Tiberius Claudius Subatianus Aquila was a Roman eques who flourished during the reign of the emperor Septimius Severus and his sons. He was appointed to a series of imperial offices, including praefectus or governor of Roman Mesopotamia and Roman Egypt.
Aquila was born in the North African town of Cuicul. [1] He is known to have been the brother of Tiberius Claudius Subatianus Proculus, suffect consul in either 210 or 211; [2] their father may have been the epistrategos Sabatianus Aquila mentioned in P. Oxy. 2708 [3]
Little is known about his career beyond the two prefectures he held for the emperor. It can be assumed that during the latest civil war Aquila sided with Septimius Severus: as Kennedy writes, "After a protracted civil war the first tasks of the victor must always have been to reward his partisans." [4] He was appointed prefect of Mesopotamia; Kennedy argues he was the first prefect of that province and dates this appointment to c. 195. [5] Anthony Birley notes that both Aquila and Proculus were two of a number of men from North Africa that Septimus Severus promoted to powerful positions during his reign. [6]
His next imperial appointment was prefect of Roman Egypt: his tenure has been dated to have started after November 204 and extended as late as January/February 211. [7] Eusebius mentions that Aquila, while governor of Roman Egypt, persecuted Christians, executing several of them. These included students of the theologian Origen. [8]