Lucius Volusius Saturninus, also known as Lucius VolusiusTacitus, ''

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 ...

'' XII.22 (died AD 20)Tacitus, ''Annales'', III.30 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 ...

from the powerful

plebeian In ancient Rome, the plebeians or plebs were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words "commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of the gro ...

Volusia gens, or family. He was a cousin of emperor

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...

Biography

Early life

Volusius came from an ancient and distinguished Senatorial family, that according to

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. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...

(56 – 120) had never risen above the

praetor ''Praetor'' ( , ), also ''pretor'', was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to disch ...

ship until then. His father was Quintus Volusius a

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...

who served under

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

in 51 BC to 50 BC in

Cilicia Cilicia () is a geographical region in southern Anatolia, extending inland from the northeastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Cilicia has a population ranging over six million, concentrated mostly at the Cilician plain (). The region inclu ...

and was a pupil of his in oratory. His mother was Claudia, aunt of the future Roman emperor

.Syme, ''Aristocracy'', p. 56 He had a sister named was Volusia Saturnina.Rickman, ''Roman Granaries and Store Buildings'', p. 169

Career

Volusius was a homo novus, the first member of his family to serve as a

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 12 BC, replacing

Publius Sulpicius Quirinius Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (c. 51 BC – AD 21), also translated as Cyrenius, was a Roman aristocrat. After the banishment of the ethnarch Herod Archelaus from the tetrarchy of Judea in AD 6, Quirinius was appointed legate governor of Syria, ...

. According to

, he held censorial functions for the selection of

equestrians Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding ( Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...

as members of the judicature, and became the first person in his family to amass wealth, for which his family became greatly conspicuous. Following his consulship, Volusius was admitted to the ''

septemviri epulonum The (Latin for "feasters"; sing. ''epulo'') was a religious organization of Ancient Rome. They arranged feasts and public banquets at festivals and games (''ludi''). They constituted one of the four great religious corporations (''quattuor ampli ...

''. Several years later he served 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

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

for 7/6 BC, as attested by coins of

Acholla Acholla (, ''Akhólla'') also latinised as Achilla or Achulla, was a Roman-Berber city on the sea-coast in the ancient province of Africa Propria (Byzacena) in modern Tunisia. It was located little above the northern extremity of the Lesser S ...

and

Hadrumetum Hadrumetum, also known by #Names, many variant spellings and names, was a Phoenician Phoenician colonies, colony that pre-dated Carthage. It subsequently became one of the most important cities in Roman Africa before Vandal Kingdom, Vandal and Uma ...

. From AD 4 to 5, Volusius served as a

Roman Governor A Roman governor was an official either elected or appointed to be the chief administrator of Roman law throughout one or more of the many Roman province, provinces constituting the Roman Empire. The generic term in Roman legal language was ''re ...

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 ...

. Based on inscriptional evidence, the Horrea Volusiana was either built by Volusius or his grandson Quintus Volusius Saturninus, consul in 56.

Family

Volusius married Nonia Polla, the daughter of Lucius Nonius Asprenas consul of 36 BC. Polla bore Volusius a son, Lucius Volusius Saturninus suffect consul in AD 3, and a daughter Volusia Saturnina. Some older authorities claim that Volusius and Nonia Polla had another daughter, Volusia Cornelia, but Rudolf Hanslik has shown she was the daughter of another Voluisus Saturninus, the consul of the year 92.Hanslik, "Volusia Q.f. Cornelia 23", ''

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 ...

'', Supplement 9A, col. 1863

References

Sources

, ''

'' *
''Prosopographia Imperii Romani Saec I''
Berlin, 1897–1898, V 660. *G. Rickman, ''Roman Granaries and Store Buildings'', CUP Archive, 1971 *B.E. Thomasson, ''Fasti Africani, Senatorische und ritterliche Ämter in den römischen Provinzen Nordafrikas von Augustus bis Diokletian'', Paul Aströms Förlag, 1996

External links

Coinage of Lucius Volusius Saturninus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Volusius Saturninus 20 deaths 1st-century BC Romans 1st-century Romans 1st-century Roman governors of Syria Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Roman governors of Africa Roman governors of Syria Epulones of the Roman Empire Year of birth unknown Saturninus (consul 12 BC)