Quintus Minucius Thermus (fl. 74–43 BC) was a Roman politician.
He belonged to a long-established senatorial family.[1] His father, of the same name, had been a mint officer in 103 BC, and a war councilor in 89 BC during the Social War.[2] The younger Thermus entered the Senate with his election as quaestor in 75 or 74 BC, and his name appears on a decree of the Senate inscribed at the Greek town of Oropos, dated 73 BC.[3][4] In 62 BC, having been elected tribune of the plebs, Thermus cooperated with his colleague Cato in forcibly opposing a bill by the praetor Julius Caesar to reassign responsibility for the reconstruction of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus to Pompey.[5] The attempt to overcome Cato and Thermus' veto triggered violent clashes and a senatus consultum ultimum before order was restored to the city.[6]
Thermus held the office of praetor at some unknown date, perhaps c. 60–58 BC or possibly as late as 53 BC.[7] From 51 to 50 BC, he was prorogued to Asia pro praetore and successfully administered the province.[8][9]
During Caesar's civil war, still holding imperium,[10] he attempted to defend Iguvium (modern Gubbio) from Caesar's invasion of Italy, but his raw recruits deserted before the Caesarian advance under Curio, forcing him to retreat.[11][12]
In 43 BC he was one of several envoys sent by the Senate to negotiate with Sextus Pompeius in Sicily.[13]