Deiotarus
- Tetrarch of Galatia, afterwards king in Armenia Minor and a part of Pontus; a contemporary of Pompey and Caesar, and of Cicero, who made on his behalf a well-known oration, Caes. B. C. 3, 4; Cic. Fam. 9, 12, 2; id. Att. 14, 1, 2; id. Brut. 5, 21; Tac. Dial. 21, 6; Luc. 5, 55.—
- II Son of the preceding, Cic. Att. 5, 17, 8; id. Phil. 11, 12, 31 sq.
(Δηϊόταρος).
1. Tetrarch of Galatia. He is said by Plutarch to have been a very old man in B. C. 54, when Crassus, passing through Galatia on his Parthian expedition, rallied him on his building a new city at his time of life. He must therefore have attained to mature manhood in B. C. 95, the year of the birth of Cato of Utica, whose father's friend he was, and who, we know, was left an orphan at a very early age. (Plut. Crass. 17, Cat. Min. 12, 15; Pseudo-Appian, Parth. p. 136; comp, Cato, p. 647a.) Deiotarus adhered firmly to the Romans in their wars in Asia, and in B. C. 74 defeated in Phrygia the generals of Mithridates. For his services he was honoured by the senate with the title of king, and, probably in B. C. 63, the year of the death of Mithridates, had Gadelonitis and Armenia Minor added to his dominions. Appian, apparently by an oversight, says that Pompey made him tetrarch of Galatia. He succeeded, indeed, doubtless by Roman favour, in encroaching on the rights of the other tetrarchs of that district, and obtaining nearly the whole of it for himself. (Strab. xii. pp. 547, 567; Casaub. ad loc.; Plut. Pomp. 38; Appian, Bell. Mithr. 114; Cic. pro Deiot. 13, Phil. 11.12, de Har. Resp. 13; Hirt. Bell. Alex. 67.) In B. C. 51, when Cicero was encamped at Cybistra on the borders of Cappadocia, for the protection of Cappadocia and Cilicia against the Parthians, Deiotarus offered to join him with all his forces, and was indeed on his way to do so, when Cicero sent to inform him that events had rendered his assistance unnecessary. (Cic. Phil. 11.13, ad Fam. 8.10, 15.1, 2, 4.) In the civil war, Deiotarus attached himself to the cause of Pompey, together with whom he effected his escape in a ship after the battle of Pharsalia in B. C. 48. (Plut. Pomp. 73 ; Appian, App. BC 2.71; Caes. Civ. 3.4; Cic. de Div. 2.37, pro Deiot. 3, 4; Lucan. Phars. 5.55, 8.209.) In B. C. 47 he applied to Domitius Calvinus, Caesar's legate in Asia, for aid against Pharnaces, who had taken possession of Armenia Minor, and who in the campaign which followed defeated the Roman and Galatian forces near Nicopolis. (Hirt. Bell. Alex. 34-41, 65-77; Appian, App. BC 2.91; Plut. Cues. 50; D. C. 42.45_48; Sueton. Jul. 35; Cic. Fam. 15.15, pro Deiot. 5.) When Caesar, in the same year, came into Asia from Egypt, Deiotarus received him with submission, and endeavorred to excuse the aid he had given to Pompey. According to Hirtius (Bell. Ales. 67, 78), Caesar left him his title of king, but gave his tetrarchy to Mithridates of Pergamus. Cicero tells us (de Div. 1.15, comp. Phil. 2.37), that he was deprived both of his tetrarchy and kingdom, not however of his regal title (pro Deiot. 13), and tined. Dio Cassius says (41.63), that Caesar did indeed bestow on Ariobarzanes, king of Cappadocia, a portion of the kingdom of Deiotarus, but that he gave the latter a part of what he took away from Pharnaces, and so in fact enlarged his territory; but this seems inconsistent with the whole tenour of what we find in Cicero.
In the autumn of the same year, the cause of Deiotarus was unsuccessfully pleaded by Brutus before Caesar at Nicaea in Bithynia. (Cic. Brut. 5, ad Att. 14.1.) In B. C. 45, he was defended by Cicero before Caesar, in the house of the latter at Rome, in the speech (pro Rege Deiotaro) still extant. From this it appears that his grandson, Castor, had accused him of a design against Caesar's life when he received him in Galatia, and also of an intention of sending troops to the aid of Caecilius Bassus. [See p. 472.] Strabo, however, speaks of Castor as the son-in-law of Deiotarus, and says that the old king put him to death together with his wife, Deiotarus's own daughter; and Suidas tells us that he did so because Castor had accused him to Caesar. Vossius conjectures that the Castor mentioned by Cicero was son to the one whom Strabo and Suidas speak of, and that Deiotarus put the latter to death because he head instigated the younger Castor to accuse him. (Strab. xii. p.568; Suid. s. v. Κάστωρ; Caes. Civ. 3.4; Cic. Fam. 9.12; Voss. de Hist. Graec. p. 203, ed. Westermann; comp. the language of Cicero, pro Deiot. 10, 11.) At this time Blesamius and Hieras, emissaries of Deiotarus, were at Rome to look after his interests (Cic. pro Deiot. 14, 15); and they were still there in the following year, B. C. 44, when Hieras, after the murder of Caesar, appears to have obtained from Antony, through Fulvia, the restitution of his master's dominions for 10,000 sestertia (88,541l. 13s. 4d.). Deiotarus, however, had seized by force on the territory in question as soon as he heard of Caesar's death. (Cic. Phil. 2.37, ad Att. 14.12, 19, 16.3.) In B. C. 42, he joined the party of Brutus and Cassius at the request of the former, and after Cassius had vainly endeavoured to attach him to them. (D. C. 47.24.) He was succeeded by Deiotarus II. (No. 2), his only surviving son, all the rest of his children having been put to death by him, according to Plutarch, in order that his kingdom in the hands of his successor might not be shorn of its power. (Plut. de Stoic. Repugn. 32.) This account, if true, warns us to make a large deduction from the praises lavished on him by Cicero. He appears to have had a full share of superstition, and to have been in the habit of paying much attention to auguries. (Cic. de. Div. 1.15, 2.36, 37.)
2. Son and successor of the above. Already, however, before his father's death, he had received from the Roman senate the title of king, to which some grant of territory was apparently attached. With this Deiotarus, Cicero tells us that his son and his nephew remained, while himself and his brother Quintus were occupied with their campaign in Cilicia, B. C. 51. (Cic. Att. 5.17, 18,Phil. 11.12.) In the war between Antony and Octavius he took part with the former, but went over from him to the enemy in the battle of Actium, B. C. 31. He was succeeded in his kingdom by Amyntas, No. 6. Cicero speaks of him, as well as of his father, in very high terms. (Plut. Ant.61, 63 ; comp. D. C. 1. 13, 51.2; Strab. xii. p.567; Cic. Phil. 11.13.)
3. Son of the younger Castor, and great grandson of Deiotarus I. He was the last king of Paphlagonia, and was surnamed Ψιλάδελφος. (Strab. xii. p.562; Clinton. F. H. iii. pp. 545, 546.) [E.E]
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…Aprilis debere desisti sunt ea quidem innumerabilia quae a tuis emebantur non insciente te, sed unum egregium de rege Deiotaro, populi Romani amicissimo, decretum in Capitolio fixum quo proposito nemo erat qui in ipso dolore risum posset continere…
Cicero, Philippicae
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…solitum dicere, magni refert hic quid velit, sed quicquid vult valde vult ; idque eum animadvertisse cum pro Deiotaro Nicaeae dixerit ; valde vehementer eum visum et libere dicere ; atque etiam ut enim quidque succurrit libet scribere proxime…
Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum
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…, C. Caesar, noti mores, nota constantia. cui porro qui modo populi Romani nomen audivit, Deiotari integritas, gravitas, virtus, fides non audita est quod igitur facinus nec in hominem imprudentem caderet propter metum…
Cicero, pro Rege Deiotaro
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…eius erit qui eam provinciam tum obtinebit, cum C. Cassius pro consule in eam provinciam venerit ; regem Deiotarum patrem et regem Deiotarum filium, si, ut multis bellis saepe numero imperium populi Romani iuverint, item C…
Cicero, Philippicae
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…aut ne fieri possit auspicium, aut, si fiat, videri Nam illud admodum ridiculum, quod negas, Deiotarum auspiciorum, quae sibi ad Pompeium proficiscenti facta sint, paenitere, quod fidem secutus amicitiamque populi Romani functus sit…
M. Tullius Cicero, De Divinatione
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…provinciam tum obtinebit, cum C. Cassius pro consule in eam provinciam venerit ; regem Deiotarum patrem et regem Deiotarum filium, si, ut multis bellis saepe numero imperium populi Romani iuverint, item C. Cassium pro consule…
Cicero, Philippicae
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…pecunia fixit legem a dictatore comitiis latam qua Siculi cives Romani ; cuius rei vivo illo mentio nulla. quid Deiotari nostri causa non similis dignus ille quidem omni regno sed non per Fulviam. sescenta similia. verum illuc…
Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum
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…, Castor, non potestis sine propinquorum calamitate esse contenti sint sane inimicitiae, quae esse non debebant rex enim Deiotarus vestram familiam abiectam et obscuram e tenebris in lucem evocavit quis tuum patrem ante quis esset quam cuius gener esset…
Cicero, pro Rege Deiotaro
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…et clementiam et sibi esse gratam et mihi voluptati magnae fore. sed Pansa furere videtur de Clodio itemque de Deiotaro et loquitur severe, si velis credere. illud tamen non belle, ut mihi quidem videtur, quod factum…
Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum
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…Iunium transiri non potest. Thermum, ut rogas, creberrimis litteris fulcio. P. Valerium negat habere quicquam Deiotarus rex eumque ait ; a ; se sustentari. cum scies Romae intercalatum sit necne, velim ad…
Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum
(Δηϊόταρος). A tetrarch of Galatia, who adhered to the Romans in their wars against Mithridates, and was rewarded by the Senate with the title of king. In the Civil War he sided with Pompey, and was present at the battle of Pharsalia, B.C. 48. He is remembered as having been defended by Cicero before Caesar (B.C. 45), in the house of the latter at Rome, in the speech (Pro Rege Deiotaro) still extant. The charge against Deiotarus was of attempting to murder Caesar.