Marcus Aemilius Scaurus was a Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 politician of the 1st century BC and son of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus

Marcus Aemilius Scaurus

Marcus Aemilius Scaurus was a Roman consul in 115 BC and considered one of the most talented and influential politicians of the Republic....

 and Caecilia Metella Dalmatica

Caecilia Metella Dalmatica

Caecilia Metella was daughter of Lucius Caecilius Metellus Dalmaticus, Pontifex Maximus in 115 BC.Dalmatica's first marriage was to Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, an aging politician at the peak of his power. The patrician Scaurus was princeps senatus and a traditional ally of her family...

.

Scaurus lost his father when he was very young, but his education was insured by several other family friends. Pompey the Great

Pompey

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

 was briefly married to his sister Aemilia Scaura

Aemilia Scaura

Aemilia Scaura was the daughter of the patrician Roman Marcus Aemilius Scaurus and his second wife Caecilia Metella Dalmatica....

 and, even after her death, Pompey continued to take personal interest in the young man.

During the Third Mithridatic War

Third Mithridatic War

The Third Mithridatic War was the last and longest of three Mithridatic Wars fought between Mithridates VI of Pontus and his allies and the Roman Republic...

, Pompey asked for Scaurus by name to become his military tribune, and charged Scaurus, at the time quaestor

Quaestor

A Quaestor was a type of public official in the "Cursus honorum" system who supervised financial affairs. In the Roman Republic a quaestor was an elected official whereas, with the autocratic government of the Roman Empire, quaestors were simply appointed....

, with the responsibility for the Judea

Judea

Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...

 region, which was involved in a bloody civil war between the brothers Hyrcanus and Aristobulus

Aristobulus

Judah Aristobulus I , the first ruler of the Hebrew Hasmonean Dynasty to call himself "king," was the eldest of the five sons of John Hyrcanus, the previous leader. Josephus would declare him the first Jew in 481 years to “wear the diadem on his head”...

. Caught in a siege by the Nabatean king Aretas III

Aretas III

Aretas III was king of the Nabataean kingdom from 87 to 62 BCE. Aretas ascended to the throne upon the death of his brother, Obodas I, in 87 BCE. During his reign, he extended his kingdom to cover what now forms the northern area of Jordan, the south of Syria, and part of Saudi Arabia...

, Aristobulus asked for Pompey's intervention through Scaurus, and offered an enormous bribe. After Scaurus convinced Aretas to end the siege (64 BC

64 BC

Year 64 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caesar and Figulus...

), Aristobulus accused Scaurus of the extortion of 1000 talent

Talent (weight)

The "talent" was one of several ancient units of mass, as well as corresponding units of value equivalent to these masses of a precious metal. It was approximately the mass of water required to fill an amphora. A Greek, or Attic talent, was , a Roman talent was , an Egyptian talent was , and a...

s, but Pompey, who trusted his brother-in-law, decided to give Judea to his opponent Hyrcanus (63 BC

63 BC

Year 63 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Cicero and Hibrida...

).

In 62 BC

62 BC

Year 62 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Silanus and Murena...

, when Pompey returned to Rome, Scaurus moved war to Petra

Petra

Petra is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited...

, capital of the Nabatean Kingdom, but relieved the siege after receiving a bribe of 300 talents. In 58 BC

58 BC

Year 58 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Piso and Gabinius...

, as aedile

Aedile

Aedile was an office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public order. There were two pairs of aediles. Two aediles were from the ranks of plebeians and the other...

, Scaurus organized the Aedilician Games, long remembered for their extravagance.

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...

 (56 BC

56 BC

Year 56 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lentulus and Philippus...

) and propraetor (55 BC

55 BC

Year 55 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Crassus and Pompey...

) in Sardinia

Sardinia

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

, Scaurus was supported by the First Triumvirate

First Triumvirate

The First Triumvirate was the political alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Unlike the Second Triumvirate, the First Triumvirate had no official status whatsoever; its overwhelming power in the Roman Republic was strictly unofficial influence, and...

 for the consulship in 54 BC

54 BC

Year 54 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Appius and Ahenobarbus...

, but was accused of extortion in his province. Scaurus was defended by Cicero

Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...

, and acquitted in spite of his obvious guilt. In 53 BC

53 BC

Year 53 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Messalla and Calvinus...

, however, he was accused of ambitio (shameless bribery) and went into exile.

He married Mucia Tertia

Mucia Tertia

Mucia Tertia was a Roman matrona who lived in the 1st century BC. She was the daughter of Quintus Mucius Scaevola, the pontifex maximus, consul in 95 BC. Her mother was a Licinia that divorced her father to marry Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos, in a scandal mentioned by several sources...

, who had previously been married to Pompey the Great. With Mucia, he had a son also named Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, consequently the half-brother of Sextus Pompey (son of Pompey the Great and Mucia

Mucia Tertia

Mucia Tertia was a Roman matrona who lived in the 1st century BC. She was the daughter of Quintus Mucius Scaevola, the pontifex maximus, consul in 95 BC. Her mother was a Licinia that divorced her father to marry Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos, in a scandal mentioned by several sources...

).

Scaurus' massacres are mentioned in the Dead Sea scrolls

Dead Sea scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...

 (4Q333). He was said by Pliny the Elder

Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...

 to have been the first Roman collector, or major collector, of engraved gems (Natural History, Book 37, Chapter 5).