Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus

Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus (c. 102 – 48 BC) was a politician of the Roman Republic. He was a conservative and upholder of the established social order who served in several magisterial positions alongside Julius Caesar and conceived a lifelong enmity towards him. In 59 BC he was consul alongside Julius Caesar. Their partnership was contentious to the extent that Caesar's supporters assaulted Bibulus in Rome's main forum on the eve of an important vote. Bibulus withdrew from public politics for the rest of his term. In 51 to 50 BC, he was governor of Syria, where he was effective but alienated the army by taking too much personal credit for the repulse of the Parthians. In 49, after Caesar's Civil War broke out, Bibulus aligned himself with Pompey and was in charge of the fleet tasked with preventing Caesar from shipping his army across the Adriatic. He failed to do so and subsequently failed to effectively cut off Caesar's supplies. On blockade duty in 48 BC, he fell ill and died. Early years Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus was a member of the plebeian Calpurnia gens. His cognomen is not previously attested within the gens so he appears to have been the first of the name to reach curile office, but it is unlikely he was a Novus homo, based on the connections he had. He may have descended from the senatorial Pisonian branch of the Calpurnia gens.