Lucius Arruntius the Elder

Lucius Arruntius (c. 60 BCE – CE 10) was a Roman admiral. He saw action during the War with Sextus Pompeius, and the war of Mark Antony and Augustus. He is most notable for his participation during the Battle of Actium, where he was in command of victorious Augustus' central division. He was also instrumental in convincing Octavian to pardon Gaius Sosius, one of Mark Antony's generals, after his capture.

Arruntius was consul in 22 BCE as the colleague of Marcus Claudius Marcellus Aeserninus. He was one of the great military men in the regime whose loyal sword at Augustus' bidding helped deter would-be challengers. His son of the same name Lucius Arruntius the Younger was consul in CE 6. The younger Arruntius played a prominent role in the Senate in the days after Augustus died.

Martha Hoffman Lewis included Arruntius among those elevated to patrician status in 29 BCE. He attended the Ludi Saeculares in 17 BCE according to an inscription as a quindecimviri sacris faciundis. According to Gaius Stern, he appears on the Ara Pacis within the college of the quindecimviri sacris faciundis.

A Lucius Arruntius is also mentioned in Seneca's Epistulae morales ad Lucilium as an imitator of Sallustius' literary style and as the author of a historical work on the Punic War. This could either be the Arruntius mentioned above or his son.

An adopted grandson, Lucius Arruntius Camillus Scribonianus (consul CE 32), rebelled against Claudius in a brief civil war, but committed suicide when the rebellion failed in CE 42.

Sources

• Hoyos, B. (1989). A Forgotten Roman Historian: L. Arruntius and the ‘True’ Causes of the First Punic War. Antichthon, 23, 51-66. doi:10.1017/S0066477400003683
• Martha Hoffman Lewis, The Official Priests of Rome under the Julio-Claudians. A Study of the Nobility from 44 B.C. to 68 A.D., Rome 1955.
• Gaius Stern, Women Children and Senators on the Ara Pacis Augustae, University of California Berkeley dissertation 2006.