Marcus Aemilius Scaurus (born 92 BC; until 52 BC) was a Roman politician of the 1st century BC and son of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus and Caecilia Metella. Initially a supporter of Pompey, Scaurus fought under his command during the Third Mithridatic War, and later governed Syria. Ascending the cursus honorum, he threw magnificent games while curule aedile and later served as praetor. Receiving as his province Sardinia, he was charged with extortion on his return to Rome but was successfully defended by many eminent senators. His bid for the consulship of 53 BC was unsuccessful; in 52 BC he was convicted of bribery during those elections and went into exile. His fall was perhaps due to his marriage with Mucia, a former wife of Pompey, with whom he fell out of favour as a result. Biography Scaurus belonged to the important patrician gens Aemilia; he was the son of his homonymous father and Caecilia Metella. His famous father had served in the consulship of 115 BC and, from that year to his death, as princeps senatus. His father died in 88 BC during Scaurus' childhood. Pompey the Great was briefly married to his sister Aemilia and, even after her death, Third Mithridatic War In 66 BC, during the Third Mithridatic War, Scaurus may have served as quaestor. By 65 or 64 BC, Scaurus was appointed proquaestor in Syria under Pompey's overall command of the war. Roman intervention in Syria started when Pompey moved to deal with aggression from Nabataean king Aretas III. Pompey, however, was also engaged to intervene in a dispute between the rival claimants to Judaea: Hyrcanus and Aristobulus. After Aretas intervened to favour Hyrcanus in Judaea, Scaurus headed embassy where he sided with Aristobulus and ordered Aretas to withdraw. This preceded direct intervention by Pompey, who marched south in the autumn of 64 BC when Aristobulus had started to win the conflict. Pompey eventually made Hyrcanus high priest and ethnarch in Judaea and had Aristobulus sent to Rome in chains. When Pompey returned north to settle treat with Pharnaces in 63 BC, he left Syria organised as a province from lands carved out of the Seleucid Empire, under Scaurus as governor pro praetore with two legions. Scaurus moved to campaign against Aretas, but in 62 BC ended his campaign after accepting Aretas' nominal submission and payment of three hundred talents to Scaurus. At the close of 61