Editing Germanicus (section)

===Command in Asia===
[[File:Roman East 50-en.svg|thumb|left|Map of Armenia and the Roman client states in eastern Asia Minor]]
Following his triumph, Germanicus was sent to [[Asia (Roman province)|Asia]] to reorganize the provinces and kingdoms there, which were in such disarray that the attention of a ''domus Augusta'' was deemed necessary to settle matters.<ref group="note">''Domus Augusta'' (lit. "House of Augustus") was the family of Tiberius including cognate relations {{harv|Cascio|2005|p=140}}.</ref> Germanicus was given ''imperium maius'' (extraordinary command) over the other governors and commanders of the area he was to operate; however, Tiberius had replaced the governor of [[Syria (Roman province)|Syria]] with [[Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso (consul 7 BC)|Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso]], who was meant to be his helper (''adiutor''), but turned out to be hostile.<ref name="Lott1">{{harvnb|Lott|2012|p=342}}.</ref> According to Tacitus, this was an attempt to separate Germanicus from his familiar troops and weaken his influence, but the historian [[Richard Alston (classicist)|Richard Alston]] says Tiberius had little reason to undermine his heir.<ref>{{harvnb|Alston|1998|pp=25–26}}.</ref>

Germanicus had a busy year in 17. He restored a temple of [[Spes]],<ref name=Lott1/> and allegedly won a chariot race in the name of Tiberius at the [[Ancient Olympic Games|Olympic Games]] that year. However, Eusebius, our main reference for this, does not name Germanicus, and Tacitus makes no reference to this occasion either, which would have required Germanicus to make two trips to Greece within a year.<ref>{{harv|Barrett|1993|p=12}}; Eusebius, Chronicon 70, List of the Olympiad victors, cited also by Golden, M., (2004) Sport in the Ancient World from A to Z, Routledge, London.</ref> Also, not waiting to take up his consulship in Rome, he left after his triumph but before the end of AD 17. He sailed down the Illyrian coast of the [[Adriatic Sea]] to [[Roman Greece|Greece]]. He arrived at [[Nicopolis]] near the site of the [[Battle of Actium]], where he took up his second consulship on 18 January AD 18.<ref>Tacitus, Annals 2.53ff.</ref> He visited the sites associated with his adoptive grandfather Augustus and his natural grandfather [[Mark Antony]], before crossing the sea to [[Lesbos]] and then to Asia Minor. There he visited the site of [[Troy]] and the oracle of [[Apollo|Apollo Claros]] near [[Colophon (city)|Colophon]]. Piso left at the same time as Germanicus, but traveled directly to Athens and then to [[Rhodes]] where he and Germanicus met for the first time. From there Piso left for Syria where he immediately began replacing the officers with men loyal to himself in a bid to win the loyalty of his soldiers.<ref name="Lott1" /><ref>{{harvnb|Barrett|1993|p=12}}.</ref>

Next Germanicus traveled through Syria to [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]] where he installed king [[Artaxias III|Artaxias]] as a replacement for [[Vonones I|Vonones]], whom Augustus had deposed and placed under house arrest at the request of the king of [[Parthia]], [[Artabanus II of Parthia|Artabanus]]. The king of [[Kingdom of Cappadocia|Cappadocia]] died too, whereupon Germanicus sent [[Quintus Veranius (governor of Cappadocia)|Quintus Veranius]] to organize Cappadocia as a province – a profitable endeavor as Tiberius was able to reduce the sales tax down to .5% from 1%. The revenue from the new province was enough to make up the difference lost from lowering the sales tax. The kingdom of Commagene was split on whether or not to remain free or to become a province with both sides sending deputations, so Germanicus sent [[Quintus Servaeus]] to organize the province.<ref>{{harvnb|Barrett|1993|p=14}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Barrett|2015|p=50}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Seager|2008|p=85}}.</ref>

Having settled these matters he traveled to [[Cyrrhus]], a city in Syria between Antioch and the [[Euphrates]], where he spent the rest of AD 18 in the winter quarters of the [[Legio X Fretensis|Legion X Fretensis]]. Evidently here Piso attended Germanicus, and quarreled because he failed to send troops to Armenia when ordered. Artabanus sent an envoy to Germanicus requesting that Vonones be moved further from Armenia as to not incite trouble there. Germanicus complied, moving Vonones to [[Cilicia]], both to please Artabanus and to insult Piso, with whom Vonones was friendly.<ref name="Lott343">{{harvnb|Lott|2012|p=343}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Barrett|1993|p=50}}.</ref>

====Egypt====
[[File:Nicolas Poussin 019.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Nicolas Poussin]], ''[[The Death of Germanicus]]'' (1627), oil painting. Collection [[Minneapolis Institute of Arts]].<ref>{{harvnb|Facos|2011|p=33}}.</ref>]]
He then made his way to [[Egypt (Roman province)|Egypt]], arriving to a tumultuous reception in January AD 19. He had gone there to relieve a famine in the country vital to Rome's food supply. The move upset Tiberius, because it had violated an order by Augustus that no senator shall enter the province without consulting the emperor and the Senate (Egypt was an [[imperial province]], and belonged to the emperor).<ref group="note">That he violated this order is possibly confirmed by the fact that the trip is omitted in Germanicus' ''[[res gestae]]'' in the ''Senatus Consultum de memoria honoranda Germanini Caesaris'', a commemorative decree issued by the Senate and approved by Tiberius following his death {{harv|Lott|2012|p=343}}.</ref> Germanicus entered the province in his capacity as proconsul without first seeking permission to do so. He returned to Syria by summer, where he found that Piso had either ignored or revoked his orders to the cities and legions. Germanicus in turn ordered Piso's recall to Rome, although this action was probably beyond his authority.<ref name=Lott343/><ref>{{harvnb|Shotter|2004|p=38}}.</ref>