Lucius Aemilius Juncus was a

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

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, and a philosopher. He was consul suffect in the last three months of 127 with

Sextus Julius Severus Gnaeus Minicius Faustinus Sextus Julius Severus was an accomplished Roman general of the 2nd century. He also held the office of suffect consul in the last three months of 127 with Lucius Aemilius Juncus as his colleague. Biography Julius Seve ...

as his colleague.

Life

According to John Oliver, Juncus came of an

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

background.Oliver
"Philosophers and Procurators, Relatives of the Aemilius Juncus of Vita Commodi 4,11"
'' Hesperia'', 36 (1967), p. 46 There is a lead

tessera A tessera (plural: tesserae, diminutive ''tessella'') is an individual tile, usually formed in the shape of a square, used in creating a mosaic. It is also known as an abaciscus or abaculus. Historical tesserae In early antiquity, mo ...

found in Beirut attesting to a procurator of

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

named L. Aemilius Juncus (), who has been identified with this suffect consul or the suffect consul of 179 who was exiled in 183. In either case, Juncus is likely not related to the patrician

Aemilia gens The gens Aemilia, originally written Aimilia, was one of the greatest patrician families at ancient Rome. The gens was of great antiquity, and claimed descent from Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome. Its members held the highest offices ...

, although he may be descended from a

client Client(s) or The Client may refer to: * Client (business) * Client (computing), hardware or software that accesses a remote service on another computer * Customer or client, a recipient of goods or services in return for monetary or other valuable ...

freedman A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...

of a member of that family. Oliver infers that Juncus married Varia Archelais, the daughter of Tiberius Varius Caelianus, the ''diadochos'' of a philosophical school at

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

between 107 and 120, prior to his consulship, because "a consular would have presumably contracted a more splendid marriage than that with the daughter of a philosopher." Oliver wonders whether Juncus had met Varia while visiting Athens with the Emperor

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

in 125. A letter of Hadrian's to Coronea in 135 shows that he appointed Aemilius Juncus as special commissioner for

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 ...

, to look into construction works in

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...

that had been facing ten years of delays. An inscription attests that, along with the emperor Hadrian, he recommended Tiberius Claudius Hermoneikos son of Pleistoxenos to receive the title of ''aristopoleiteutes'' from the city of

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

. By Varia, Juncus had at least one son, also named Lucius Aemilius Juncus, suffect consul in 154 and proconsul of

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

in 171/172. Juncus the Elder was still alive when his son was appointed consul. There is evidence Varia and Juncus had two more children.

Writings

Oliver makes a persuasive argument that Juncus the older is the author of a philosophical tract Περὶ Γἡρῳς ("On Old Age"), from which an extended extract was preserved in

Stobaeus Joannes Stobaeus (; ; 5th-century AD), from Stobi in Macedonia (Roman province), Macedonia, was the compiler of a valuable series of extracts from Greek authors. The work was originally divided into two volumes containing two books each. The tw ...

.Translated by Oliver, "Philosophers and Procurators", pp. 54-56

References

External links

* Paul von Rohden
Aemilius 54
In: ''

Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft The Pauly encyclopedias or the Pauly-Wissowa family of encyclopedias, are a set of related encyclopedias on Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman classical studies, topics and scholarship. The first of these, or (1839–1852), was begun by compiler A ...

''. Band I,1, Stuttgart 1893, Sp. 550. {{DEFAULTSORT:Aemilius Juncus, Lucius 2nd-century Romans 2nd-century writers Senators of the Roman Empire Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Philosophers of Roman Italy Juncus, Lucius