"Crassus,[1] having killed the king of the Daldi,[2] dedicated the spoils to Zeus [as] opima." The word [is] Latin.[3]
*)/opima: o( de\ *kra/ssos to\n basile/a *da/ldwn a)poktei/nas ta\ sku=la tw=| *dii\+ o)/pima a)ne/qhke. *(rwmai+kh\ h( le/cis.
[1] Not the celebrated "triumvir" Marcus Licinius Crassus Dives, 115-53 BCE, but his grandson of the same name (consul in 30 BCE). This identification is guaranteed because the episode in question here is on record: see further, next note.
[2] The Daldi (Daldes?) are unknown. There was a city called
Daldis in
Lydia (in ancient Asia Minor: see
alpha 4025 and
delta 30), but it would have long been under Greek and then Roman domination in Crassus' day. Thus
*da/ldwn here appears to be textually corrupt. In the 1544
Basel edition of the Suda
*ga/llon - "a Gallic king" - was suggested (and the Roman's name became
*ko/ssos, i.e. Cossus). However, no such resort is needed because this episode is on record elsewhere, notably in
Cassius Dio 51.24.4 (see in brief R.
Syme,
The Roman Revolution (Oxford 1939) 308-9), which C. Theodoridis in his
Photius edition (vol.II p.LXXXIX) very plausibly identifies as the Suda's source. The victim was a king of the Thracian Bastarnae, called Deldo; his conqueror Crassus -- see the preceding note -- claimed the
spolia opima but antagonized Octavian in doing so, and eventually (
pace the present entry) had to settle for "the bare distinction of a triumph" (
Syme).
[3] If a Roman commander with
imperium killed an enemy king in hand-to-hand combat, he was allowed the rare honor of dedicating the
spolia opima to Jupiter Feretrius. Cf. Livy 1.10;
Plutarch,
Romulus 16. The Latin adjective means "rich" or "plump." See further OCD4 s.v. (p.1394).
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