Queen of Bithynia

The Queen of Bithynia (Latin: Bithynica regina) was a mock ancient epithet of Julius Caesar referencing his alleged homosexual relationship with King Nicomedes IV of Bithynia. The epithet and related rumour were repeatedly invoked by several of Caesar's contemporaries, such as Cicero, Licinius Calvus, Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus and Gaius Memmius.[1] Caesar himself denied such allegation under oath.[2]

For the actual rulers, see List of rulers of Bithynia.
Nicomedes IV of Bithynia on a contemporary coin

Background

Around 80 BC, Caesar, then a young man, joined the staff of Marcus Minucius Thermus in Asia for military training.[1] Thermus had been engaged in bringing Mytilene under Roman control via a siege, and dispatched Caesar to solicit a fleet from allied Bithynian king Nicomedes IV. According to Suetonius, Caesar dawdled at the Bithynian court, so that a rumour emerged of sexual relationship with Nicomedes.[1] Caesar successfully completed his task of summoning an allied fleet. The rumour was spread further when a few days after his task, Caesar returned to Bithynia.[1]

In Roman rhetoric, with modesty (pudicitia) at the forefront, allegations of passive homosexual activity, along with other sexual misconduct, were commonly used against young men, or the youthful period of a man's life.[1] Another example was the trial of Marcus Caelius Rufus, where one of the prosecutors, Sempronius Atratinus, called him a "pretty-boy Jason" (pulchellus Iason).[1]

Contemporary uses

Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus used the epithet in the edicts he issued during his joint consulship with Caesar.[1] A man named Octavius, at a public assembly, addressed Pompey as "king" and Caesar as "queen" in their presence.[3] At a debate in the Senate, when Caesar recalled some benefits Rome had received from Nicomedes, Cicero interrupted him with "we all know what he gave you and what you gave him in return".[3] Consul Gaius Scribonius Curio called Caesar "every man's wife and every woman's husband".[4] Caesar's own soldiers upon victorious return from the Gallic Wars sang in parade that "Caesar conquered Gaul, but Nicomedes conquered Caesar".[3]

Modern scholarship

Modern biographers of Caesar, such as Matthias Gelzer, Christian Meier or Antony Kamm acknowledge the episode, mainly supporting Suetonius' notion that Caesar's stay at the Nicomedes' court directly caused allegations of a sexual relationship.[1] Adrian Goldsworthy characterized it as "a very good piece of gossip, playing on well-established Roman stereotypes".[1]

References
  1. J. Osgood (2008). "Caesar and Nicomedes" (PDF). The Classical Quarterly. 58 (2): 687–691. doi:10.1017/S0009838808000785. S2CID 171082951. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  2. Philip Freeman (2008). Julius Caesar. Simon and Schuster. p. 33. ISBN 978-0743289535.
  3. James Neill (2011). The Origins and Role of Same-Sex Relations in Human Societies. McFarland. p. 200. ISBN 978-0786469260.
  4. Neill, p. 201

See also
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