11 Facts About Aulus Gabinius

Aulus Gabinius was a politician and general of the Roman Republic.

Aulus Gabinius had an important career, culminating with a consulship in 58 BC, mainly thanks to the patronage of Pompey.

Aulus Gabinius's name is mostly associated with the lex Gabinia, a law he passed as tribune of the plebs in 67 BC that granted Pompey an extraordinary command in the Mediterranean Sea to fight the pirates.

In 67 BC, as a tribune of the plebs, Gabinius brought forward the law which gave Pompey the command in the war against Mediterranean pirates, with extensive powers that gave him absolute control over the sea and the coasts for 50 miles inland.

In 59 BC, Aulus Gabinius ran for one of the consulships for 58 and managed to get himself elected, although not without the suspicion of bribery.

Aulus Gabinius was elected consul alongside Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, Caesar's father-in-law.

In 57 BC Aulus Gabinius started his term as governor of Syria.

Aulus Gabinius supported Mithridates IV in his struggle against his brother Orodes but abandoned Mithridates when the more lucrative offer of restoring Ptolemy XII Auletes to the Egyptian throne reached him.

Aulus Gabinius succeeded after a short successful campaign, in which he was supported by the young cavalry officer Mark Antony.

Aulus Gabinius left some of his troops, the so-called Gabiniani, in Egypt to protect Ptolemy XII.

Aulus Gabinius married a Roman noblewoman called Lollia from the Lollia gens, perhaps a daughter of Marcus Lollius Palicanus, tribune of the plebs in 71 BC.