__NOTOC__ Appius Junius Silanus (died AD 43), whom

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

calls Gaius Appius Silanus, was

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

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. Shortly after the accession of Claudius, in AD 41, when Silanus was governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, he was recalled to Rome and married to

Domitia Lepida Minor Domitia Lepida (c. 5 BC – AD 54) was a Roman aristocrat, related to the imperial family. She was mother of Valeria Messalina, wife of the Emperor Claudius. Lepida was a beautiful and influential figure. Like her sister, she was also very wealt ...

, mother of the empress

Messalina Valeria Messalina (; ) was the third wife of Roman emperor Claudius. She was a paternal cousin of Emperor Nero, a second cousin of Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of Emperor Augustus. A powerful and influential woman with a reputatio ...

. He was treated with the greatest of distinction, but having refused the advances of Messalina herself, he was soon put to death by the emperor. Messalina and

Tiberius Claudius Narcissus Tiberius Claudius Narcissus (died ) was one of the freedmen who formed the core of the imperial court under the Roman emperor Claudius. He is described as ''praepositus ab epistulis'' (in charge of correspondence). Life He reportedly had gre ...

accused him of plotting to assassinate Claudius, and claimed that they had seen Silanus attempting to murder the emperor in their dreams. Silanus' relationship to the other Junii Silani is uncertain. According to

Ronald Syme Sir Ronald Syme, (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Roman ...

, he, the Decimus Junius Silanus who had an affair with Julia the Younger, and Marcus Junius Silanus who was consul in AD 15, were the sons of

Gaius Junius Silanus Gaius Junius Silanus was a Roman Senator active during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. He acceded to the rank of Roman consul in 10 AD as the colleague of Publius Cornelius Dolabella. For the term 20/21 the sortition selected him to be proco ...

, consul in AD 10. He is sometimes confused with

Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus was a Roman senator. He was consul in AD 19, with Lucius Norbanus Balbus as his colleague. Biography Silanus was a descendant of the noble Roman house of the Junii Silani. His grandfather was Marcus Junius Silanu ...

, consul in AD 19. Although Syme claims his marriage to Domitia was childless, Judith Ginsburg identifies Silanus as the father of Marcus Junius Silanus, suffect consul in either 54 or 55.Ginsburg, "Nero's Consular Policy", ''American Journal of Ancient History'' 6 (1981), p. 52

In television

The 1976 television version of ''

I, Claudius ''I, Claudius'' is a historical novel by English writer Robert Graves, published in 1934. Written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius, it tells the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and the early years of the Ro ...

'' shows him carrying out an actual assassination attempt on Claudius with a dagger, and coming close to succeeding. He was played by

Lyndon Brook Lyndon Brook (10 April 1926 – 9 January 2004) was a British actor, on film and television. Family and early life Lyndon Brook was born on 10 April 1926 in Los Angeles, California, to British parents. He came from an established acting fami ...

References

Bibliography

Publius Cornelius Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

, ''

Annales Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts. List of works with titles contai ...

''. * Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, '' De Vita Caesarum'' (Lives of the Caesars, or The Twelve Caesars). * Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, ''Roman History''. * ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 ...

'', William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). * Alison E. Cooley, ''The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy'', Cambridge University Press (2012). *

, ''The Augustan Aristocracy'', Clarendon Press (1989). {{DEFAULTSORT:Junius Silanus, Appius Junii Silani 43 deaths 1st-century Romans Ancient Roman politicians Year of birth unknown Imperial Roman consuls Executed ancient Roman people People executed by the Roman Empire Roman governors of Hispania Tarraconensis

In television

See also

References

Bibliography