Lucius Postumius Albinus (consul 234 BC)

Lucius Postumius Albinus (died 216 BC) was a Roman politician and general of the 3rd century BC who was elected consul three times. Most of our knowledge about his career and his demise comes from Livy's Ab Urbe Condita.

Biography
Albinus was a member of the patrician gens Postumia, and the son of Aulus Postumius Albinus, consul in 242 BC.

He was elected consul for the first time in 234 BC, during which he campaigned against the Ligures. It has been conjectured that he was then elected Praetor for the first time in following year (233 BC). Albinus was then elected consul for a second time in 229 BC, during which he and his consular colleague Gnaeus Fulvius Centumalus were engaged in a war against the Illyrian queen Teuta. Albinus commanded the land forces, and gained a number of significant victories during the year. He captured Apollonia and then went to the relief of Epidamnos and Issa, forcing the Illyrians to abandon both sieges. He also managed to subdue a number of local Illyrian tribes before returning to Epidamnos.

Albinus was granted a pro-consular extension to his command in 228 BC after his term ended in order to conclude the peace treaty with the Illyrians. Once it had been concluded, he sent legates to the Aetolian League and Achaean League, where they explained the reasons for the war and the Roman invasion, as well as the terms of the treaty with Queen Teuta. Upon his return to Rome, while his colleague had been granted a triumph, he was not permitted to celebrate one for this victory upon his return.

Albinus disappears from the historical record during the next decade, but resurfaced in 216 BC, with the Second Punic War in full swing. The Romans, finding themselves short of experienced military commanders, were forced to recall men such as Albinus to serve during this period of crisis. Consequently Albinus, who was not even in Rome for the election, was elected praetor for the second time, and given command of the province of Gallia Cisalpina. He led his army of two legions plus reinforcements against the Celtic Boii, who had risen in revolt and declared for Hannibal.

During his term as praetor, he was elected consul for the year 215, in absentia whilst on campaign. However he did not live to officially enter consulship. While travelling through the Litana Silva forest in Gallia Cisalpina, Albinus was ambushed by a force of Boii warriors who annihilated most of his soldiers. Albinus and the remainder of the legions tried to escape over a nearby bridge, but they were slaughtered by a Boian detachment who guarded the crossing. The consul-elect was decapitated, and his skull was then clad in gold and made into a sacrificial bowl. As Livy tells us:

The Boii stripped the body of its spoils and cut off the head, and bore them in triumph to the most sacred of their temples. According to their custom they cleaned out the skull and covered the scalp with beaten gold; it was then used as a vessel for libations and also as a drinking cup for the priest and ministers of the temple.

When news of Albinus’ death reached Rome, it caused such an alarm that the shops were closed and hardly anyone ventured out of their homes. The Senate ordered the aediles to go around the city and order the citizens to re-open their shops and stop the unofficial public mourning. Albinus’ replacement as consul was Marcus Claudius Marcellus.

Ancient

 * Livy, History of Rome, Rev. Canon Roberts (translator), Ernest Rhys (Ed.); (1905) London: J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd.
 * Polybius, Histories, Evelyn S. Shuckburgh (translator); London, New York. Macmillan (1889); Reprint Bloomington (1962).

Modern

 * Broughton, T. Robert S., The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, Vol I (1951)
 * Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Vol I (1867).