Publius Calvisius Ruso was a Roman senator, who was active during the Flavian dynasty. He was suffect consul in the nundinium of March-June 79 as the colleague of Lucius Junius Caesennius Paetus. [1] A shadowy and enigmatic figure, many of the facts of Ruso's life have been debated by the experts.
It is not disputed that Ruso was the son of the homonymous consul of 53. However, the existence of a Publius Calvisius Ruso Julius Frontinus, attested by an inscription found in Pisidian Antioch, complicates matters. [2] At first, the consensus accepted Hermann Dessau's explanation that the two were the same man, and the inscription from Antioch merely demonstrated that Ruso had a polyonomous name, despite that the inscription also attested to a governorship of the combined province of Cappadocia-Galatia that had to be dated to the years 104 to 109. Dessau further identified this man as the husband of Dasumia, and thus great-grandfather of the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
This was the accepted consensus until the 1980s when Eric Birley published a paper wherein he voiced doubts he had for 25 years with this identification. [3] Ronald Syme built upon Birley's arguments, and proposed that the inscription from Antioch referred to a younger half-brother of Ruso, named Publius Calvisius Ruso Julius Frontinus, the ancestor of Marcus Aurelius. Syme also proposed that the younger brother, Ruso Julius Frontinus, was the son of a sister of the prominent consular, Frontinus, explaining the similarities of name. [4] Syme also proposed that the older son, Calvisius Ruso, had married a Dasumia, basing his reasoning on the fragmentary text of the Testamentum Dasumii ; however, subsequent research and discoveries have weakened the possibility of a connection between the individuals mentioned in that inscription and Calvisius Ruso.
That there were two sons of the consul, one the nephew of Frontinus, has since been widely accepted -- but not unanimously. Ginette Di Vita-Évrard, in a paper published a few years after Syme's, argued that our Calvisius Ruso was the one who married Frontinus' sister, and thus Ruso Julius Frontinus was his son. [5] Based on the lack of evidence for these personages, one cannot easily decide which conclusion is closest to the truth.
Sextus Julius Frontinus was a prominent Roman civil engineer, author, soldier and senator of the late 1st century AD. He was a successful general under Domitian, commanding forces in Roman Britain, and on the Rhine and Danube frontiers. A novus homo, he was consul three times. Frontinus ably discharged several important administrative duties for Nerva and Trajan. However, he is best known to the post-Classical world as an author of technical treatises, especially De aquaeductu, dealing with the aqueducts of Rome.
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 to December 108 with Marcus Titius Lustricus Bruttianus as his colleague.
Lucius Trebius Germanus was a governor of Roman Britain in 127, and suffect consul with Gaius Calpurnius Flaccus, the proconsul of Cyprus in 123, at an uncertain date. He is known from a military diploma published in 1997 that bears the date 20 August 127.
Publius Mummius Sisenna was a Roman politician who was consul ordinarius in 133 with Marcus Antonius Hiberus as his colleague, and governor of Roman Britain shortly afterwards. Hadrian's Wall may have been finished under his governorship.
Marcus Annius Verus (II) was the grandfather and adoptive father of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, and father-in-law of Emperor Antoninus Pius.
Quintus Sosius Senecio was a Roman senator who was favored by the emperors Domitian and Trajan. As a result of this relationship, he was twice ordinary consul, an unusual and prestigious honor: first in 99, with Aulus Cornelius Palma Frontonianus as his colleague; and again in 107 as the colleague of Lucius Licinius Sura, who was himself consul for the third time.
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 an ancient 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.
Gaius Avidius Nigrinus was a Roman senator who lived between the 1st and 2nd centuries. Nigrinus served as suffect consul for the nundinium of April to June 110 with Tiberius Julius Aquila Polemaeanus as his colleague.
Marcus Sedatius Severianus was a Roman senator, suffect consul, and general during the 2nd century AD, originally from Gaul. Severianus was a provincial governor and later a provincial consul. The peak of his career was as suffect consul for the nundinium of July–September 153 as the colleague of Publius Septimius Aper. He was governor of Cappadocia at the start of the Roman war with Parthia, during which he was convinced by the untrustworthy oracle to invade Armenia in 161. Sedatius committed suicide while under siege in the Armenian city of Elegeia, on the upper Euphrates. The legion he led was wiped out shortly after. He was replaced as governor of Cappadocia by Marcus Statius Priscus.
Lucius Antistius Rusticus was a Roman senator active in the later part of the first century AD. He was suffect consul for March to April 90, with Lucius Julius Ursus Servianus as his colleague.
Lucius Neratius Priscus was a Roman Senator and leading jurist, serving for a time as the head of the Proculeian school. He was suffect consul in the nundinium of May–June 97 as the colleague of Marcus Annius Verus.
Publius Dasumius Rusticus was a Roman senator active during the first half of the second century AD. He was eponymous consul for AD 119 as the colleague of the emperor Hadrian. Rusticus is known only through surviving inscriptions.
Publius Glitius Gallus was a Roman senator active in the late 1st century AD. He was suffect consul at some yet undetermined nundinium in the first century.
The gens Raecia, also spelled Racia, was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned at the time of the Second Punic War. Marcus Raecius was praetor in 170 BC. However, after this the family fell into obscurity until imperial times.
Lucius Attius Macro was a Roman senator and general, who was active during the early second century. He was suffect consul in the later part of AD 134 as the colleague of Publius Licinius Pansa. He is known entirely from inscriptions.
Tiberius Julius Candidus Celsus was a Roman senator, who was active during the reign of the emperors Hadrian and Antonius Pius. Coins of the town of Harpasa bear the image of the young Marcus Aurelius on the obverse, and the name "Candidus Celsus" on the reverse, attesting that Celsus was proconsular governor of the public province of Asia in the reign of Marcus. Ronald Syme dated his tenure as governor more narrowly to AD 144/145, which would date his suffect consulate to a nundinium around the year 129.
Lucius Julius Vehilius Gratus Julianus was a soldier and an eques who held a number of military and civilian appointments during the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus. Julianus received honors two separate times for his military service.
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Preceded by Caesar Domitianus VI, and Titus Caesar Vespasianus VII | Suffect consul of the Roman Empire 79 with Lucius Junius Caesennius Paetus | Succeeded by unknown, then Titus Rubrius Aelius Nepos, and Marcus Arrius Flaccus as suffect consuls |