Decimus junius brutus albinus biography

Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus. You may recognise part of that name as “Brutus” competes with the likes of Judas and Quisling when one thinks of betrayal. It’s likely, however, that you have a different Brutus in mind, a distant cousin of Decimus named Marcus Junius Brutus. Both were involved in the assassination of Rome’s dictator, Julius Caesar, but thanks to Shakespeare one of these figures is well-known and the other forgotten.

Decimus was born in 81 BC, son of a Roman consul, and well-placed in Roman society for a successful career. The gens Junius had a long and famous history, dating back to the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. The nephew of Tarquinius was Lucius Junius Brutus, a legendary figure in Rome’s founding: partly responsible for ending the rule of kings in Rome and one of its first consuls. Although taking place more than 400 years before the birth of Decimus, the actions of Lucius Brutus would come to influence Decimus and his relative Marcus.

In 509 BC Lucius Brutus was in charge of the king Tarquin’s personal bodyguard and was well aware of the tyranny with which the king ruled Rome. It was after the rape of a close friend’s wife by the king’s son that Lucius Brutus conspired to overthrow the king and expel him and his family for good. However, they didn’t want to stop there. King Tarquin’s rule had such an effect that Lucius Brutus was determined to prevent Rome from ever having a king again. He and his co-conspirators swore an oath immediately following Tarquin’s expulsion:

By this guiltless blood before the kingly injustice I swear – you and the gods as my witnesses – I make myself the one who will prosecute, by what force I am able, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus along with his wicked wife and the whole house of his freeborn children by sword, by fire, by any means hence, so that neither they nor any one else be suffered to rule Rome

In 44 BC, Julius Caesar

Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus (27 April 85 BC-43 BC) was a Roman politician and general who took part in the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC.

Biography[]

Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus was a distant cousin of Julius Caesar, and Caesar loved Decimus as a son. Decimus served in Caesar's army during the Gallic Wars and commanded a fleet during the war with the Veneti in 56 BC, destroying the Veneti fleet in battle. When Caesar's Civil War broke out with Pompey the Great, he sided with Caesar, and he captured Massilia (Marseille, France) via blockade. However, he was convinced to join the conspiracy against Caesar in 44 BC after Caesar made it clear that he wanted to become Emperor of Rome, and he escorted Caesar to the Senate house on 15 March 44 BC; Caesarr feared for his life, so he trusted Decimus. At the senate house, Decimus was the last to stab Caesar, stabbing him in the side. Mark Antony granted the assassins amnesty the next day, but relations between the conspirators and Antony broke down, and Decimus raised his own legions in Gallia Cisalpina to fight against Antony. Antony besieged Decimus at Mutina, and the Roman government sided with Brutus. Octavian managed to lift the siege, but he coldly replied to Decimus' gesture of thanks, saying that he had come to fight Antony, not to save Caesar's assassins. Decimus' men then deserted to Octavian, and Decimus attempted to flee to Macedonia. However, he was executed by a Gaulish chieftain who was loyal to Antony.

Gallery[]

Roman general, politician, and assassin of Julius Caesar (81–43 BC)

For other people with similar names, see Decimus Junius Brutus.

Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus (27 April 81 BC – September 43 BC) was a Roman general and politician of the late republican period and one of the leading instigators of Julius Caesar's assassination. He had previously been an important supporter of Caesar in the Gallic Wars and in the civil war against Pompey. Decimus Brutus is often confused with his distant cousin and fellow conspirator, Marcus Junius Brutus.

Biography

Early life

Decimus was probably son of the Roman senator Decimus Junius Brutus and his notorious wife Sempronia, one of the participants in the conspiracy of Catilina in 63 BC. His birthday seems to have been 27 April, and he was probably born in the year 81 BC, perhaps slightly earlier. Decimus was of distinguished ancestry: his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all been consuls, and his mother was likely descended from Gaius Gracchus, the ill-fated popular reformer. He was also adopted by a patrician named Postumius Albinus, one of the last members of the ancient noble house which bore that name. Although some ancient sources accordingly refer to Decimus as 'Albinus', and the name also appears on some coins he himself minted, Decimus does not seem to have changed his name to reflect the adoption, as was customary, and his contemporaries continued referring to him by his birth name, even in official contexts.

On several occasions Julius Caesar expressed how he loved Decimus Brutus like a son. Syme argued that if a Brutus was the natural son of Caesar, Decimus was more likely than Marcus Brutus. Decimus was named an heir in the second degree in Caesar's will and was designated to become guardian of any child Caesar would have. Roman historian Appian interpreted this as being an adoption of Decimus by Caesar.^[21