Lucius Caninius Gallus was a Roman politician of the Roman Republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

. Gallus was of plebs

Plebs

The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...

 status and came from a family of consular rank.

Gallus was a contemporary and friend to dictator Gaius Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....

, also to politicians Marcus Terentius Varro

Marcus Terentius Varro

Marcus Terentius Varro was an ancient Roman scholar and writer. He is sometimes called Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus.-Biography:...

 and Marcus Tullius Cicero. Gallus was a man of political talent and acquirements.

Gallus in 59 BC, had accused Quintus Fabius Maximus

Quintus Fabius Maximus (consul 45 BC)

Quintus Fabius Maximus was a general and statesman of the late Roman Republic. He was a member of the patrician gens Fabia...

  and Gaius Antonius Hybrida

Gaius Antonius Hybrida

Gaius Antonius Hybrida was a politician of the Roman Republic. He was the second son of Marcus Antonius Orator and brother of Marcus Antonius Creticus; his mother is unknown. He was the uncle of the famed triumvir Mark Antony....

 of the Lex Acilia repetundarum

Lex Acilia repetundarum

Lex Acilia Repetundarum was a law established in ancient Rome in 123 BC.It provides for equites as jurors in courts overseeing senatorial class to prevent corruption abroad. It was extremely unpopular since the inferior class judges the senatorial. It was believed to be part of Gaius Gracchus'...

, whom Cicero defended the accused. After 58 BC Gallus married Antonia Hybrida Major, the first daughter of Gaius Antonius Hybrida and a paternal cousin to triumvir Mark Antony

Mark Antony

Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...

.

In 56 BC, while tribune

Tribune

Tribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...

 of the Roman citizens, Gallus tried to increase the power and influence of Pompey

Pompey

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...

. He prevented Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther

Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther

Publius Cornelius Lentulus, nicknamed Spinther because of his likeness to a popular actor of that name, came from an ancient Roman patrician family of the Cornelia gens. Although treated with great favour by Julius Caesar, Spinther eventually came to support the aristocratic senatorial cause of...

 to be become proconsul

Proconsul

A proconsul was a governor of a province in the Roman Republic appointed for one year by the senate. In modern usage, the title has been used for a person from one country ruling another country or bluntly interfering in another country's internal affairs.-Ancient Rome:In the Roman Republic, a...

 of Cilicia

Cilicia

In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...

.

Gallus assisted the Greek

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 Ptolemaic

Ptolemaic dynasty

The Ptolemaic dynasty, was a Macedonian Greek royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Their rule lasted for 275 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC...

 Pharaoh

Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...

 Ptolemy XII Auletes

Ptolemy XII Auletes

Ptolemy Neos Dionysos Theos Philopator Theos Philadelphos , more commonly known as "Auletes" or "Nothos" , was an Egyptian king of Macedonian descent...

 of Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 to reclaim his throne. He forwarded a suggestion that Pompey, accompanied only by two lictor

Lictor

The lictor was a member of a special class of Roman civil servant, with special tasks of attending and guarding magistrates of the Roman Republic and Empire who held imperium, the right and power to command; essentially, a bodyguard...

s accompany Ptolemy back to Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

 for Ptolemy to create a reconciliation with the citizens of Egypt. This was about to happen, but never occurred.

In 55 BC, Gallus was accused probably by Marcus Colonius for an unknown accusation. At the request of Pompey, Cicero defended him. Gallus had travelled to Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 in 51 BC and became a praetor

Praetor

Praetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...

 in Achaea

Achaea

Achaea is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of West Greece. It is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The capital is Patras. The population exceeds 300,000 since 2001.-Geography:...

 and then later travelled to Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 to visit Cicero. During the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, Gallus remained neutral to the cause.

Gallus had a son of the same name, who served as a consul with Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was a Roman statesman and general. He was a close friend, son-in-law, lieutenant and defense minister to Octavian, the future Emperor Caesar Augustus...

 in 37 BC and a grandson of the same name that served as a suffect consul in 2 BC, alongside with Marcus Plautius Silvanus

Marcus Plautius Silvanus

Marcus Plautius Silvanus was a Roman politician and general who was consul in 2 BC.-Biography:Silvanus was the son of Urgulania, a close friend of the empress Livia, and it was Livia's intercession that allowed Silvanus to climb the cursus honorum, leading to the consulate in 2 BC alongside Augustus...

. The historian Plutarch

Plutarch

Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...

us erroneously refers to the elder Gallus as Canidius

Canidia (gens)

The gens Canidia was a Roman family of the late Republic. It is best known from a single individual, Publius Canidius Crassus, consul suffectus in 40 B.C., and the chief general of Marcus Antonius. Canidia was also a sobriquet bestowed upon Gratidia, a Neapolitan hetaera who had deserted the poet...

.