancient and celebrated localities’, the intrepid Roman travellers crossed through the Bosporus and sailed on to the dark, deep sea that Ovid described as ‘sinister’.¹⁰⁴ Travelling east, the flotilla would have reached Pontus. If they, in fact, sailed that far, the visitors from Rome may have been the guests of Polemon II of Pontus, who was a trusted client king over lands located north of Armenia.¹⁰⁵ There was good reason to meet him and establish relations in this tightly interconnected region of the world. The thirty-year-old king’s full name was M. Antonius Polemon Pythodoros, and he was the second son and middle child of the Pontic rulers Polemon Pythodoros and Pythodorida. His father had died in 8 BCE, and, shortly thereafter, his mother married King Archelaus, whereupon the family moved to Cappadocia. Polemon II was raised there with his siblings at his stepfather’s court. Archelaus died in Rome in 17 CE, whereupon Polemon II and his mother moved back to Pontus. His eldest brother was Zenon (or Zeno), and his youngest sister was Antonia Tryphaena, who was married to Kotys VIII of Thrace. Zenon’s grandfather had steadfastly supported Germanicus’ grandfather, M.Antonius.¹⁰⁶ Through his maternal grandmother, Polemon was a direct descendant of the triumvir and his second wife, Antonia Hybrida Maior (Stemma Antoniorum, no. 6), and he was the only one in the family still living to bear the famous Roman’s full name. The reigning client king of Pontus and the serving consul of Rome were, thus, distant cousins.

Returning through the Propontis, perhaps stopping at Apameia, the fleet of ships with its distinguished passengers attempted to land at the island of Samothrace.¹⁰⁷ It was famous in antiquity for an oracle whose advice Germanicus now urgently sought. Even today, the island is one of the most rugged and mountainous in the Aegean, and it has no natural harbour. At the time of Germanicus’ visit, strong winds – perhaps the Meltimi (Etesians) – blasted the flotilla, and the planned visit had to be abandoned. The travellers had better luck, however, when they turned towards the mainland and reached the Troad, on the westernmost coast of Anatolia. On the Scamander River stood the city of Ilium (Hisarlik). This was the true site of Ilion (plate 30), the Troy of Homer’s epic poem, which Germanicus – like every other student of his day – had studied closely in the orginal Greek at school.¹⁰⁸ This place had potent meaning for all Romans, as it was from here, according to legend, respun by Vergil in the Aeneid, that the defeated Trojans fled the burning city on an epic journey to Italy led by Aeneas, which resulted in the founding of the Roman race. Under Augustus, the town had recently been re-established on the citadel, enjoying its position southeast of the Dardanelles and north of Mount Ida, at a natural crossroads where traders from east and west met. The city now boasted all the amenities of the most cultured of Roman metropolises, including a forum, an odeon, a bouleuterion and a Temple of Athena, once visited by Iulius Caesar.¹⁰⁹ From this vantage point, Germanicus surveyed ‘a scene venerable from the vicissitudes of fortune and as the birth-place of our people’.¹¹⁰ He then went down to the wide Plain of Scamander, which stretched out to the shore of the Aegean Sea, where Homer set the ten-year struggle between the Trojans and the Greeks that led to the citadel’s fall. Shortly after his visit, Philon, son of Apollonios, dedicated a statue on a round base to Antonia, Germanicus’ mother.¹¹¹ On it, Philon addressed Antonia as ‘the goddess Aphrodite, belonging to the race of Anchises’.

Returning along the southern coast of the Troad, he visited the city of Assos (modern Behramkale), which boasted an academy opened by Aristotle – the teacher of Alexander the Great – and a theatre with stunning sea views. It seems that, here, Germanicus’ youngest son, unperturbed or even encouraged by all the public attention, made a speech, for in subsequent years, the citizens of Assos erected an inscription to C. Caesar, which read:

BE IT ENACTED BY THE SENATE AND THE ROMAN MERCHANTS ESTABLISHED AMONG US, AND THE PEOPLE OF ASSOS, THAT AN EMBASSY BE APPOINTED FROM THE FIRST AND BEST ROMANS AND GREEKS TO MEET AND CONGRATULATE HIM, AND TO ENTREAT HIM THAT HE WILL HOLD OUR CITY IN REMEMBERANCE AND UNDER HIS PROTECTION, EVEN AS HE HIMSELF PROMISED WHEN, WITH HIS FATHER GERMANICUS, HE FIRST ENTERED UPON THE GOVERNMENT OF OUR CITY.¹¹²

While in the region, Germanicus may even have visited other inland cities of Mysia, Lydia and Phrygia, or received deputations from them. Bronze coins bearing Germanicus’ profile and name in the Greek form ΓΕΡΜΑΝΙΚΟΣ ΚΑΙΣΑΡ were likely issued by local mints at this time. Among them were the cities of Aezanis and Apameia in Phrygia (plate 29), Pergamon in Mysia, Sardes in Lydia, and Smyrna on the Aegean coast.¹¹³

It was not only as a tourist that Germanicus had travelled so far, but also as an official benefactor. ‘He gave relief, as he went’, writes Tacitus, ‘to provinces which had been exhausted by internal feuds or by the oppressions of governors’.¹¹⁴ As the most senior official in the region, he was in a unique position to rally resources, to revive local communities, and to address maladministration where uncovered. Tiberius himself had set the tone, just months before, when earthquakes levelled several cities across Asia. He personally led the appeal for help by digging into his own purse and generously donating 10 million sestertii, setting up a board of independent senators to oversee the reconstruction programme, and granting the affected communities temporary tax and tribute relief for five years.¹¹⁵

Much as he may have wanted to stay longer, nevertheless, he was due in Syria – and sooner rather than later. The entourage set sail again and ‘coasted back along Asia, and touched at Colophon’, berthing at its port of Notium, which lay just 15 miles (24km) north-west of the bustling city of Ephesus.¹¹⁶ The city was named after rosin – κολοφώνιο, in Greek – which was a kind of resin produced by the pine trees that grew in abundance in the region. The city had once been the home of the philosopher Xenophanes and the poet Antimachus. One mile (1.6km) south of Colophon lay Claros, a sanctuary with a massive altar shared between Apollo and Dionysus, a sundial and a temple built over a cave containing a sacred pool.¹¹⁷ It was here that Germanicus consulted the famous Oracle of Apollo.¹¹⁸ As Tacitus explains:

There, it is not a woman, as at Delphi, but a priest chosen from certain families, generally from Miletus, who ascertains simply the number and the names of the applicants. Then, descending into a cave and drinking a draught from a secret spring, the man, who is commonly ignorant of letters and of poetry, utters a response in verse answering to the thoughts conceived in the mind of any inquirer.¹¹⁹

Germanicus approached the oracle as a supplicant. What question he asked is not recorded, but its ambiguous answer is. ‘It was said’, writes Tacitus, ‘that he prophesied to Germanicus, in dark hints, as oracles usually do, a timely departure’.¹²⁰ It was an unexpectedly ominous turn of events; yet, unperturbed, Germanicus’ band departed for their next destination.

The coast of southern Anatolia was then, as now, rocky and strewn with reefs, so the captains of the ships had to approach with great care as they navigated the cluster of Dodecanese Islands.¹²¹ Eventually, the party reached Rhodes (Rhodos). Of it, Strabo writes effusively, ‘with regard to harbours, roads, walls, and other buildings, it so much surpasses other cities, that we know of none equal, much less superior to it’.¹²² In a region where government so often failed its people, Rhodes provided a case study in good governance, more about which Germanicus was keen to learn. While not a representative democracy, the Rhodian élite understood the importance of benign government to the stability of the state, and provided welfare to the less well-off members of society.¹²³ The poor received allowances of grain – paid for by the rich – which were properly and fairly distributed by appointed state officials. The result was that the poor knew where their next meal was coming from, and the government could count on their service when called upon, in particular, to man her fleet. The island had become famous for its colossal statue of the Sun, made by Chares of Lindos and considered a Wonder of the World – one of several Germanicus would visit on the trip – but which, by the time of Germanicus’ visit, lay broken in giant pieces upon the beach, after having been felled at the knees by an earthquake.¹²⁴ The island had also become a centre of excellence for ambitious patricians eager to learn from the leading teachers of philosophy and oratory of the day. One of them was Tiberius himself, who had chosen to stay here during his self-imposed exile from 6 BCE to 2 CE.¹²⁵

Rift with Piso

While Germanicus was visiting Rhodes, Piso coincidentally sailed past. He had probably taken the longer route, sailing from Ostia with his retinue and belongings, and, perhaps after his stay in Athens, had lingered on one or more of the Greek islands. As Piso cruised past the island, a storm had blown up and sent his ships crashing upon an outcrop of rocks, marooning him and his party.¹²⁶ Hearing the news, Germanicus immediately dispatched several triremes to rescue his deputy and crew. Tacitus notes that Germanicus was fully aware at that time of Piso’s slanders against him, but acted to assist him anyway – such was his good nature, observes Tacitus.¹²⁷ If he thought his goodwill gesture would win over Piso, he was to be disappointed. Piso did not stop even to thank him, but sailed directly on to Syria.

Germanicus and his guests probably arrived not long after, at the port of Seleucia on the Orontes. Agrippina went on to Antiocheia (modern Antakya, in Turkey), but Germanicus continued with his diplomatic mission. He had been made aware that there were pressing matters in Armenia that now needed his urgent attention.¹²⁸ Since leaving Rome, the situation in Armenia had become dramatically more precarious. It lay strategically between the two great empires and was the focus of politicking by both sides. Vonones, who had arrived in Armenia from neighbouring Parthia, was quickly expelled by the people, leaving them both without a regent and potentially vulnerable to hostile attack.¹²⁹ Anticipating trouble, Germanicus issued orders to Piso to march with part or all of the legions under his command to Armenia, or to delegate the mission to his son Marcus.¹³⁰ In a remarkable act of insubordination, Piso chose not to, and ignored the order. Germanicus was now forced to go there himself and evaluate the situation in person. The route to Armenia (map 11, plate 32) took him along a ‘green corridor’, a narrow but passable defile formed by the Euphrates River – marking the natural border between the Roman and Parthian Empires – and connecting the arid desert in the south and the rugged mountains of Armenia in the north. His journey took him through the important and ancient cities of Zeugma, Samosata and Melitene, which was the base of Legio XII Fulminata.¹³¹ Much to his relief, it rapidly became apparent that military intervention was not, in fact, going to be needed. Popular support had rallied around Zenon, the brother of King Polemon of Pontus. Tacitus informs us that Zenon had been pro-Armenian since his childhood, adopting their manners and customs, and even developing a taste for hunting, which enamoured him to the local people. As an adult, he had formed vital relationships with the chiefs and people, which now stood him in good stead. Thus the way was open to a peaceful transition of power. It was to the city of Artaxata (modern Artashat, near Yerevan) that Germanicus now travelled as the emperor’s personal representative to give Rome’s stamp of approval to the nobles’ choice. His arrival was in stark contrast to the last great Roman, Cn. Pompeius Magnus, who had gone there at the head of an army as a conqueror.¹³² Before a vast assembled crowd, Germanicus placed the royal diadem upon Zenon’s head.¹³³ Nobles and commoners alike paid him homage and cheered him as King Artaxias, the name he adopted after the city of his coronation. It was a brilliant propaganda coup for Germanicus. When news reached Rome weeks later, the response was ecstatic. Germanicus was credited with no less an accolade than of ‘conquering the king of Armenia’.¹³⁴ It was all the more impressive for the fact that he had succeeded without an army. The Senate acclaimed his achievement and decreed that Germanicus should be permitted to enter the city of Rome with an ovation, and that a triumphal arch be erected beside the Temple of Mars Ultor, surmounted with his statue.¹³⁵ Tacitus observed that ‘Tiberius was the more delighted at having established peace by wise policy than if he had finished a war by battle’.¹³⁶ Achieving peace without bloodshed was precisely how Tiberius envisioned that foreign policy should be under his auspices.

With diplomacy becoming the preferred approach of the emperor’s regime to foreign affairs, prudence was also being encouraged within the empire’s borders. Provincials could now expect to be fairly treated. The enlightened view being ushered in by Tiberius’ personal envoy must have come as welcome news to the local people, more used to a succession of oppressive governors and tax collectors. The sources do not record if Germanicus stopped in Cilicia and proceeded to neighbouring Commagene on his return, though their proximity makes it a possibility and when he had left the region, Cappadocia (plate 31) – up to that point without a king following the death of Archelaus – was ‘reduced to the form of a province’, a fact which was regarded by Suetonius as one of the truly great achievements of his life since its acquisition was peaceful.¹³⁷ Q. Veranius now left Germanicus’ party to become Cappadocia’s first Roman governor and Q. Veranius departed to administer Commagene as propraetor.¹³⁸ The new benign policy of government in the Orient was extended to Cappadocia, and the burden of tribute paid to Rome was lightened ‘to inspire hope of a gentler rule under Rome’.¹³⁹ The importance of these new provinces was that they, like Armenia, were in the sphere of influence of Parthia. Building resilient pro-Roman communities there was vitally important to her interests. Perhaps to demonstrate this trust concretely, a legionary garrison was not placed in Cappadocia, Cilicia or Commagene: if troops were needed to address a security threat, they could be moved up quickly from Syria.

Germanicus now rode to Cyrrhus, north-east of Antiocheia, and the location of the winter camp of Legio X Frentensis. He had sent instructions to Piso for him to meet him there. Successful as these recent diplomatic settlements with Rome’s allies had been, Tacitus observes that ‘it gave Germanicus little joy because of the arrogance of Piso’.¹⁴⁰ He decided he now had to confront Piso directly. Before the meeting, Germanicus was briefed by his friends and confidants, ‘but friends who knew well how to inflame a quarrel, exaggerated what was true and added lies, alleging various charges against Piso, Plancina, and their sons’.¹⁴¹ If Tacitus’ account of the meeting is accurate – and it is the only one we have – then it was a fraught encounter. The two men sat, ‘each controlling his looks, Piso concealing his fears, Germanicus shunning the semblance of menace’.¹⁴²Germanicus chose not to assert his authority but, instead, tried to reason with the older man:

At last, in the presence of a few intimate associates, Germanicus addressed him in language such as suppressed resentment suggests, to which Piso replied with haughty apologies.¹⁴³

The result was plain for all to see when ‘they parted in open enmity’.¹⁴⁴ The opportunity for what modern diplomats term a frank exchange of views had been passed up in favour of verbal posturing. The failure to get the issues out on to the table only exacerbated an already difficult relationship, and made it worse. How bad that relationship had become is illustrated in a later episode related by Tacitus:

After this Piso was seldom seen at Caesar’s tribunal, and if he ever sat by him, it was with a sullen frown and a marked display of opposition. He was even heard to say at a banquet given by the king of the Nabataeans, when some golden crowns of great weight were presented to Caesar and Agrippina and light ones to Piso and the rest, that the entertainment was given to the son of a Roman emperor, not of a Parthian king. At the same time he threw his crown on the ground, with a long speech against luxury, which, though it angered Germanicus, he still bore with patience.¹⁴⁵

Germanicus seems to have been willing to persevere with his deputy, despite the man’s blatant insubordination and unconscionable behaviour. Perhaps he felt unable to reprimand Piso as the older and more experienced man who had been chosen personally for the position by Tiberius. Perhaps he simply felt intimidated by Piso. Yet it could also be interpreted that he preferred to avoid conflict rather than face it head on. It might be seen as weakness, none more so than by Piso, who already looked down on the younger man and took an impish delight in making life uncomfortable for him.

The strained relationship with Piso was in remarkably stark contrast to the successful diplomatic relationships forming around him. Learning that Germanicus was in the region, King Artabanus II of Parthia sent envoys carrying a message of peace.¹⁴⁶ The king reminded Germanicus of the friendship their two nations had enjoyed since Augustus and Frahâta IV negotiated the treaty, and in that same spirit he wished their peaceful co-existence to continue. As a gesture of his sincerity, specifically ‘in honour of Germanicus’ he said, he offered to meet him at the bank of the Euphrates River.¹⁴⁷ The development reveals an underlying shift in the balance of power. The Great King made the first move because Rome was now in a stronger position than eighteen years earlier. Some speculate that Germanicus was even investigating the possibility of encouraging cross-border incursions.¹⁴⁸ The concern about internal security was of particular importance to the Parthian regent, as reflected in a special request he made to Germanicus. Artabanus pleaded with him to remove Vonones from Syria. The king feared that Vonones’ close proximity to Parthia might prove tempting to opponents of his regime, who could visit him there and rally around him and then plot against Artabanus. He had implicitly approved of the regime change in Armenia, overseen by Germanicus – even though Artaxias was Rome’s choice – by watching from afar and not protesting it. Germanicus gave a considered response. He consented to continuing the treaty in florid language and he commended the king for the manner of the visit, speaking in ‘graceful and modest’ terms.¹⁴⁹ However, he declined the offer of a face-to-face meeting, but as a concession to the king Germanicus arranged for Vonones to be transferred to Pompeiopolis, a port city on the Mediterranean coast of Cilicia. It was conveniently bordered by Syria in the east and the inaccessible Taurus Mountains, known as ‘Rough Cilicia’, in the west. In this quiet province, it was expected that Vonones could do no harm. Yet Tacitus also adds:

This was not merely a concession to the request of Artabanus, but was meant as an affront to Piso, who had a special liking for Vonones, because of the many attentions and presents by which he had won Plancina’s favour.¹⁵⁰

All did not end well for Vonones, however. He escaped his confinement in Cilicia and made his way back to Armenia, only to be recaptured on the bank of the Pyramus (Ceyhan) River by a Roman cavalry officer, and was killed by the man entrusted with hiscustody.¹⁵¹

Germanicus and his remaining staff finally entered Antiocheia late in the year. The crowds turned out in strength here as they did at all places Germanicus visited.¹⁵² In their ardour, the crush of people seemed almost threatening – causing not a little concern for his lictors, whom he had again asked to stand down – but, as the newest resident, Germanicus preferred to be accessible, not hidden by a screen of bodyguards. The city was no stranger to the great and good. It had been founded in around 307 BCE by one of the successors of Antigonos Monophthalmos, a general of Alexander the Great. It was later captured by Seleukos (Seleucus) I Nikator and, in subsequent years, developed into a fine, free city. Choosing a location beside the Orontes River and beneath Mount Silpios (fig. 8), Seleucid surveyors laid out a main street some 2.5km (1.6 miles) long, running south-west to north-east, following the direction of the river.¹⁵³ Streets ran off it in a gridiron pattern, forming regular residential and commercial blocks (map 12).¹⁵⁴ An island in the middle of the river, to the west of the main city, was the location of the palace complex that was the home of Roman governors of the province of Syria, from the time Cn. Pompeius Magnus conquered the remnants of the Seleucid Empire in 64 BCE, and it was where Piso at present lodged. Antiocheia was considered one of the great cities of the day ranking alongside Alexandria, Athens, and Rome. The city’s rulers competed to bequeath to their successors a more beautiful place than they had inherited.¹⁵⁵ Roman benefactors, too, among them Iulius Caesar, Augustus, Agrippa, Tiberius, and the client king Herodes, added to the fabric of the urban environment. The amenities the city accumulated included temples and shrines to Minos, Demeter, Herakles and Iupiter Capitolinus; a theatre, a stoa, a city hall, colonnades, and, in the second century BCE, King Antiochus IV built the largest bathing complex in Asia, containing no fewer than ten baths. The city was fed by springs and their crystal-clear waters were channelled via aqueducts to public fountains, baths and residential neighbourhoods.¹⁵⁶ Under the Romans, the city flourished, prospering on the back of trade from its location on the east-west trade route and access to the nearby harbour at Seleucia, also known by the namePieria.¹⁵⁷ The locality was fertile, too, producing timber, fish and vegetables in abundance. The second century CE philosopher Athenaeus noted that in Antiocheia grew the best cucumbers.¹⁵⁸ The wealth and artistic sensibilities of some of its citizens is attested by the discovery here of many of the finest mosaics to have been found anywhere in the Roman world. By the first century CE, it was becoming a leading centre of Hellenic culture in the region.¹⁵⁹ For a cosmopolitan like Germanicus, Antiocheia was a very fine place to stay in its own right and the ideal location in Asia to spend the winter.

Figure 8. Antioch in Syria from the North West from a sketch by Capt. Byam Martin R.N. capturing a landscape barely changed since Germanicus’ time.

Germanicus resided just outside the city in a smart suburb called Epidaphnae (Beit el-ma or Harbiye).¹⁶⁰ It was an idyllic place and renowned for its pleasant climate. Located to the west of the city, here were found the springs named after Ladon, the daughter of the Arcadian river-god, which supplied the city with water, and the grove sacred to Apollo and Artemis.¹⁶¹ For his lodgings, Germanicus chose an historic villa. His grandfather had stayed here in 42/41 BCE en route to meeting Kleopatra, and had received a delegation of 100 influential Jews who came to accuse Herod, and to which the king himself later fled seeking his friend’s help.¹⁶² By locating himself away from Piso, Germanicus kept a healthy distance between himself as commander of the Orient and his provincial governor of Syria.

While in the province, Germanicus devoted his time to understanding the issues peculiar to the provinces and client kingdoms of the East. He quickly discovered that problems of corruption and financial mismanagement were pervasive in Asia. He uncovered several matters requiring his immediate personal attention, not least the poor state of affairs of several city administrations and their requests for a lightening of the tax burden – even the discipline among the legions was lax compared to elsewhere.¹⁶³ To his deputies and the city fathers, he issued directions to restore good governance and he put them on notice that he would continue to keep a watchful eye on their progress.¹⁶⁴ A surviving document, called the ‘Palmyra Tariff’ and dated to 137 CE, cites a ruling issued by Germanicus that civic taxes were to be calculated in Italian currency (aes) to encourage fairness by adopting a common unit of value across the region, where so many different local currencies were in circulation.¹⁶⁵

Map 12. Antiocheia on the Orontes, in the First Century CE.

Meantime, with his family under one roof, he could spend time being a father and assisting Agrippina with raising their youngest children, in particular young Caligula.

In the Footsteps of the Pharoahs

Roman chroniclers meticulously recorded the unusual events of the day, in the hope of finding clues that would give insight into the minds of the gods and their plans for mankind. Dio writes:

When M. Iunius and L. Norbanus assumed office [19 CE], an omen of no little importance occurred on the very first day of the year, and it doubtless had a bearing on the fate of Germanicus. The consul Norbanus, it seems, had always been devoted to the trumpet, and as he practised on it assiduously, he wished to play the instrument on this occasion, also, at dawn, when many persons were already near his house. This proceeding startled them all alike, just as if the consul had given them a signal for battle; and they were also alarmed by the falling of the statue of Ianus. They were furthermore disturbed not a little by an oracle, reputed to be an utterance of the Sibyl, which, although it did not fit this period of the city’s history at all, was nevertheless applied to the situation then existing. It ran:

‘When thrice three hundred revolving years have run their course, Civil strife upon Rome destruction shall bring, and the folly, too, Of Sybaris …’¹⁶⁶

Oracular pronouncements could spell trouble for those running the affairs of state. Himself an avid believer in astrology, Tiberius took a direct and personal interest in the matter, denouncing these verses as spurious. He investigated all the Sybilline Books for any that contained prophecies, rejecting some as worthless rubbish and retaining others as genuine, though on what basis he made the determination Dio does not say.

Far away in Syria, Germanicus was oblivious to this ominous sign at the start of the New Year. He spent his time industriously reviewing the administration in Syria, issuing orders to his military commanders and directions to city administrations.¹⁶⁷ By mid-year, he decided he needed a holiday. His mind turned to ancient history. Leaving affairs in the hands of deputies, he set off for Egypt, ‘to study its antiquities’, though Tacitus adds that ‘his ostensible motive, however, was solicitude for the province’.¹⁶⁸ Ever conscientious, on the outbound journey, he may have called into Cyprus, Iudaea, Crete or Arabia Felix, as Tacitus refers to ‘visits to several provinces’.¹⁶⁹ It is not clear if Agrippina or the children accompanied him, though Caligula is a possibility. Eventually he reached Alexandria (map 13).

Map 13. Roman Egypt in the First Century CE.

Alexander the Great had personally chosen the site for the city named after him in 331 BCE, just eight years before his premature death. He was struck by the special qualities of the location.¹⁷⁰ The city occupied a narrow limestone ridge, which formed an embankment between the desert in the west and the Nile delta to the east, bound on its north side by the Mediterranean and on the south by Lake Mareotis.¹⁷¹ A visitor to the city in around the year 25 BCE, Strabo writes that its location so close to water and the cooling Etesian winds meant that ‘the Alexandrians pass their time most pleasantly in summer’.¹⁷² Climate apart, Alexander saw the location as an ideal hub for trade.¹⁷³ Two harbours were constructed on either side of a natural promontory: the Great Harbour on the eastern side, bounded by a causeway and dominated by the Pharos lighthouse, and the harbour called Eunostos to the west, ‘dug by the hand of man’, which was surrounded by warehouses and ship-houses.¹⁷⁴ To plan and build the city, Alexander charged Dinokrates of Rhodos, the architect of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus (which became one of the Seven Wonders of the World).¹⁷⁵ His engineers marked out the city as a grid of seven parallel streets running latitudinally, and eleven parallel streets intersecting them longitudinally. The longitudinal streets ran in the same direction as the north-west wind in summer, keeping the city cool. The main latitudinal thoroughfare was a broad street, 30m (98ft) wide, bisected in the middle of the plan by the main longitudinal street, 14m (46ft) wide. In the years after Alexander’s death, Ptolemaios, his chief of staff and commander of his bodyguard, took over Egypt and buried his master in a sepulchre there, originally in a sarcophagus of gold, but, by the time of Germanicus’ visit, it had been remade in glass.¹⁷⁶ It was said that his body had been mellified to preserve it for all time. Ptolemaios and his successors added to its amenities, including the Serapium, the Library and Museum, the Emporium, the Heptastadium, a theatre and a Temple ofPoseidon.¹⁷⁷ Queen Kleopatra had started to build a temple to Iulius Caesar, which was only completed by Augustus after the queen’s suicide, when it became known as the Caesareum. The palatial building faced out to the sea. Flanking the entrance to it were two obelisks that had been transported there from Upper Egypt. This became the official residence of the Roman praefectus, a man appointed personally by the emperor from the equestrian order. The current administrator was C. Valerius, who had been in the position since 16 CE.¹⁷⁸From the Caesareum, a mole projected into the middle of the Great Harbour, which was commissioned by his grandfather. On the terminus of it, the triumvir had built a royal lodge that he called Timonium.¹⁷⁹ It was probably here that Germanicus and his entourage stayed.

The Egyptians gave the young Roman commander a rapturous welcome. This is confirmed in a document referred to by historians as P. Oxy. 2435 (short for ‘Papyrus Oxyrhynchus’, plate 34).¹⁸⁰ It is a verbatim record of what was said on the occasion of a visit by Germanicus. Addressing the assembled crowd as ‘men of Alexandria’, he announces that he has been sent by his father Tiberius. He is immediately interrupted when the crowd cheers and shouts greetings and best wishes. Germanicus continues by asking the crowd to let him answer the questions put to him before they applaud. He restates that he has been sent by his father to regulate the provinces overseas, which he describes as a difficult task to accomplish, firstly because of the necessity to travel by sea, and secondly because it has taken him away from his family and friends. He continues saying he had wanted to see the great city for himself – having anticipated seeing a ‘dazzling spectacle’ – primarily because of the man who founded it, but also because of the hospitality the good people had shown Augustus and his adoptive father during their visits. His remark is met with shouts of jubilation and appeals for his long life by the ecstatic crowd. He continues to comment on the warmth of his reception, at which point the papyrus breaks off. The document vividly captures the rapport Germanicus was able to quickly establish with the public and the sincerity with which he addressed them. It is a character portrait which is consistent with other descriptions of Germanicus’ personality.

Germanicus was sensitive to how his popular reception would look back in Rome, however. He would have been acutely aware that his grandfather had been accused of ‘going native’ – seduced by Egyptomania, or more specifically Kleopatra – and turned his back on traditional Romanmores.¹⁸¹ Without delay, Germanicus issued an edict – the so-called Acta Alexandrinorum – in which he berated the people for hailing him and his wife with the same honorary titles reserved exclusively for Tiberius and Livia.¹⁸²Nevertheless, Germanicus felt very comfortable in the city founded by Alexander. ‘He would go about without soldiers, with sandalled feet, and apparelled after the Greek fashion’, writes Tacitus.¹⁸³ In this, it was said that he imitated P. Scipio Africanus, who was reputed to have done likewise in Sicily at the height of the Punic War. It was not the kind of behaviour Tiberius approved of and, when he learned of it, he made his disapproval of his son’s dress and manners known – albeit gently – in writing.¹⁸⁴ More gravely, however, by visiting Egypt, Germanicus had broken one of the cardinal rules laid down by Augustus. This was that no high-ranking Roman senator or member of the equites was permitted to visit Alexandria without the express permission of the princeps. In his subsequent letter to Germanicus, Tiberius issued a pointed reprimand. The reason for the strong reaction was grain. Egypt was Rome’s breadbasket. Who controlled Egypt, controlled the grain supply; who controlled the grain supply, controlled the bread dole; who controlled the bread dole, kept the restless plebs of Rome at bay. Augustus, and in turn Tiberius, ‘had specially reserved the country, from a fear that anyone who held a province containing the key of the land and of the sea, with ever so small a force against the mightiest army, might distress Italy by famine’.¹⁸⁵ Germanicus’ action suggests either he did not understand the rule, or he interpreted his own wide remit to mean he was not bound by it. Significantly, in his speech to the Alexandrians, as recorded in P. Oxy. 2435, Germanicus specifically uses the Greek word επαρχία meaning ‘province’ to describe Egypt, which suggests that he took the broader view, and was unaware – or consciously chose to ignore – that he was transgressing any rules.¹⁸⁶Moreover, this was a holiday trip, not official business. To Tiberius, however, it appeared that Germanicus was acting on his own initiative and without due regard for long established protocol, verging on insubordination.¹⁸⁷

Hardly helping his position in Tiberius’ eyes was the news that his adopted son had ‘reduced the price of grain by opening the granaries, and adopted many practices pleasing to the multitude’.¹⁸⁸ The justification for his unauthorized decision was that on his arrival, Germanicus found Egypt suffering from famine. He had seen the effects of starvation close up for himself back in Rome in 6 CE when 21 years old. The crisis called for tough decisions to be made, and it meant not everyone would receive food. In Against Apion, Josephus records an appeal by a Jew to Caesar for having shown loyalty when Augustus fought the Egyptians, though accepting how very desperate the general situation was. ‘If Germanicus was not able to make a distribution of grain to all the inhabitants of Alexandria’, Josephus writes, ‘that only shows what a barren time it was, and how great a want of grain there was then’.¹⁸⁹ He adds, ‘for what all the emperors have thought of the Alexandrian Jews is well known, for this distribution of wheat was not otherwise omitted with regard to the Jews, than it was with regard to the other inhabitants of Alexandria’.¹⁹⁰ Racism and prejudice towards its subject peoples were present in Roman society.¹⁹¹ Germanicus was probably no more or less anti-Semitic than the next Roman; however, this example shows him not to have singled out the Jews exclusively for discrimination, as other groups were also denied.

Germanicus’ entourage now left the city and travelled eastwards a short distance of 30 stadia along the road to Nikopolis, a second ‘Victory City’ established by Octavianus in a suburb of Alexandria, on the site of his defeat of Antonius’ army.¹⁹² In founding the civilian settlement beside the base camp of Legiones III Cyrenaica and XXII Deiotariana, as Augustus he created a sacred area for games and worship of a local deity – for which an amphitheatre and stadium were specially constructed – just as he had done at Actium in Epirus, but this time in honour of his victory at the Battle of Alexandria in 30 BCE.¹⁹³ Its impact was profound. In Alexandria proper, the Serapeum and other long-beloved religious buildings were soon abandoned for the new city of his victory cult, and, by Strabo’s time, they had already fallen into neglect; it was in this dilapidated condition that Germanicus would have found them.¹⁹⁴ In stark contrast, Nikopolis was a manicured city-space of lush gardens and groves and grandiose public amenities.¹⁹⁵ In Strabo’s opinion, the most beautiful building was the Gymnasium with its immense porticoes, ‘a stadium in length’.¹⁹⁶ In the middle of Nikopolis was ‘the Paneium, a ‘height’, as it were, which was made by the hand of man; it has the shape of a fir-cone, resembles a rocky hill, and is ascended by a spiral road; and from the summit one can see the whole of the city lying below it on all sides’.¹⁹⁷

Past the Hippodrome and through the Canobic Gate, they continued on to Kanopos (Canopus) on a tributary of the Nile in the Delta.¹⁹⁸ There they boarded a waiting ship and embarked on a once-in-a-lifetime cruise of the Nile River and its historic sites. The highlights of the tour are recorded in detail by Tacitus.¹⁹⁹ First among these was the confluence of the Nile at the Delta, where stood the Heracleum dedicated to Hercules, who, it was claimed, was born there.²⁰⁰ A little way down the Nile, the travellers sailed past Babylon (Cairo), the former base of one of the three legions.²⁰¹Further south, the party passed the deserted city of Heliopolis on the right bank, with its Nome and temple to Helios.²⁰² Two of its obelisks had been removed and shipped back for display in Rome just a few years before. Having toured the length of the Nile himself, forty-four years before Germanicus, Strabo observed:

There is a ridge extending from the encampment even as far as the Nile, on which the water is conducted up from the river by wheels and screws; and one hundred and fifty prisoners are employed in the work; and from here, one can clearly see the pyramids on the far side of the river at Memphis, and they are near to it.²⁰³

In Pharaonic times, Memphis (Saqqara, Mit Rahina) was the royal residence, before its place was usurped by the Ptolemies, who relocated it 260km (162 miles) away to the north at Alexandria.²⁰⁴ Here, Germanicus found temples to the Apis Bull, Hephaestus, and Serapis in one of the largest temple complexes in the country.²⁰⁵ The Apis Bull was believed to be able to foresee the future. It was identified from its peers by several particular markings on its hide, including a crescent shape on its right side.²⁰⁶ It was not allowed to live out the full length of its natural life, but was drowned in a sacred fountain amid great public mourning, and then replaced by a new animal after a time-consuming search. It lived in a chamber by itself and was treated with the utmost reverence. Germanicus approached the consecrated bull in person, as a supplicant hoping for favourable portents. He was surprised and disappointed when he offered the animal food and it turned away from him, which all took to mean that it prophesied misfortune in his future.²⁰⁷

From Memphis, the pyramids were just seven-and-a-half miles away.²⁰⁸ At the Giza plateau, the visiting Romans saw ‘the pyramids, rising up like mountains amid almost impassable wastes of shifting sand, raised by the emulation and vast wealth of kings’.²⁰⁹Even in Germanicus’ time, the pyramids at Giza were already 2,570 years old and had become the subject of folklore.²¹⁰ Visitors of every age are awe-struck on their first sight of them, not least Strabo:

One comes to a kind of mountain-brow; on it are numerous pyramids, the tombs of kings, of which three are noteworthy; and two of these are even numbered among the Seven Wonders of the World, for they are a stadium in height, are quadrangular in shape, and their height is a little greater than the length of each of the sides; and one of them is only a little larger than the other.²¹¹

As Herodotus had done before him, Strabo meticulously recorded the explanations the tour guides gave him, no matter how bizarre:

One of the marvellous things I saw at the pyramids should not be omitted: there are heaps of stone-chips lying in front of the pyramids; and among these are found chips that are like lentils in both form and size; and under some of the heaps lie winnowings, as it were, as of half-peeled grains. They say that what was left of the food of the workmen has petrified; and this is not improbable. Indeed, in my home-country, in a plain, there is a long hill which is full of lentil-shaped pebbles of porous stone; and the pebbles, both of the seas and of the rivers, present the same puzzling question; but while these latter find an explanation in the motion caused by the current of water, the speculation in that other case is more puzzling.²¹²

Germanicus also stopped to see ‘the lake hollowed out of the earth to be a receptacle for the Nile’s overflow’.²¹³ Strabo had seen it, too, and admired this ‘wonderful lake called the Lake of Moeris, which is an open sea in size and like a sea in colour’.²¹⁴ Some 400 years earlier, Herodotus mistakenly deduced that it was an artificial lake, fed by a canal.²¹⁵ The lake (nowadays called Birket Qarun), which is located north-west of the Fayum Oasis, is both natural and ancient and has since shrunk in size.

After several days sailing (plate 33), Germanicus reached Thebes (Luxor and Karnak), also known by its Greek name Diospolis Megale (‘Great City of God’) for its vast buildings, and he was treated to a feast from the local people.²¹⁶ Once the capital of Egypt, ‘the city of 100 gates’ was the city of Amon-Ra.²¹⁷ His temple was begun two millennia before, but the standing remains Germanicus saw dated from the time of Amenhotep (Amenophis) III (c.1390–c.1352 BCE) and it was still the most important temple in Egypt, even at the time of his visit.²¹⁸ The place did not fail to impress the visitors in Germanicus’ party. Even today, guidebooks recommend that visitors allow half a day to walk around the many precincts, which cover over 100 hectares (247 acres).²¹⁹ The Roman tourists wandered around the temple complex, enthralled by the immensity of the place. Germanicus was deeply aware of the antiquity of the buildings, which pre-dated the foundation of Rome by almost 1,200 years. On the south wall of the Peristyle Court,

there yet remained on the towering piles Egyptian inscriptions, with a complete account of the city’s past grandeur. One of the aged priests, who was desired to interpret the language of his country, related how once there had dwelt in Thebes seven hundred thousand men of military age, and how with such an army King Ramesses conquered Libya, Ethiopia, Media, Persia, Bactria, and Scythia, and held under his sway the countries inhabited by the Syrians, the Armenians, and their neighbours, the Cappadocians, from the Bithynian to the Lycian sea. There was also to be read what tributes were imposed on these nations, the weight of silver and gold, the tale of arms and horses, the gifts of ivory and perfumes to the temples, with the amount of grain and supplies furnished by each people, a revenue as magnificent as is now exacted by the might of Parthia or the power of Rome.²²⁰

Having negotiated with the king of Parthia himself, the story would not have been lost on the second most powerful man in Rome.

On the other side of the Nile at Western Thebes (Kom el-Hetan) lay the remains of some thirty-six temples, the most famous of which was the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III. The area bounded by his rectangular sanctuary was larger even than the temple complex across the river at Thebes. Little remains of it today, on account of damage caused by the Nile periodically flooding, but at the time of Germanicus’ visit the foundations may have been visible. Guarding the entrance were two colossal statues of the seated pharaoh, each nearly 18m (59ft) high.²²¹ Germanicus was eager to see for himself these images of the great builder and warrior king.²²² In 27 BCE, an earthquake shattered one of the two statues from the waist up and split the lower half. A legend quickly sprang up, that the statue, ‘when struck by the sun’s rays, gives out the sound of a human voice’.²²³ To explain it, some witty Greek-speaking tourist had given the northern statue the nickname Memnon, after the son of Aurora, Goddess of Dawn, and it stuck. Strabo recorded his own experience of seeing it first-hand:

It is believed that, once each day, a noise, as of a slight blow, emanates from the part of the latter that remains on the throne and its base; and I, too, when I was present at the places with Aelius Gallus and his crowd of associates, both friends and soldiers, heard the noise at about the first hour, but whether it came from the base or from the colossus, or whether the noise was made on purpose by one of the men who were standing all round and near to the base, I am unable positively to assert; for, on account of the uncertainty of the cause, I am induced to believe anything rather than that the sound issued from stones thus fixed.²²⁴

What Germanicus made of the phenomenon is not recorded.

Some 15km (9.5 miles) south of Thebes, the Roman party passed Iuny, or Hermonthis (Armant) by its Greek name, where both Apollo and Zeus were worshipped. It was one of many riparian cities along the way with exotic religious associations, some familiar, others strange to the Romans’ sensibilities: Oxyrhynkon Polis or Oxyrhynchus (el-Bahnasa), ‘the city of the sharp-nosed fish’; Krokodilopolis or Ptolemais Euergetis, also known as Arsinoe (Medinet el-Fayum), which held the crocodile sacred; Aphroditopolis, in honour of Aphrodite; Latopolis (Esna), built for Athena and the latus, a fish of the Nile River; Eileithuia or Eileithyiaspolis (el-Kab) and its temple to the goddess of childbirth; Hierakonpolis, ancient Nekhen (Kom el-Ahmar), which revered the pre-dynastic falcon god Nekheny; and Apollonopolis (Qus), which despised the crocodile and waged an ongoing war against the reptile.²²⁵

Several weeks after the touring party had departed Alexandria, they came to Elephantine. It was an island set in the middle of the Nile, located just above the First Cataract. Historically, it marked the borders of the pharaohs’ rule, and became an important crossing point for traders with Ethiopia and deeper Africa.²²⁶ In the south-eastern corner of the island, the Romans had recently begun new quarrying operations to extract the much-prized rose-pink and black granites – the only place in Egypt where the stones arefound.²²⁷ The island was crowded with temples, and on the outer walls of the repurposed chapel of Mandulis – the local Nubian god at Kalabsha – there were reliefs in the stylized Egyptian fashion, depicting Caesar Augustus making offerings to the local deity and to Isis and Harpokrates.²²⁸

On the east bank of the Nile stood the busy commercial, industrial and touristic centre of Syene (Aswan). Tacitus noted that Syene then marked the limits of the Roman empire.²²⁹ Its remote location encouraged a number of fantasies by writers who had not seen it for themselves, Tacitus being one. He regurgitated the claim he found in his references, of ‘the river’s narrow channel and profound depth, which no line of the explorer can penetrate’, but he did not apparently check Strabo, who had actually seen this section of river for himself and rubbished the statement, calling it ‘nonsense’.²³⁰ One popular attraction for visitors was the Nilometer, a well which had marks cut along its length indicating the present depth of the Nile in relation to other recorded times. Its importance as a forecasting tool for the health of the river was one reason three cohorts were permanently stationed there to guard it, since the Roman praefectus could anticipate his revenue stream from reading its depth marks, ‘for the greater rises indicate that the revenues also will be greater’.²³¹ Visitors who went at midday on the summer solstice and placed a gnomon beside the well were treated to the memorable sight of the disk of the sun reflecting in the waters below, but no shadow from the vertical staff on the ground above.²³²Germanicus may also have watched the local boatmen row upstream, then slide dramatically over the rocky edge of the cataract – a risky trick they had successfully performed years earlier for Aelius Gallus.²³³

The southern border of province Egypt was vulnerable to invasion. In 25 BCE, an army of 30,000 troops from Ethiopia led by Amanirensas, Kandake (Candace) of Kush, raided as far north as the Island of Elephantine.²³⁴ They took Syene by storm, enslaved its inhabitants, destroyed buildings and property, and symbolically wrenched the bronze head off an over life-sized statue of Augustus and carted it to Meroë.²³⁵ The region was eventually recaptured in 23 BCE by the new praefectus Aegypti C. Petronius, at the head of an army of 10,000 infantry and 800 cavalry. The Romans would not make the same mistake again and installed a permanent garrison in the Dodekashoinos, which remained for as long as they occupied Egypt. An inspection of the three cohorts stationed there was probably on Germanicus’ itinerary: it was on the frontier, and he would want to see for himself the quality of the officers and men charged to guard it, since the units were not even at full strength.²³⁶

Beyond lay the Island of Philae (Anas el-Wagud) with its many temples and the world cult centre of Isis.²³⁷ Tacitus does not record Germanicus as having gone that far south. In search of antiquities, Germanicus had already travelled a distance of some 1,210km (752 miles). Affairs of the present day now needed his attention. It was time to return to Alexandria, and it would take up to a month to make the journey, as long as the weather was favourable. He was, as yet, unaware of how much of a furor his unofficial tour had caused back in Rome.²³⁸

Tragedy in Epidaphnae

Germanicus returned to Syria and the tranquillity of the villa at Epidaphnae.²³⁹ He discovered that, while he was spending the summer cruising the Nile, unbeknownst to him, Piso had taken it upon himself to repeal his civil directives and military orders.²⁴⁰Suetonius records Germanicus’ reaction, on discovering Piso’s willful insubordination, as remarkably nonchalant:

He was so extremely mild and gentle to his enemies, whoever they were, or on what account whatsoever they bore him enmity, that, although Piso rescinded his decrees, and for a long time severely harassed his dependents, he never showed the smallestresentment.²⁴¹

Tacitus, in contrast, paints a very different picture. He reports a bitter exchange, as Germanicus threw ‘grievous insults on Piso’, and in return his deputy ‘as savagely assailed Caesar’.²⁴² In a fit of pique, Piso announced that he was leaving Syria. He delayed his departure, however, when he received news that Germanicus Caesar had suddenly fallen sick.

The bad news quickly reached the streets of Antiocheia and the people turned to their temples, offering sacrifices and prayers for Germanicus’ good health and safety. Incensed by the public reaction, Piso went into the streets with his lictors and demanded that the people disperse and go home. It was too late to stop the visiting merchants departing Syria, who would relay this news to the markets in Rome, where, upon hearing it, the people would wait with grave concern.²⁴³ Reports then circulated in Antiocheia that Germanicus was recovering. The peoples’ prayers had seemingly been answered. Within days, he relapsed, plunging the people into a gloomy mood. Rather than attending his commander at his bedside, instead Piso strangely departed for the nearby port at Seleucia on the Orontes. People began to speculate that Germanicus’ worsening condition and Piso’s bellicose behaviour and departure were somehow connected; indeed, that he was behind Germanicus’ sickness. Rumours began to spread of poison, of a conspiracy to murder. Tacitus writes that, from his sick-bed, Germanicus responded to his predicament with fury as much as fear. At this point, he was still conscious and able to converse intelligibly with his assistants and family. As his condition worsened, he began to suspect, himself, that he was being slowly poisoned and that Piso was implicated in a plot to murder him; he even suspected that Piso had placed spies in the villa to relay back to him the progress of his illness.²⁴⁴ Germanicus is reported as saying,

If my doors are to be besieged, if I must gasp out my last breath under my enemies’ eyes, what will then be the lot of my most unhappy wife, of my infant children? Poisoning seems tedious; he is in eager haste to have the sole control of the province and the legions. But Germanicus is not yet fallen so low, nor will the murderer long retain the reward of the fatal deed.²⁴⁵

It is entirely possible that one of Germanicus’ adjutants recorded what he said, and Tacitus faithfully reproduced it, though equally the historian may have embellished the story to dramatize his narrative.

From his bed, Germanicus dictated a letter to Piso. In it, he formally renounced his friendship, a grave act conducted ‘according to ancient custom’.²⁴⁶ Several accounts Tacitus had access to – perhaps, among them, eyewitness testimony – also made reference to an order that Piso must leave the province.²⁴⁷ In effect, Germanicus was firing him from his position. A courier rode off and hand-delivered the letter to Piso, who considered its sombre message. Boarding his ship, Piso ordered the captain to weigh anchor and set sail, but not to travel too fast, in case ‘he might not have a long way to return should Germanicus’ death leave Syria open to him’.²⁴⁸

The next few days passed agonizingly slowly. As Germanicus grew progressively weaker, his mind turned to dark thoughts. He implored his servants ‘to avenge his death, if anything untoward should befall him’.²⁴⁹ Momentarily, he seemed to recover, but the course of the sickness had drained him and he relapsed for a final time.²⁵⁰ There now seemed no possibility of Germanicus returning to good health. Senior army commanders from Cyrrhus and several senators had since joined the staff and family at Epidaphnae.²⁵¹When dawn broke on the morning of 10 October, the mood at the villa was grim.²⁵² There were reports that a shooting star with a trailing tail like a spear had been spotted in the sky, which many took to be a bad omen.²⁵³

Realizing that he was nearing his end, his family and friends gathered around his bed. Into the mouth of the dying man, Tacitus puts fighting words. Whether Germanicus really fingered Piso and his wife as the assassins, or exhorted those in the room with him to avenge him in the high court of the Senate, cannot be known for certain. ‘Tears for Germanicus even strangers will shed’, the historian records Germanicus as saying, ‘vengeance must come from you, if you loved the man more than his fortune’.²⁵⁴ These certainly sound like the words of a practised orator from years of appealing to juries – but are they truly Germanicus’? His friends clasped his right hand in turn and swore earnestly that they would sooner give up their lives than not pursue vengeance. Among them were his faithful friends Vibius Marsus, Cn. Sentius, Q. Veranius and P. Vitellius.

Germanicus reserved his last words for his beloved Agrippina. They had been a remarkable couple. Seemingly incompatible on the day they wed, they had stayed faithful and devoted to each other over fifteen years. He knew that she would not take his death well. He implored her, for the sake of his reputation and for the children, to swallow her rage and not to upset those in powerful places.²⁵⁵ He said this loudly enough so that the others in the room could hear as witnesses. The public message was clear: he was ever loyal to Tiberius, even in his dying moments. Then, he drew Agrippina near and shared some private remarks with her quietly, so that the others could not hear. To the others in the room, he seemed to be pointing at something. They believed he was telling her his real feelings and of his secret fear of Tiberius.

He exhaled one last time. His body went limp.

Germanicus Iulius Caesar was dead. He was just 34 years old.²⁵⁶

1. Germanicus’ father, Nero Claudius Drusus (Drusus the Elder), is shown on an aureus. The legend adds his imperatorial acclamation and war title, which his son adopted as his first name.

2. Germanicus’ mother, Antonia Minor, was the daughter of M. Antonius. A beautiful and levelheaded woman she raised her son with an appreciation of tradition and family values.

3. Caesar Augustus saw great potential in Germanicus, and insisted that Tiberius adopt him to establish his place in the dynastic line of succession.

4. Tiberius was a fine soldier but a reluctant princeps. He treated Germanicus as fairly as his own son, Drusus Iulius Caesar (Drusus the Younger). Nevertheless rumours persisted of a strained relationship between Tiberius and Germanicus.

5. Agrippa Postumus, M. Agrippa’s last surviving son, blew his chance at succeeding Augustus when he proved to be a wastrel and was sent into exile.

6. Handsome and good-natured, Germanicus was a patriot and loyal to his adoptive father.

7. The earliest known depiction of Germanicus was unveiled at the consecration of the Ara Pacis on 30 January 9 BCE when he was five years old. While he holds his mother’s hand Germanicus is presented as a confident and well-behaved patrician Roman boy.

8. Agrippina Maior (Agrippina the Elder) was the proud daughter of M. Vispanius Agrippa and granddaughter of Augustus. A confident and opinionated women, she was a devoted wife to Germanicus and a protective mother of their children.

9. Drusus the Younger was a quick-tempered man with a cruel streak, but enjoyed a close personal relationship with his adopted brother Germanicus.

10. Tiberius Claudius Nero was devoted to his older brother Germanicus. When he became Emperor, Claudius celebrated his brother’s memory with coins and performances of his plays.

11. Nero Iulius Caesar was Germanicus’ oldest son and most like him in looks and temperament.

12. Caius Iulius Caesar was Germanicus’ youngest son. Raised in the camps of the Rhine legions, he was given the nickname Caligula, ‘bootsy’ and succeeded Tiberius as emperor.

13. Legionarius of the late first century CE in a Coolus-type helmet and chain mail shirt with oval shield and unsheathed gladius ready for action.

14. Replacing chain mail in the first century CE was articulated plate armour. The rectangular scutum also replaced the oval design.

15. Scale armour offered better protection than chain mail and was often worn by middle-ranking officers, musicians and standard bearers.

16. Lightly armed Germanic warriors, often equipped only with a framed and shield, could still inflict damage on heavily armoured Roman troops by using agility, surprise, terrain and numbers.

17. The centuria of eighty men, led by the centurio, aided by his optio, was the basic combat unit in the Roman legion. Other officers relayed commands by music and motions of a signum or vexillum standard. A legion comprised sixty centuries.

18. For his amphibious invasion of Germania Magna, Germanicus ordered a fleet of a thousand ships of different designs to be built to carry men, matériel and livestock. This scene from Trajan’s Column shows the range of vessels which might have been used to support the amphibious campaign.

19. The thick stonewalls of Salona protected the city’s loyalist inhabitants from siege by Illyrian and Pannonian rebels during the War of the Batos of 6–9 CE.

20. Germanicus began his military career by commanding a unit of irregular troops during the War of the Batos. He led them to victory over the Mazaei, whose territory in Pannonia was nourished by the Vrbas River, in 7 CE.

21. Despite difficult terrain, Germanicus led successful assaults on rebel cities located among mountain range of the Dinarides in 8 CE.

22. Germanicus stands prepared for war as Tiberius descends from his triumphal chariot under the auspices of Augustus on the Gemma Augustea.

23. Germanicus and his wife Agrippina the Elder face his brother Claudius and his wife Agrippina the Younger on the Gemma Claudia.

24. Before setting off to take up his new assignment as governor general, Germanicus is depicted hailing Tiberius on the ‘Grand Camée de France’. Agrippina and Caligula stand either side of him.

25. Deep inside Germania Magna, Germanicus’ troops were subject to ambushes from the local Germanic nations who used the cover of trees to mask their movements.

26. Germanicus’ fleet ran aground on the coastal mudflats of the Wadden Sea when he misjudged its tides.

27. The double Arch of C. Iulius Rufus in Saintes, France, is dedicated to Tiberius, Drusus the Younger and Germanicus Caesar.

28. At Nikopolis, Epirus, Germanicus stopped to visit the Actian War memorial and view the site of the sea battle in which both his grandfathers, Augustus and M. Antonius, had faced each other as adversaries.

29. En route to Syria Germanicus visited several of the coastal Greek-speaking cities of Asia Minor like opulent Apameia.

30. At Ilium Germanicus visited the site of the Trojan War which he had studied when reading Homer during his school days.

31. Germanicus established Cappadocia as a province within the Roman Empire in 18 CE without force of arms.

32. Germanicus travelled overland from Antiocheia to Artaxata, Armenia, perhaps even using this surviving section of Roman road at Tall ‘Aqibrin in Syria.

33. Following in his grandfather Antonius’ footsteps, Germanicus toured Egypt, taking a cruise down the Nile.

34. ‘I have been sent by my father to set in order the overseas provinces’ state lines 10–11 of P. Oxy 2435 (Recto), a contemporary account of Germanicus’ actual address to the people of Alexandria on his arrival in Egypt.

35. On his accession in 37 CE, Caligula promoted his filial association with Germanicus on coins.

36. To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Germanicus’ triumph for his campaigns in Germania Magna and the recovery of the standards lost by Varus at Teutoburg, Caligula minted a commemorative dipondius.

37. Germanicus’ profile graced the small change (aes) of Caligula’s reign.

38. This as minted under Claudius imitates the one issued by his predecessor, with the profile of Germanicus reversed. The hole drilled in antiquity suggests it was worn as an amulet.

39. The spectacular ‘Germanicus of Amelia’ is the most complete bronze statue of the Roman commander in full military regalia to survive from the ancient world.

40. After his death in 19 CE, statues of Germanicus were erected all over the Roman Empire. This semi-nude figure from Gabii imitates statues of gods and heroes.

41. Le Mort de Germanicus by Nicolas Poussin began a new trend in Classical period art.

42. Benjamin West’s Agrippina Landing at Brundisium with the Ashes of Germanicus depicts the scene vividly described by Tacitus in Book 3 of the Annals. Britain’s King George III much admired the painting.

43. J.M.W. Turner’s fantastical Ancient Rome: Agrippina Landing with the Ashes of Germanicus was first exhibited in 1839 to critical acclaim. Agrippina stands on the right bank.

44. King Ludwig II of Bavaria inspired Carl Theodor von Piloty to paint Thusnelda im Triumphzug des Germanicus. Germanicus is the silhouetted figure on the far left in the chariot.