Varus   [ca. 50 BCE -9 CE]

Publius Quinctilius Varus was son of one of the assassins of Julius Caesar who had committed suicide after Marc Antony's victory at Philippi (42 BCE). Since the younger Varus' wife was a relative of Octavian, however, he was given a series of imperial appointments, including legate to Syria (6 BCE). With brutal efficiency he crushed the Jewish revolt after Herod's death (4 BCE), destroying the Galilean capitol of Sepphoris & crucifying thousands of Jews. He then was appointed governor of Germany, where he eventually committed suicide after suffering one of the most devastating defeats in Roman military history at the hands of the German general, Arminius ["Hermann the German"].

References: Josephus, Antiquities 17.89-93, 118-133, 221-228, 250-268, 286-303. 
                   _____, War 1.617-640; 2.16-54, 66-83.
                   Tacitus, Annals 1.3, 55, 57, 60-61.
                   Velleius Paterculus,  Roman History 2.117-120.
                   Cassius Dio, Roman History 56.18-23.
                   Suetonius, Twelve Caesars: Augustus 23.

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