Gaius Rubellius Blandus was a Roman senator who lived during the Principate. Blandus was the grandson of Rubellius Blandus of Tibur, a member of the Equestrian class, who was the first Roman to teach rhetoric. He was suffect consul from August to December AD 18 with Marcus Vipstanus Gallus as his colleague. [1] In AD 33, he married Julia Livia, granddaughter of the Roman emperor Tiberius.
As the first member of his family to be admitted to the Senate, Blandus is considered a homo novus . His cursus honorum is documented in several inscriptions found in North Africa. [2] Blandus began his career with the singular honor of being quaestor in service to the emperor Augustus; two more of the traditional Republican magistracies followed, plebeian tribune and praetor. Two years after he served as suffect consul, he was involved with the prosecution of Aemilia Lepida, putting forward a motion in the senate to outlaw her which carried. [3]
The primary sources disagree when Blandus was admitted to the prestigious College of Pontiffs, whether it was before or after his consulate; one inscription lists it before, while two list it afterwards. Hoffman notes Blandus "probably received the priesthood late because of his low birth." [4] Despite his background, Blandus achieved what came to be the pinnacle of a successful senatorial career, proconsular governor of Africa in 35/36. Upon returning to Rome, Blandus was selected as one of four members of a commission to assess damage a fire had caused in Rome earlier that year. [5]
In the year 33, Blandus married Julia Livia, one of the princesses of the Imperial house. Despite the fact that Blandus had been suffect consul in 18, the match was considered a social disaster; Tacitus includes the event in a list of "the many sorrows which saddened Rome", which otherwise consisted of deaths of different prominent people. [6] Ronald Syme identifies the historian's reaction as "the tone and sentiments of a man enslaved to the standards of class and rank." [7] Julia was the daughter of Livilla and Drusus Julius Caesar, and the granddaughter of Emperor Tiberius. The marriage produced at least one child, a boy, Rubellius Plautus, who was considered as a rival to Emperor Nero. Two further children are uncertain: a single inscription refers to a Rubellius Drusus, who died before his third birthday, [8] while Juvenal implies the existence of another son, also named Gaius Rubellius Blandus. [9] He also appears to have had a daughter named Rubellia Bassa, either by Julia or possibly from an earlier marriage. [10]
The Julio-Claudian dynasty comprised the first five Roman emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.
Livia Drusilla was Roman empress from 27 BC to AD 14 as the wife of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. She was known as Julia Augusta after her formal adoption into the Julia gens in AD 14.
Lucius Aelius Sejanus, commonly known as Sejanus, was a Roman soldier, friend, and confidant of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. Of the Equites class by birth, Sejanus rose to power as prefect of the Praetorian Guard, the imperial bodyguard, of which he was commander from AD 14 until his execution for treason in AD 31.
Julia Livia, was the daughter of Drusus Julius Caesar and Livilla, and granddaughter of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. She was also a first cousin of the emperor Caligula, and niece of the emperor Claudius.
Vipsania Agrippina was the first wife of the Emperor Tiberius. She was the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Attica, thus being a granddaughter of Titus Pomponius Atticus, the best friend of Cicero.
Gaius Sallustius Passienus Crispus was a prominent figure in the Roman Empire during the first century. He held the consulship twice, and was stepfather of the future emperor Nero.
Mamercus Aemilius Scaurus was a Roman rhetorician, poet and senator. Tacitus writes that Scaurus was "a man of distinguished rank and ability as an advocate, but of infamous life." He was suffect consul from July to the end of the year AD 21, with Gnaeus Tremellius as his colleague.
Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus was a senator and praetor of the Roman Republic. He was born with the name Appius Claudius Pulcher, into the patrician family of the Claudii Pulchri but adopted by a Livii Drusi as a small child. His daughter Livia Drusilla became the wife of the first Roman Emperor Augustus, and he was a direct ancestor of the Julio-Claudian emperors Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero.
Appius Junius Silanus, whom Cassius Dio calls Gaius Appius Silanus, was consul in AD 28, with Publius Silius Nerva as his colleague. He was accused of majestas, or treason, in AD 32 along with a number of senators, but he and Gaius Calvisius Sabinus were saved by one of the informers, Celsus, a tribune of a city cohort.
Rubellia Bassa was a daughter of Gaius Rubellius Blandus, consul in AD 18 and either his wife Julia Livia or an earlier wife.
Octavia the Younger was the elder sister of the first Roman emperor, Augustus, the half-sister of Octavia the Elder, and the fourth wife of Mark Antony. She was also the great-grandmother of the Emperor Caligula and Empress Agrippina the Younger, maternal grandmother of the Emperor Claudius, and paternal great-grandmother and maternal great-great-grandmother of the Emperor Nero.
Vistilia was a Roman matron of the gens Vistilia known by her contemporaries for having seven children by six different husbands; Pliny the Elder was more impressed by the fact most of her pregnancies were remarkably brief. Five of her sons became consuls, her daughter Milonia Caesonia became Roman empress through her marriage to Caligula, and her granddaughter Domitia Longina became empress through her marriage with Domitian. Due to her fertility Vistilia became a byword for prodigious fecundity in antiquity.
Lucius Volusius Saturninus, also known as Lucius Volusius was a Roman Senator from the powerful plebeian Volusia gens, or family. He was a cousin of emperor Tiberius.
Marcus Sergius or Servius Octavius Laenas Pontianus was a Roman politician of the early second century. He served as consul in AD 131, alongside Marcus Antonius Rufinus, during the reign of Hadrian.
Publius Suillius Rufus was a Roman senator who was active during the Principate. He was notorious for his prosecutions during the reign of Claudius; and he was the husband of the step-daughter of Ovid. Rufus was suffect consul in the nundinium of November-December 41 as the colleague of Quintus Ostorius Scapula.
Gaius Fufius Geminus was a Roman senator who lived during the Principate. He was ordinary consul in the year 29 with Lucius Rubellius Geminus as his colleague. Geminus was the son of Gaius Fufius Geminus.
Livineius Regulus was a Roman senator, active during the reign of Tiberius. He was suffect consul for February through July of the year 18, succeeding Germanicus as the colleague of Lucius Seius Tubero.
Gaius Octavius Laenas was a Roman senator, who was active during the Principate. He was suffect consul in the second half of AD 33 as the colleague of Lucius Salvius Otho. Laenas was also curator aquarum, or overseer of the aqueducts and water supply of Rome from the death of Marcus Cocceius Nerva from about the year 33 to the year 38.
The gens Rubellia was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the time of Augustus, and they achieved prominence during the first century, when two of them obtained the consulship: Gaius Rubellius Blandus in AD 18, and Lucius Rubellius Geminus in AD 29.