Talk:Aulus Terentius Varro Murena

This article is rated Stub-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Biography

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
	This article has been automatically rated by a bot or other tool as Stub-class because it uses a stub template. Please ensure the assessment is correct before removing the `\|auto=` parameter.

Classical Greece and Rome Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Classical Greece and Rome, a group of contributors interested in Wikipedia's articles on classics. If you would like to join the WikiProject or learn how to contribute, please see our project page. If you need assistance from a classicist, please see our talk page.Classical Greece and RomeWikipedia:WikiProject Classical Greece and RomeTemplate:WikiProject Classical Greece and RomeClassical Greece and Rome articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Military history: Biography / Roman & Byzantine Start‑class

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles

Start

This article has been rated as Start-class on the project's quality scale.

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion not met Coverage and accuracy: criterion not met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion not met

Associated task forces:
/
	Military biography task force
	Roman and Byzantine military history task force

Conspiracy with Fannius Caepio

The final sentence in this article is problematic, regardless that it is linked to a published source. As it currently stands, Aulus Terentius Varro Murena was accused of conspiring with Fannius Caepio and executed as a result. Then, sometime later, Fannius Caepio is again accused of conspiring against Augustus, this time with Lucius Lucinius Varro Murena, the Legate of Syria. Given that all the persons who were involved in the so-called Murena conspiracy were executed without trial, including Fannius Caepio, it seems unlikely that he survived and was given another opportunity to conspire against Augustus.

The source for this, Clifford Ando's "Imperial ideology and provincial loyalty in the Roman Empire", gives a sequence of events that is not only contrary to the information presented in the article, but also at odds the traditional assessment of the events around 23 and 22 BC. According to Ando, Aulus Terentius Varro Murena died in 23 BC, prior to assuming the consulate, and it was his adopted brother, Lucius Lucinius Varro Murena, who was involved in the conspiracy against Augustus. Somehow, during all this, Ando fails to mention the trial of Marcus Primus, who was defended by Murena and was linked in some way to the eventual charges of conspiracy. Lucius Lucinius Varro Murena was in Syria at the time, so it couldn't have been him, yet according to Ando, Aulus Terentius Varro Murena was dead (the trial could not have preceeded his death as he wouldn't have been made consul designate had he offended Augustus).

Doing some further checking of recent secondary sources, Holland (Augustus, Godfather of Europe, 2004) and Eck & Takacs (The Age of Augustus, 2003) argue that it was Aulus Terentius Varro Murena, while Raaflaub (Between republic and empire: interpretations of Augustus and his principate, 1993), Davies (Aspects of Roman history, 82 BC-AD 14: a source-based approach, 2010), Southern (Augustus, 1998), and Wells (The Roman Empire, 1995) agree with Ando that it was Lucius Lucinius Varro Murena. Oatley2112 (talk) 02:48, 29 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Having looked at a number of sources, it appears that the modern consensus is that Aulus Terentius Varro Murena died before achieving the Consulate, and that Lucius Lucinius Varro Murena was the one involved in the conspiracy against Augustus after his term as Legate of Syria was over. I shall correct this article and create one for Lucius Lucinius Varro Murena. Oatley2112 (talk) 05:21, 30 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]