Lucius Ragonius Venustus (fl. 3rd century) was an aristocrat of the Roman Empire. He was appointed consul ordinarius in 240. X. Loriot describes Ragonius Venustus as an example of the "new generation of clarissimi " that emerged under the reign of Alexander Severus. As the son and grandson of consuls, he attained the consulate without necessarily having served as military tribune, legate of a legion, or provincial governor, unlike his colleague Gaius Octavius Appius Suetrius Sabinus. [1]
The Roman Empire was the post-Roman Republic period of the ancient Roman civilization. Ruled by emperors, it had large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and the Caucasus. From the constitutional reforms of Augustus to the military anarchy of the third century, the Empire was a principate ruled from the city of Rome. The Roman Empire was then ruled by multiple emperors and divided in a Western Roman Empire, based in Milan and later Ravenna, and an Eastern Roman Empire, based in Nicomedia and later Constantinople. Rome remained the nominal capital of both parts until 476 AD, when Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustus after capturing Ravenna and the Roman Senate sent the imperial regalia to Constantinople. The fall of the Western Roman Empire to barbarian kings, along with the hellenization of the Eastern Roman Empire into the Byzantine Empire, is conventionally used to mark the end of Ancient Rome and the beginning of the Middle Ages.
A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic, and ancient Romans considered the consulship the highest level of the cursus honorum.
Gaius Octavius Appius Suetrius Sabinus was a Roman senator and military officer who was appointed consul twice, firstly in AD 214, and secondly in AD 240.
Loriot has traced the origins of his family. The gens Ragonia had their origins in Opitergium in Venetia et Histria. Ragonius Venustus' first ancestor to gain fame was L. Ragonius L. f. Urinatius Larcius Quintianus, who was appointed suffect consul under Commodus not long after AD 180. Larcius Quintianus' son was Lucius Ragonius Urinatius Tuscenius Quintianus, suffect consul around 210 and flamen; holding this priesthood implies Tuscenius Quintianus was also a patrician. Tuscenius Quintianus and his wife, Flavia T. f. Venusta, were the parents of Ragonius Venustus. [2]
Commodus, born Lucius Aurelius Commodus and died Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus, was Roman emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 to his father's death in 180, and solely until 192.
A flamen was a priest of the ancient Roman religion who was assigned to one of fifteen deities with official cults during the Roman Republic. The most important three were the flamines maiores, who served the important Roman gods Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus. The remaining twelve were the flamines minores. Two of the minores cultivated deities whose names are now unknown; among the others are deities about whom little is known other than the name. During the Imperial era, the cult of a deified emperor (divus) also had a flamen.
The patricians were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the early Republic, but its relevance waned after the Conflict of the Orders, and by the time of the late Republic and Empire, membership in the patriciate was of only nominal significance.
Loriot suggests that the consul prior of 289, Lucius Ragonius Quintianus, is either Ragonius Venustus' son, or more likely, his grandson. Another likely descendant is Lucius Ragonius Venustus who performed a taurobolium in 390. [2]
