8/6/25, 6:26 AM Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus - Wikipedia
Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus
Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus (c. 229 –
160 BC) was a consul of the Roman Republic, as well as Lucius Aemilius Paullus
a general, who conquered the kingdom of Macedonia Macedonicus
during the Third Macedonian War. Born c. 229 BC
Died 160 BC
Nationality Roman
Family Office Consul (182, 168 BC)
Paullus' father was Lucius Aemilius Paullus, the consul Children Scipio Aemilianus
defeated and killed in the Battle of Cannae. He was, in Quintus Fabius Maximus
his time, the head of his branch of the Aemilii Paulii, an Aemilianus
old and aristocratic patrician family. Their influence
Military service
was immense, particularly due to their fortune and
alliance with the Cornelii Scipiones. He was father to Battles/wars Third Macedonian War
Scipio Aemilianus and another son known as Fabius, ● Battle of Pydna
who were tutored by Paullus' friend Polybius. ●Siege of Aiginion
Awards Triumph
Early career
After the fulfillment of Paullus' military service, and being elected military tribune, he was elected
curule aedile in 193. The next step of his cursus honorum was his election as praetor in 191. During his
term of office, he went to the Hispania provinces, where he campaigned against the Lusitanians
between 191 and 189. However, he failed to be elected consul for several years. Paullus was elected
consul for the first time in 182, with Gnaeus Baebius Tamphilus as junior partner. His next military
command, with proconsular imperium, was in 181, against the Ingauni of Liguria.
Later career
The Third Macedonian War broke out in 171, when King
Perseus of Macedon defeated a Roman army led by the consul
Publius Licinius Crassus in the Battle of Callinicus. After two
years of indecisive results for either side, Paullus was elected
consul again in 168 (with Gaius Licinius Crassus as his The Triumph of Aemilius Paullus by
colleague). As consul, he was appointed by the Senate to deal Vernet, ca. 1789.
with the Macedonian war. Shortly afterward, on 22 June, he
won the decisive Battle of Pydna. Perseus of Macedonia was
made prisoner and the Third Macedonian War ended.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Aemilius_Paullus_Macedonicus 1/4
8/6/25, 6:26 AM Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus - Wikipedia
In 167, Paullus received the Senate's instruction to return to Rome after first pillaging Epirus, a
kingdom suspected of sympathizing with the Macedonian cause. After loading the treasures in the
Macedonian royal palace onto Rome-bound ships, he marched his army to Epirus, where contrary to
his inclination, he ordered the plunder of seventy towns, resulting in the enslavement of 150,000
people.[1][2]
Paullus' return to Rome was glorious. With the immense plunder collected in Macedonia and Epirus,
he celebrated a spectacular triumph, featuring no less than the captured king of Macedonia himself,
and the king's sons, putting an end to the Antigonid dynasty. As a gesture of acknowledgement, the
Senate awarded him the nickname (agnomen) Macedonicus. This was the peak of his career. In 164
he was elected censor. He fell ill, appeared to recover, but relapsed within three days and died during
his term of office in 160.
Family life and descendants
Paullus's father Lucius Aemilius Paullus died in the Battle of
Cannae in 216 BC, when Paullus was still a boy. The Aemilii
Paulli were connected by marriage and political interests to
the Scipios, but their role in his subsequent upbringing is not
clear.
Paullus had been married first to Papiria Masonis (or Papiria
Masonia), daughter of the consul Gaius Papirius Maso (consul Angelica Kauffmann, Aemilius Paullus
in 231 BC), whom he divorced, according to Plutarch, for no and his family, by 1783.
particular reason. From this marriage, four children were
born: two sons and two daughters. He divorced his wife while
his younger son was still a baby, according to Roman historians; thus the divorce probably took place
around 183–182 BC. Nevertheless, he was elected consul in 182.
Paullus then married a second time (this wife's name is unknown) and had two more sons, the elder
born around 181 and the younger born around 176, and another daughter, Aemilia Tertia, who was a
small girl when he was chosen consul for the second time.
Since four boys were too many for a father to support through the cursus honorum, Paullus decided to
give the oldest two boys up for adoption, probably between 175 and 170. The elder boy was adopted in
the Fabia family and became Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus, thus joining his fortunes to the
house of Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, a national hero. The younger boy, possibly named
Lucius, was adopted by his own cousin,[3] Publius Cornelius Scipio, elder son and heir of Scipio
Africanus, and became Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, thus becoming heir to the legacy of
Rome's most influential political dynasty.
With the eldest sons safely adopted by two of the most powerful patrician houses, Paullus counted on
the two younger ones to continue his own name. Both of them died young, one shortly after the other,
at the same time that Paullus celebrated his triumph. The elder of the two remaining sons was 14 and
the younger 9, according to Polybius. Their names are unknown to us. The successes of his political
and military career were thus not accompanied by a happy family life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Aemilius_Paullus_Macedonicus 2/4
8/6/25, 6:26 AM Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus - Wikipedia
At Paullus' death, his sons Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus and Publius Cornelius Scipio
Africanus Aemilianus received his property by his will, even though they were legally no longer
Aemilii Paulli; Scipio gave his share to his older brother who was less wealthy. Paullus's second wife
(whose name is unknown to us) received her dowry back from the sale of some of her late husband's
property (Livy and Polybius both claim that Paullus died relatively poor, and that he had kept little for
himself from the successful Macedonian campaign).
With the death of Paullus, the Aemilii Paulli became extinct, even though he had two living sons. His
elder surviving son Fabius Aemilianus eventually became consul and fathered at least one son, who in
turn became consul as Fabius Allobrigicus in 121. This man, in turn, may have been the ancestor of
later Fabii who tied their fortunes to Julius Caesar and Augustus.[4] The younger surviving son was
more famous as Scipio Aemilianus but died leaving no known issue.
Paullus' first and former wife Papiria Masonia survived her ex-husband and lived to enjoy her former
sister-in-law's property presented to her by her younger son (per Polybius). At her death, her property
was divided between her sons, but Scipio gave it to his sisters.
Of Paullus' daughters, one of the eldest two married Quintus Aelius Tubero from a relatively poor
plebeian family; she was the mother of Quintus Aelius Tubero. The youngest, Aemilia Paulla Tertia,[5]
married the eldest son of Marcus Porcius Cato and was the mother of consuls Marcus Porcius Cato
and Gaius Porcius Cato.
See also
Aemilia gens
Scipio-Paullus-Gracchus family tree
Monument of Aemilius Paullus
References
1. Gai Institutiones or Institutes of Roman Law (https://archive.org/stream/gaiinstitutiones00gaiuuoft#
page/36/mode/2up). Translated by Edward Poste, M.A. Oxford: The Clarendon Press. 1904. p. 37.
2. Livy, History of Rome 45.33.8–34.9, Plutarch, Aemilius Paulus 29.1–30.1
3. Publius Cornelius Scipio the younger was a flamen dialis and later a praetor, whose ill-health
prevented him from pursuing a military career. His mother was Aemilia Paulla or Aemilia Tertia, the
sister of Paullus.
4. These would include the consul of 45 and the consuls Paullus Fabius Maximus and Africanus
Fabius Maximus.
5. Plutarch, Cato Major 20.8.
Sources
Livy, History of Rome XLIV, 17 – XLVI, 41.
Plutarch, Aemilius Paulus. [1] (http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/paulus.html)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Aemilius_Paullus_Macedonicus 3/4
8/6/25, 6:26 AM Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus - Wikipedia
Polybius, Histories, XXXII, 8. [2] (https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plb.+32.8)
Further reading
Lora Holland, "Plutarch’s Aemilius Paullus and the Model of the Philosopher Statesman", L. de
Blois et al. (eds.): The Statesman in Plutarch’s Works. Proceedings of the Sixth International
Conference of the International Plutarch Society, vol. II: The Statesman in Plutarch’s Greek and
Roman Lives, (Leiden, 2005), pp. 269–279.
Paolo Moreno, "Statua in Bronzo di Emilio Paolo", in A. Melucco Vaccaro-G. De Palma (a c. di), I
Bronzi di Riace: Restauro Come Conoscenza, Roma, 2003.
William Reiter, Aemilius Paullus: Conqueror of Greece, London 1988.
Manuel Tröster, "Plutarch and Mos Maiorum in the Life of Aemilius Paullus", Ancient Society, 42
(2012), pp. 219–254.
External links
Media related to Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus at Wikimedia Commons
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lucius_Aemilius_Paullus_Macedonicus&oldid=1273456559"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Aemilius_Paullus_Macedonicus 4/4
