Gaius Valerius Severus was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

of the second century. He was

suffect consul The consuls were the highest elected public officials of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC). Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum''an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspire ...

in the ''

nundinium Nundinium was a Latin word derived from the word '' nundinum'', which referred to the cycle of days observed by the Romans. During the Roman Empire, ''nundinium'' came to mean the duration of a single consulship among several in a calendar year. ...

'' of September to December 124 as the colleague of Gaius Julius Gallus. Severus is primarily known from inscriptions. Severus is attested as

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a Roman consul, consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military ...

ar governor of two public provinces, both prior to his consulate. The first province was

Achaea Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek language, Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaḯa'', ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwest ...

, for the term 117/118. The second province was Lycia et Pamphylia, for a prolonged term from 120 to 122.

Speculations

Due to the lack of information about Severus, experts have attempted to identify him with the subject of less well preserved inscriptions. For example,

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 Roma ...

noted that an inscription from Thubursicum concerning ..ius Severus could detail an otherwise unknown portion of his career, which lists offices that include "Legate of Lycia-Pamphylia, consul, legate of one of the two Germanies, proconsul of Africa .... He clearly belongs to the period from Hadrian to Marcus inclusive. A priesthood, that of ''sodalis Hadrianalis'', standing in the praetorian posts of his cursus along with ''XV vir s. f.''." However, Syme admits that the first part of his name could be restored another way, such as lfius Severus, the name of two other attested men of this period. He also admits, "No need to add that there are a number of unattached Severi among the suffecti of the Antonine age." A second proposed identification is by N. Lamboglia, who restored Severus' name in a fragmentary and mutilated inscription from Albenga. This would add the office of governor of Galatia and Cappadocia to his ''

cursus honorum The , or more colloquially 'ladder of offices'; ) was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The comprised a mixture of ...

''. However, in his discussion of Valerius Severus, Bernard Rémy demolishes the plausibility of this restoration.Rémy,
Les carrières sénatoriales dans les provinces romaines d'Anatolie au Haut-Empire (31 av. J.-C. - 284 ap. J.-C.)
' (Istanbul: Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes-Georges Dumézil, 1989), p. 298f

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valerius Severus, Gaius 2nd-century Romans Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Roman governors of Achaia Roman governors of Lycia et Pamphylia Severus