Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus (consul 79 BCE)

Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus (c. 122 BC – 44 BC), was a Roman politician and general who was Roman consul in 79 BC. He was granted the agnomen Isauricus after his victories over the pirates in Cilicia.

Vatia Isauricus was the son of Gaius Servilius Vatia and a member of the Plebeian branch of the gens Servilia, while his mother was Caecilia Metella, daughter of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus.

A traditionalist, he was among the group of young Roman nobles who killed Lucius Appuleius Saturninus in the Curia Hostilia after his failed revolt. It has been conjectured that he served as Plebeian Tribune in 97 BC. He held the office of Praetor in 90 BC, following which he was given a propraetoreal governorship in 89 BC, with his province being either Corsica et Sardinia or Cilicia. Due to some unrecorded victories in his province, Vatia Isauricus was awarded a triumph in 88 BC upon his return to Rome.

In 88 BC, with the support of the consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Vatia Isauricus put himself forward as Sulla's preferred candidate for the consular elections of 87 BC, but was defeated in the subsequent election by Lucius Cornelius Cinna, a supporter of Gaius Marius. In 87 BC, he was one of Sulla’s lieutenant’s in Italy, and he attempted to stop the return of Gaius Marius and his supporters, but was driven from Ariminum by Marcus Marius Gratidianus, who took command of his army. Sometime after this defeat he fled Italy to join Sulla in Greece.

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