Kalin Stoev
2025
Marcus Primus (Μᾶρκος Πρῖμος), a Roman governor of the province of Macedonia, whose rule falls in an unspecified period between 28 and 24 BC, is one of the senior administrators mentioned in the sources, connected with the military-political initiatives of the Romans in the Thracian lands. The only account of him is given by Dio Cassius in book 54 of his “Histories” (Dio, LIV, 3, 2-6.), in connection with a scandalous trial, dated 23 or 22 B.C. (Atkinson 1960: 440; Syme 1939: 330), in which the Princeps Augustus is also involved. According to Dio, after his return from the province, Marcus Primus was brought to trial before the Senate on a charge of having arbitrarily waged war against the Odrysians. Such military initiatives by a senatorial governor of a Roman province must in principle be carried out with the sanction of the supreme military authority at the imperial level. The course of the trial is succinctly conveyed by Dio in the passage quoted:
“…when there was an accusation against a certain Marcus Primus that he had waged war against the Odrysians as governor of Macedonia and justified himself as having been ordered by Augustus or Marcellus to do so, he (Augustus, K.S.) appeared by his decision in the dekasterion, and being asked by the praetor whether he had ordered Primus to fight, denied. And to the question of Licinius Murena, a defender of Primus, who was insulted by him (Augustus, K.S..) without need, “What are you doing here and who summoned you”, he answered “The public affairs”.
The short passage can clearly be placed in the context of the Augustan autocracy, in which the emperor imposed his supreme command over the troops in the provinces, including senatorial ones such as Macedonia. At the time of Primus’ initiative, Augustus was regular consul, therefore commander-in-chief of the Roman army, which Primus used to justify his actions by practically pointing out that the sanction came from the emperor or Marcus Marcellus (consul for 22 BC). For the same reason, the case of Primus must also be seen as a parallel to that of Marcus Licinius Crassus from the beginning of the decade (see Crassus). The results of the trial are judged by researchers (e.g. R. Syme) as one of the decisive events that led to the further imposition of Augustan rule in the provinces (Syme 1939: 330). It is no coincidence that after the case of Primus, no other senatorial governor from the time of Augustus is attested in Macedonia, and under his successor Tiberius the province was united in a common command with Achaia and Moesia.
Marcus Antonius Primus, a supposed heir of Marcus Primus, by Marc Arcis © Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
The insufficient information about Marcus Primus makes us rely only on circumstantial information about his origin. The only position known to us is the one mentioned by Dio – “commander” (ἄρχων) of the province of Macedonia, which in the scholarly literature (K. Patsch, R. Hanslick, V. E. Gardthausen, R. Syme, M. Mirkovic etc.) is unanimously accepted as a governor of Macedonia, probably a proconsul praetorian rank (Patsch 1932: 82-83; PIR 2: 214).
The text of the Nicene author implies that Primus was a man without a solid genealogy or career behind him, as he was called “a certain Marcus Primus.” Dio’s passage also points to the suggestion that Primus was part of the Augustus’ closest circle of friends, since the emperor appeared at his trial of his own free will, as he was in the habit of doing for his friends. According to M. Grant, evidence of the subordination to Augustus, recognized by Primus, in his capacity as senatorial governor of a province, is reflected in alleged Macedonian provincial coins during the latter’s tenure with the face of Augustus on the obverse and prora on the reverse (Grant 1969: 83-84; RPC I, 5416). According to the same author, another proof of Primus’ belonging to the emperor’s close senior bureaucrats in the empire is the reference not only to Augustus, but also to Marcellus – the first husband of Augustus’ daughter Julia.
The exact nature of Primus’ connections with the imperial house is unknown. His family affiliation is obscured, as the source is silent on his surname (nomen gentilicium). The assumption of V.E. Gardthausen (Gardthausen 1902: 1055) that the governor’s full name was Marcus Antonius Primus and thus he could have been an ancestor of the friend of Emperor Vespasian with the same name is unconfirmed by ancient sources (Hanslik 1954: 1996). Marcus Primus is not attested in the consular fasti, so he took over the province as ex-praetor (Hanslik 1954: 82-83), a degradation in provincial command and doubtless a consequence of the emperor’s reluctance to leave Macedonia in the hands of an ex-consul, which could have led to problems similar to these with Marcus Licinius Crassus.
Primus’ birthplace also remains unknown. A partially preserved inscription from Potentia at Picenum dated in the early Augustan era (CIL IX 5811) … Primus Marc[…] / VIvir(i) Au[g(ustales)] / S(enatus) P(opulus)q(ue) R(omanus) / Augusto dedit / clupeum virtutis … may possibly be connected with Primus, as the names in it could be restored as …Primus Marc(i) l(ibertus), Primus, freedman of Marcus, who, as a member of the traditionally freedmen collegium of augustales, presents a shield (clipeus vitutis) to the emperor.
Marcus Primus’ war against the Odrysians is mentioned only in this source, but its existence can be indirectly confirmed by other authors. An account of Titus Livius, preserved in his periochus for the 135th book, mentions the war of Marcus Crassus against the Thracians (Liv. Per. CXXXV: Bellum a M. Crasso adversus Thracas…), but places it after his proconsulship in the province – in 25 BC It is quite possible that the compiler of the Livian Periochae merged the war of Crassus with the Moesians mentioned in book 134 with the initiative of Primus, who apparently succeeded the representative of the Licinii at the head of Macedonia of much less reliable origin.
Marcus Primus’ action against the Thracians, i.е. against the Odrysian state is a peculiarity in the context of the early imperial politics in the Thracian lands. The Odrysians were a traditional ally of the Romans, whose political initiatives were usually associated with the taming of independent tribes in Thrace such as the Bessi (Петков 2012: 164 f.). If the accounts of Cassius Dio and the Livius’ Periochae do not use „Odrysians“ and „Thracians“ as general geographical concepts, then Primus’ war is an interesting episode in Roman-Thracian relations and shows the desire of the Romans, more precise of the emperor and his ruling circle, changes in the treatment of the Thracian lands without the sanction of the Senate, in other words to put the Thracian kingdom in tighter dependence on the emperor (Стоев 2017,: 27-28). It is possible that in connection with the military actions of Primus in Thrace, the family of Rhoemetalces rose to political eminence, who is attested in the sources as the mightiest person in Thrace in the decades that followed the war of the Macedonian governor.
REFERENCES
Atkinson, K. 1960: Constitutional and Legal Aspects of the Trials of Marcus Primus and Varro Murena. – Historia. Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 9, 4, 440 – 473.
CIL = Corpus inscriptionum latinarum, Berolini.
Gardthausen, V.-E. 1902: Augustus und seine Zeit. T.2., Bd. 3., Leipzig.
Grant, M. 1969: From imperium to auctoritas. A Historical Study of the aes coinage in the Roman Empire. 49 BC – AD 14. Cambridge, University Press, 1969.
Hanslik, R. 1954: Primus (2). – In: Pauly-Wissowa Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Hbbd.22, 1996.
Петков 2012: Петков, П. Военно-политически отношения на тракийските владетели в европейския югоизток между 230/229 г. пр. Хр. – 45/46 г. сл. Хр. София, 2012.
PIR 2: Groag, G., A. Stein (eds.) Prosopographia imperii romani, saecula I, II, III. Berolini, 1933.
Stockton, D. 1965: Primus and Murena, – Historia: Zeitschrift fuer Alte Geschichte, 14, 1, 18-40.
Stoev, K. (под печат): Augustus as a proconsul in South-Eastern Europe. – In: Сборник с доклади от конференция „The Cult of the Ruler in Antiquity and Middle Ages”.
Syme, R. 1939: The Roman Revolution, Oxford, Clarendon Press.
Syme, R. 1971: Danubian Papers, Bucharest.
Patsch, K. 1932: Beiträge zur Völkerkunde von Südosteuropa: 1. Teil: Bis zur Festsetzung der Römer in Transdunavien (Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien: Philosophisch-historische Klasse, N 214, 1. Abhandlung), Wien und Leipzig: Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky A.-G.
Mirkovic, М. 2008: Die Anfänge der Provinz Moesia – In: Piso, I. (Hrsg.) Die römischen Provinzen. Begriff und Gründung. Colloquium Cluj-Napoca, 28. September – 1. Oktober 2006, Cluj-Napoca, Ed. Mega, 249-271.