Marcus Perperna, Roman

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

 consul

Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...

 in 130 BC, is said to have been a consul before he was a citizen; for Valerius Maximus

Valerius Maximus

Valerius Maximus was a Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes. He worked during the reign of Tiberius .-Biography:...

 relates, that the father of this Perperna was condemned under the lex Papia after the death of his son, because he had falsely usurped the rights of a Roman citizen.

M. Perperna was praetor

Praetor

Praetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...

 in 135 BC, in which year he had the conduct of the war against the slaves in Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

, and in consequence of the advantages which he obtained over them received the honour of an ovation

Ovation

The ovation was a lower form of the Roman triumph. Ovations were granted, when war was not declared between enemies on the level of states, when an enemy was considered basely inferior or when the general conflict was resolved with little to no bloodshed or danger to the army itself.The general...

 on his return to Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

. He was consul 130 BC with C. Claudius Pulcher Lentulus, and was sent into Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

 against Aristonicus

Eumenes III

Eumenes III was the pretender to the throne of Pergamon.When the Pergamene King Attalus III died in 133 BC, he bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans...

, who had defeated one of the consuls of the previous year, Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus

Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus

Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus was the son by blood of Publius Mucius Scaevola, the consul of 175 BC, and brother of Publius Mucius Scaevola...

. Perperna, however, soon brought the war to a close. He defeated Aristonicus in the first engagement, and followed up his victory by laying siege to Stratonikeia

Stratonikeia

-References:* from the Catholic Encyclopedia *Richard Stillwell, William L. MacDonald, Marian Holland McAllister ; , , Princeton, *Smith, William ; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, , London,...

, whither Aristonicus had fled. The town was compelled by famine to surrender, and the king accordingly fell into the consul's hands. Perperna did not however live to enjoy the triumph

Roman triumph

The Roman triumph was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the military achievement of an army commander who had won great military successes, or originally and traditionally, one who had successfully completed a foreign war. In Republican...

, which he would undoubtedly have obtained, but died in the neighbourhood of Pergamum

Pergamon

Pergamon , or Pergamum, was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, today located from the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus , that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC...

 on his return to Rome in 129 BC. It was the above mentioned Perperna who granted the right of asylum

Sanctuary

A sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...

 to the temple of Diana

Diana (mythology)

In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt and moon and birthing, being associated with wild animals and woodland, and having the power to talk to and control animals. She was equated with the Greek goddess Artemis, though she had an independent origin in Italy...

 in the town of Hierocaesareia in Lydia

Lydia

Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian....

.