Marcus Sempronius Liberalis 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 ...

eques Eques, ''horseman'' or ''rider'' in Latin, may refer to: * Equites, a member of the Roman Equestrian order * the Latin word for a knight in chess * '' Eques'', a small genus of fishes in the drum family Sciaenidae Sciaenidae is a family (biolo ...

'' who held a number of appointments during the reign of the Emperor

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...

. He is known from

military diploma A Roman military diploma was a document inscribed in bronze certifying that the holder was honourably discharged from the Roman armed forces and/or had received the grant of Roman citizenship from the emperor as reward for service. The diploma ...

s and non-literary

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...

. Liberalis was born in

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 ...

, located in what is

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. His relationship to other members of the

Sempronii The gens Sempronia was one of the most ancient and noble houses of ancient Rome. Although the oldest branch of this gens was patrician, with Aulus Sempronius Atratinus obtaining the consulship in 497 BC, the thirteenth year of the Republic, but ...

is unknown. His first attested appointment was his commission as commander of the ala

I Gallorum Tauriana victrix I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plur ...

in 129/130, which at the time was stationed in

Mauretania Tingitana Mauretania Tingitana (Latin for "Tangerine Mauretania") was a Roman province, coinciding roughly with the northern part of present-day Morocco. The territory stretched from the northern peninsula opposite Gibraltar, to Sala Colonia (or Chellah ...

; this may have been a step in his ''

tres militiae The ''tres militiae'' ("three military posts") was a career progression of the Roman Imperial army for men of the equestrian order. It developed as an alternative to the ''cursus honorum'' of the senatorial order for enabling the social mobility ...

''. His next known appointment was as ''

praefectus ''Praefectus'', often with a further qualification, was the formal title of many, fairly low to high-ranking, military or civil officials in the Roman Empire, whose authority was not embodied in their person (as it was with elected Magistrates) b ...

'' or governor of

Rhaetia Raetia or Rhaetia ( , ) was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire named after the Rhaetian people. It bordered on the west with the country of the Helvetii, on the east with Noricum, on the north with Vindelicia, on the south-west wit ...

from at least 30 October 139 to at least as late as November or December 140. His last known appointment was one of the most senior posts of an equestrian career, ''praefectus'' or governor of

Roman Egypt Roman Egypt was an imperial province of the Roman Empire from 30 BC to AD 642. The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai. It was bordered by the provinces of Crete and Cyrenaica to the west and Judaea, ...

from 154 to 159. It was important because Egypt provided a large share of the grain needed to feed Rome. Not only did the governor have command of the troops stationed there -- during his tenure two legions were based in Egypt,

Legio III Cyrenaica Legio III Cyrenaica, ( Third Legion " Cyrenean") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. The legion had its origins among the forces of Mark Antony during the civil wars of late first century BC. In the Imperial period it was stationed in Egyp ...

and

Legio XXII Deiotariana Legio XXII Deiotariana ("Deiotarus' Twenty-Second Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army, founded ca. 48 BC and disbanded or destroyed during the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–136. Its cognomen comes from Deiotarus, a Celtic king of ...

-- he managed the financial and judicial affairs. Excerpts from his assizes as he held legal hearings around Egypt have survived in a papyrus at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

.O. M. Pearl
"Excerpts from the Minutes of Judicial Proceedings: P. Mich. Inv. 2964 verso"
''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'', 6 (1970), pp. 271-277

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sempronius Liberalis, Marcus 2nd-century Romans 2nd-century Roman governors of Egypt Ancient Roman equites Roman governors of Raetia Roman governors of Egypt Liberalis, Marcus Sempronius