Titus Statilius Taurus

Titus Statilius Taurus was the name of a line of Roman senators. The first known and most important of these was a Roman general and two-time consul prominent during the Triumviral and Augustan periods. The other men who bore this name were his descendants.

Titus Statilius Taurus (I) was a general and twice consul during the Triumviral and Augustan periods. This Taurus was a novus homo ("new man" or "self-made man") from the region of Lucania.

Initially a partisan of Marcus Antonius, by whom he was chosen as suffect consul in 37 BC, he subsequently was sent by Antonius with a fleet to aid Octavian in his war against Sextus Pompeius. After Pompey was driven from Sicily, Taurus crossed the sea to the province of Africa, which he secured without any difficulty and for which he was awarded a triumph in 34 BC. He returned to Rome, where he began work on the city's first permanent amphitheatre.

In 34 BC, he accompanied Octavian on campaign to Dalmatia, and after Octavian's return to Rome, Taurus remained in command of the troops stationed there. When war with Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra broke out, Taurus chose Octavian's side and in the Battle of Actium, he was in command of Octavian's land force. Antony's land forces surrendered to him rather than fight him. This greatly accelerated the victory of Caesar Octavian. After the death of Antonius, Taurus was sent in 29 BC to Spain where he defeated the Cantabrians, Vaccaei and Astures. He was later made consul ordinarius for the year 26 BC alongside Augustus, as Octavian was now known. In 16 BC, when Augustus left Italy for Gaul, he left Taurus in Rome as praefectus urbi. Until the second consulship of Tiberius in 7 BC, Statilius Taurus was the last man to hold multiple consulships. It appears Augustus was experimenting with a "share the honors" program before he consolidated enough power to rule as the unofficial emperor.

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