AR Cistophoric Tetradrachm, 24 mm, 12.21 g, 6h.
SNG France 1766
O: Cista mystica with
serpent emerging, all within an ivy wreath.
R: Two serpents entwined around a bow in a case, "ATPA" monogram above, "Q" to left, serpent entwined thyrsos to right.
L. Sempronius Atratinus (BCE 73- 7 CE) was a
Roman politician who was elected suffect consul in 34 BC. He is mentioned in Pro
Caelio, a famous speech in defense of Marcus Caelius Rufus by Marcus
Tullius Cicero.
Probably born a member of the patrician branch of the ancient Sempronia family, Atratinus was possibly adopted by Lucius Calpurnius Bestia, but did not
assume his adopted father’s nomen gentile.[1] In 56 BC he
launched a prosecution against Marcus Caelius Rufus who had previously unsuccessfully attempted to prosecute Atratinus’s
adopted father on bribery charges. Caelius had fallen out with his lover, Clodia, and she accused him of attempted poisoning. Other charges included the
murder of an ambassador. She asked Atratinus to prosecute Caelius, which he was
only too happy to do.[2] Caelius was
successfully defended by Marcus Tullius Cicero, and in his published Pro Caelio, Cicero claimed that Atratinus was being manipulated by Clodia to get
revenge on Caelius for an affair gone wrong.[3]
In 40 BC, Atratinus was elected praetor suffectus, as all the
previously elected praetors had retired from office after the Treaty of Brundisium between Octavianus, Mark Antony and Lepidus. Late in 40 BC, he and his colleague Marcus Valerius
Messalla Corvinus convened the Senate to introduce
Herod the Great, who received the title of King of Judea.[4] This same
year he was elected to the role of Augur, one of the
priests of ancient Rome, a position
he held until his death in 7 AD.[5]
A supporter of Mark Antony, Atratinus was one of his legates, serving as propraetor in Greece in 39 BC.[6] In 36 BC he
was given command of a portion of a fleet which Antony had sent to help
Octavianus deal with Sextus Pompey.[7] In 34 BC he
was elected suffect consul on January 1, as Antony resigned his position as
consul within 24 hours. Atratinus himself held the consulate until July 1 of
that year.[8] At some
point prior to the Battle of Actium, Atratinus abandoned Antony and switched his support to Octavianus.[9] He was made proconsular governor of Africa around 23 BC, and was awarded a triumph for his actions there in 21 BC.[10]
Atratinus's sister, Sempronia, was married to Lucius
Gellius Publicola.[11] Atratinus' poorly preserved burial mausoleum is located in Gaeta, Italy.
By Pufui PcPifpef - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72126843
Mausoleum of Atratinus in Gaeta, Italy . There was a stone
found there that was then utilized in the wall of a local church inscribed L
ATRATIN which is now identified as L. Atratinus whose mausoleum these are the
ruins of.
Atratinus portrait coin from Sparta via acsearch.info
