Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso

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Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, Roman statesman, was consul in 7 BC, and subsequently governor of Spain and proconsul of Africa.

In AD 17 Tiberius appointed him governor of Syria, with secret instructions to thwart Germanicus, to whom the eastern provinces had been assigned. The indignation of the people at the death of Germanicus, and the suspicion that Piso had poisoned him, forced Tiberius to order an investigation. Piso committed suicide, though it was rumoured that Tiberius, fearing incriminating disclosures, had put him to death.

See H Schiller, Geschichte der romischen Kaiserzeit (1883), vol. i.

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.