Marcus Vipstanus Gallus (born around 28 BC, died after AD 18) 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 ...

at the beginning of the first century AD. He served as

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 18 with

Gaius Rubellius Blandus Gaius Rubellius Blandus was a Roman senator who lived during the Principate. Blandus was the grandson of Rubellius Blandus of Tibur, a member of the Equestrian class, who was the first Roman to teach rhetoric. He was suffect consul from August to ...

as his colleague. He likely came from the area of Cliternia, among the

Sabines The Sabines (, , , ; ) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains (see Sabina) of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines divided int ...

and

Aequi 300px, Location of the Aequi (Equi) in central Italy, 5th century BC. The Aequi were an Italic tribe on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains to the east of Latium in central Italy who appear in the early history of ancient Rome. After a long stru ...

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 ...

, ''Roman Papers'', II, ed. by

Ernst Badian Ernst Badian (8 August 1925 – 1 February 2011) was an Austrian-born classical scholar who served as a professor at Harvard University from 1971 to 1998. Early life and education Badian was born in Vienna in 1925 and in 1938 fled the Nazis wit ...

, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1979, pp. 533–536 He was a ''

homo novus ''Homo'' () is a genus of great ape (family Hominidae) that emerged from the genus ''Australopithecus'' and encompasses only a single extant species, ''Homo sapiens'' (modern humans), along with a number of extinct species (collectively called ...

'', the first of his family to attain the consulship. His relative (perhaps brother) Lucius Vipstanus Gallus served as praetor and died in 17. An inscription from the Athenian Acropolis honors both brothers. Marcus’s suffect consulship in 18 may have begun in August or October, possibly replacing Gaius Annius Pollio who abdicated before the year’s end. He may have married Valeria, likely the daughter of the consul of 3 BC, Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus, whose friendship with

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 ...

may have helped secure Marcus’s promotion. His son,

Lucius Vipstanus Poplicola Lucius Vipstanus Poplicola Messalla (c. 10 – aft. 59) was a Roman Senator. Life Messalla was ordinary consul in 48 as the colleague of the future emperor Vitellius. Based on the elements of his ''cognomeni'' Poplicola Messalla, Ronald ...

, became an ordinary consul in 48, and another son, Gaius Vipstanus Messalla Gallus, served as suffect consul in the same year. Some genealogies also link him with

Gaius Vipstanus Apronianus Gaius Vipstanus Apronianus (died 91) was a Roman Senator who was '' consul ordinarius'' in AD 59 with Gaius Fonteius Capito as his colleague. Apronianus was afterwards proconsular governor of Africa; he was also a member of the Arval Brethren. Th ...

, consul in 59, suggesting a possible connection to the gens Apronia.

Prosopographia Imperii Romani The ', abbreviated ''PIR'', is a collective historical work to establish the prosopography of high-profile people from the Roman Empire. The time period covered extends from the Battle of Actium in 31 BC to the reign of Diocletian. The final volum ...

V 687; V 689.

References

1st-century Roman consuls Vipstani {{AncientRome-politician-stub