Cavalry officer who gained
control of Roman forces in Syria by provoking a mutiny among troops
opposed to the dictatorship of Julius Caesar.
Quintus Caecilius Bassus had served under Pompey,
who was murdered by partisans of Caesar in 48 CE. When Caesar appointed
his cousin Sextus governor of Syria
(47 CE),
Bassus began rallying troops to his cause by circulating a forged report
that Caesar had been deposed. After Sextus was murdered by his own
soldiers (46 CE), Bassus became de facto commandant of Roman forces
in Syria. His prominence was prolonged by the turmoil following Julius
Caesar's own assassination. Though the Roman Senate named Dolabella
governor of Syria, he never gained control of it. For when Caesar's
assassin, Cassius, arrived in Syria, he
took command of the troops that Bassus had led.
References:
Josephus,
Antiquities
14.268-272.
______, War
1.216, 219.
Cassius Dio, Roman History 47.26-28.
Livy, History
of Rome
114 [periocha]
Appian,
History of Rome: Civil Wars 3.77-78,
4.58-59.