Pompeius Paullinus

Last updated

Pompeius Paullinus [1] was a Roman senator, who was active during the reigns of Claudius and Nero. He was suffect consul during a nundinium in either the year 53 or 54. [2] According to Pliny the Elder, Paullinus was the son of a member of the equestrian class from Arelate. [3] He may have been the brother of Pompeia Paulina who was the wife of the philosopher and statesman Seneca. [4]

Paullinus is best known for his tenure as governor of Germania Inferior, which has been attested by a mention in Tacitus, [5] Pliny the Elder, [3] and an inscription recovered from Cologne which has been dated to the year 56. [6] The evidence points to his tenure as extending from 55 to 57; he was succeeded by Lucius Duvius Avitus in the year 58. Ronald Syme surmises that while Paullinus was governor of Germania Inferior, Pliny and the future emperor Titus both served as military tribunes. [7] From his time in that province Pliny later recalled that Paullinus brought with him 12,000 pounds of silver plate to a posting where he was "confronted by tribes of the greatest ferocity." [3]

After Paullinus returned from Germania, he is next attested in an inscription from Ephesus which documents three commissioners appointed to attend to some matter there, along with Lucius Calpurnius Piso (suffect consul in 57) and Aulus Ducenius Geminus (suffect consul in either 60 or 61); [8] this may be the same commission created in 62 that Tacitus mentions. [9] His life after this is a blank. Paullinus is not mentioned as one of the people executed or exiled as a result of the Pisonian conspiracy, nor as playing a role in the Year of Four Emperors.

Related Research Articles

Pliny the Elder Roman military commander and writer

Gaius Plinius Secundus, called Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, a naturalist and natural philosopher, a naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic Naturalis Historia, which became an editorial model for encyclopedias. He spent most of his spare time studying, writing, and investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field.

Aulus Plautius governor of Roman Britain and suffect consul

Aulus Plautius was a Roman politician and general of the mid-1st century. He began the Roman conquest of Britain in 43, and became the first governor of the new province, serving from 43 to 46.

Aulus Didius Gallus Fabricius Veiento was a Roman senator who played a major role in the courts of several Roman emperors during the first century AD. For his usefulness, Veiento was rewarded with the office of suffect consul three times.

Quintus Pompeius Falco was a Roman senator and general of the early 2nd century AD. He was governor of several provinces, most notably Roman Britain, where he hosted a visit to the province by the Emperor Hadrian in the last year. Falco achieved the rank of suffect consul for the nundinium of September-December 108 with Marcus Titius Lustricus Bruttianus as his colleague.

Publius Pomponius Secundus was a distinguished statesman and poet in the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius. He was suffect consul for the nundinium of January-June 44, succeeding the ordinary consul Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus and as the colleague of the other ordinary consul, Titus Statilius Taurus. Publius was on intimate terms with the elder Pliny, who wrote a biography of him, now lost.

Calpurnia (gens) families from Ancient Rome who shared the Calpurnius nomen

The gens Calpurnia was a plebeian family at Rome, which first appears in history during the third century BC. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Calpurnius Piso in 180 BC, but from this time their consulships were very frequent, and the family of the Pisones became one of the most illustrious in the Roman state. Two important pieces of Republican legislation, the lex Calpurnia of 149 BC and lex Acilia Calpurnia of 67 BC were passed by members of the gens.

Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus was a Roman senator and general. He was ordinary consul in the year 26 with Gaius Calvisius Sabinus as his colleague. Gaetulicus was involved in a plot against the emperor Caligula, and following its discovery he was executed.

Lucius Volusius Saturninus was a Roman senator who held several offices in the emperor's service. Saturninus attracted the attention of his contemporaries for his long life: he died at the age of 93, and having sired a son at the age of 62.

Publius Cornelius Lentulus Scipio was a Roman senator active during the Principate. He was suffect consul in the nundinium of July-December AD 24, as the colleague of Gaius Calpurnius Aviola. His name combines the two most famous branches of the gens Cornelia, the Lentuli and the Scipiones.

The gens Calvisia was a Roman family, which first rose to prominence during the final decades of the Republic, and became influential in imperial times. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Calvisius Sabinus in 39 BC.

The gens Arruntia was a plebeian family at Ancient Rome. Members of this gens first came to prominence during the final years of the Republic.

Aulus Bucius Lappius Maximus was a Roman senator who flourished during the Flavian dynasty; Brian W. Jones considers him one of Domitian's amici or advisors. He held the consulate twice.

Quintus Pomponius Rufus was a Roman senator active in the imperial service; he was governor during the reigns of the emperors Domitian and Trajan. Rufus was also suffect consul for the nundinium September-December AD 95 as the colleague of Lucius Baebius Tullus. Pomponius Rufus is known primarily from inscriptions.

Aulus Ducenius Geminus was a Roman senator active in the first century AD. Geminus is best known as Galba's appointment as Urban prefect of Rome during the Year of Four Emperors.

Lucius Tampius Flavianus was a Roman senator who was consul twice, as a suffect consul. While the date of his first consulship is not certain, the name of his colleague for that term, Publius Fabius Firmanus, is. His second consulship, with Marcus Pompeius Silvanus Staberius Flavianus as his colleague, was for the third nundinium of the year 76.

Lucius Annius Bassus was a Roman senator of the early Roman Empire, whose known career flourished under the reign of Vespasian. He was suffect consul in the nundinium of November–December AD 70 as the colleague of Gaius Laecanius Bassus Caecina Paetus.

Quintus Sanquinius Maximus was a senator of the early Roman Empire, who flourished during the Principate. He is attested as suffect consul in AD 39, replacing the emperor Caligula. However, based on Tactius' enigmatic description of Maximus as "ex-consul" in the year 32, Ronald Syme asserts this attested consulate was his second, and that he was suffect consul in the year 28. If Maximus held two consulates, then he would be the first person who was not a member of the imperial house to receive this honor since 26 BC; only two other men not part of the imperial house of the Julio-Claudians -- Lucius Vitellius, consul in 34, 43 and 47, and Marcus Vinicius, consul in 30 and 45 -- are known to have achieved the consulate more than once between that year and the Flavian dynasty, when multiple consulships became less rare.

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.

Lucius Duvius Avitus was a Roman senator, who held several offices in the emperor's service. He was suffect consul in the nundinium of November-December 56 with Publius Clodius Thrasea Paetus as his colleague. Avitus is the only known member of his family known to have held the consulship.

Titus Curtilius Mancia was a Roman senator, who held several offices in the emperor's service during the middle of the first century. He was suffect consul in the nundinium of November-December 55 as the colleague of Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus. No other senator with his gentilicium is known, so Mancia seems to have been a homo novus.

References

  1. Also spelled Pompeius Paulinus
  2. Paul Gallivan, "Some Comments on the Fasti for the Reign of Nero", Classical Quarterly , 24 (1974), p. 301
  3. 1 2 3 Naturalis Historia , XXXIII.143
  4. Anthony A. Barrett, Elaine Fantham, John C. Yardley (2016) The Emperor Nero: A Guide to the Ancient Sources, page 143. Princeton University Press
  5. Annales XIII.54
  6. AE 1969/70, 443
  7. Syme, "Pliny the Procurator", Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 73 (1969), pp. 206f
  8. Werner Eck, "Miscellanea prosopographica", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik , 42 (1981), pp. 229f
  9. Tacitus, Annales XV.18