Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus was a

Roman Senator The Roman Senate () was the highest and Roman constitution, constituting assembly of ancient Rome and its aristocracy. With different powers throughout its existence it lasted from the first days of the Rome, city of Rome (traditionally founded ...

who lived in 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 ...

in the 1st century. He might have been the brother of 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 reputation ...

Biography

Early life

Corvinus was a member of the Republican

gens Valeria The gens Valeria was a patrician family at ancient Rome, prominent from the very beginning of the Republic to the latest period of the Empire. Publius Valerius Poplicola was one of the consuls in 509 BC, the year that saw the overthrow of the ...

. Corvinus was the namesake of the Senator and Augustan literary patron

Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus (64 BC – AD 8 or c. 12) was a Roman general, author, and patron of literature and art. Family Corvinus was the son of a consul in 61 BC, Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger,Syme, R., ''Augustan Aristocracy'', p. ...

. He may have been a son of the Senator and consul

Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus (flourished second half of 1st century BC and first half of 1st century AD) was a Roman Senator who was a friend of the first two Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius.Pettinger, ''The Republic in Danger: Dr ...

, who was a son of Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, or possibly the son of the consul

Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus 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 reputation ...

and

Domitia Lepida the Younger 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 ...

, thus making him the brother of Valeria

, the third wife of the emperor

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...

Political career

In 46/47AD, Corvinus was a member of the

Arval Brethren In ancient Roman religion, the Arval Brethren (, "Brothers of the Fields") or Arval Brothers were a body of priests who offered annual sacrifices to the Lares and gods to guarantee good harvests. Inscriptions provide evidence of their oaths, r ...

. From January to April in 58AD, he served as an ordinary

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 thro ...

with the

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...

and then from May to June in 58AD, as a suffect consul with

Gaius Fonteius Agrippa Gaius Fonteius Agrippa was the name of two related people in Roman history: *Gaius Fonteius Agrippa was one of the four accusers of Marcus Scribonius Libo in 16 AD. Agrippa profited financially from the accusation, as he was rewarded with a share o ...

. Starting with his consulship, he was granted an annual half a million

sesterces The ''sestertius'' (: ''sestertii'') or sesterce (: sesterces) was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin. The name ''sester ...

to maintain his senatorial qualifications.Tacitus, ''

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 ...

'' xiii.34

References

Sources

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'' ( ...

, ''Annals of Imperial Rome'' * D. Shotter, ''Nero'' (Google eBook) Routledge, 2012 * Lucan, ''Civil War'' (Google eBook), Penguin, 2012 * Velleius Paterculus – Translated with Introduction and Notes by J.C. Yardley & A.A. Barrett, ''The Roman History'', Hackett Publishing, 2011 * Biographischer Index der Antike (Google eBook), Walter de Gruyter, 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Valerius Messala Corvinus, Marcus Corvinus, Marcus Ancient Roman patricians 1st-century Roman consuls 1st-century clergy