Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus

Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (d. ca. 104 BC) was a Roman general and senator who served as consul in 122 BC. He led a campaign to conquer southern Gaul against the Allobroges together with his successor Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus. Domitius was active in the early development of southern Roman Gaul, establishing the first Roman colony at Colonia Narbon Martius, and sponsored projects such as the Via Domitia connecting Italy to Spain through southern Gaul. He was probably also the sponsor of the Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus in the Temple of Neptune in Rome. Ahenobarbus was censor in 115 BC and became pontifex at an unknown date before dying . Background and family He was a member of the prestigious Domitii Ahenobarbi, a plebeian family. His father was Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, who served as consul suffect in 162 BC. His grandfather Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus was consul in 192 BC. He was survived by two sons, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul in 96 BC) and Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul in 94 BC). He was the grandfather of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul in 54 BC). It is from this line Domitius is an ancestor of the last Julio-Claudian emperor Nero (AD 54 - 68), born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. Career In the 120s BC Rome had become increasingly active in Mediterranean Gaul, launching three separate campaigns into the region in the years immediately before Ahenobarbus' consulship: in 125 to protect Rome's ally Massalia from the Salluvii, in 124 BC Rome seized the capital of the Salluvii (the city of the Gauls near the of Entremont, near modern Aix-en-Provence), and in 123 BC again defeating the Salluvii and establishing a permanent garrison for Roman troops at a nearby place hence called (modern Aix-en-Provence).