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 ...
active during the later second century AD. He was
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 ...
for a ''
nundinium Nundinium was a Latin word derived from the word '' nundinum'', which referred to the cycle of days observed by the Romans. During the Roman Empire, ''nundinium'' came to mean the duration of a single consulship among several in a calendar year.
...
'' in the first half of the year 161 as the colleague of
Marcus Annius Libo
Marcus Annius Libo was a Roman Senator active in the early second century AD.
Life
Libo came from the upper ranks of the Roman aristocracy. He was the son of Marcus Annius Verus, consul III in 126, and Rupilia Faustina. Annius Verus was Spanish o ...
.
His ''
gentilicium
The (; or simply ) was a hereditary name borne by the peoples of Roman Italy and later by the citizens of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. It was originally the name of one's (family or clan) by patrilineal descent. However, as Rome expan ...
'' Camurius points to a connection with the Trajanic
equites
The (; , though sometimes referred to as " knights" in English) constituted the second of the property/social-based classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the senatorial class. A member of the equestrian order was known as an ().
Descript ...
C. Camurius C. f. Clemens. While some authorities believe Numisius Junior was descended from the equites, Olli Salomies in his monograph on Imperial Roman naming practices believes it is more likely he was adopted by a brother of Clemens than Clemens himself. A number of inscriptions with his name at Attidium in
Umbria
Umbria ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Italian Peninsula, Apennine Peninsula. The re ...
indicate that city was his home. One mentions a woman who might be his wife, Stertinia L.f. Cocceia Bassula Venecia Aeliana Junior, and a man who might be his son, Quintus Cornelius Flaccus tertinus?Noricus Numisius unior?
Anthony Birley
Anthony Richard Birley (8 October 1937 – 19 December 2020) was a British ancient historian, archaeologist and academic. He was one of the leaders of excavations at of the Roman fortress at Vindolanda and also published several books on Roman ...
believes his wife Stertinia was a descendant of
Lucius Stertinius Noricus
Lucius is a masculine given name derived from Lucius (Latin ; ), abbreviated L., one of the small group of common Latin forenames () found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius probably derives from Latin word ( gen. ), meaning "light" (<, consul in 113.Birley, ''The Fasti of Roman Britain'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981), p. 255
Career
His ''
cursus honorum
The , or more colloquially 'ladder of offices'; ) was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The comprised a mixture of ...
'' can be reconstructed from one of the inscriptions at Attidium. Numisius Junior began in his teens as one of the ''
tresviri monetalis
The ''triumvir monetalis'' ( ''tresviri'' or ''triumviri monetales'', also called the , abbreviated IIIVIR A. A. A. F. F.) was a moneyer during the Roman Republic and the Empire, who oversaw the minting of coins. In that role, he would be respons ...
'', the most prestigious of the four boards that comprise the ''
vigintiviri
The ''vigintisexviri'' ( ''vigintisexvir''; ) were a college ( ''collegium'') of minor magistrates (''magistratus minores'') in the Roman Republic. The college consisted of six boards:
* the '' decemviri stlitibus judicandis'' – 10 magis ...
''; assignment to this board was usually allocated to patricians or favored individuals. This was followed by a commission as
military tribune
A military tribune () was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion. Young men of Equestrian rank often served as military tribunes as a stepping stone to the Senate. The should not be confused with the ...
in
Legio IX Hispana
Legio IX Hispana ("9th Hispanian Legion"), also written as Legio VIIII Hispana, was a legion of the Imperial Roman army that existed from the 1st century BC until at least AD 120. The legion fought in various provinces of the late ...
, stationed in
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410.
Julius Caes ...
; Birley dates this to the 140s. Junior was afterwards appointed
quaestor
A quaestor ( , ; ; "investigator") was a public official in ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times.
In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officia ...
, which he discharged at Rome; about this time he was admitted to the '' sodales Titalis Flaviales''. He then advanced through the traditional Republican magistracies of
curule aedile
Aedile ( , , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public orde ...
and
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 ...
.
Géza Alföldy
Géza Alföldy (June 7, 1935 – November 6, 2011) was a Hungarian historian of ancient history.
Life
Géza Alföldy was born in Budapest. He studied at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Budapest from 1953 to 1958, where he i ...
estimates the date of this last office as around the year 150.
After stepping down as praetor, Junior was commissioned as ''
legatus legionis
A legate (Latin: , ) was a high-ranking Roman military officer in the Roman army, equivalent to a high-ranking general officer of modern times. Initially used to delegate power, the term became formalised under Augustus as the officer in comman ...
'' or commander of two legions consecutively. The name of the first is lost, but Alföldy dates his command from about 152 to about 155. The second was
Legio VI Victrix
Legio VI Victrix ("Victorious Sixth Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army founded in 41 BC by the general Octavian (who, as Augustus, later became Rome's first emperor). It was the twin legion of VI ''Ferrata'' and perhaps held vet ...
, and Alföldy dates his command of that legion from immediately after leaving the first legion to around 158. It was an unusual situation for a man to command more than one legion; Birley offers a list of no more than 30 men who had done so, and he notes that "where evidence is available, special circumstances can be seen to have brought about the iterated command." Birley attributes the cause in Junior's case to the critical military situation in Roman Britain during the mid-150s. "It is not unlikely," writes Birley, "that Numisius Junior had been commanding a legion on the Rhine, and was appointed to VI Victrix on the recommendation of Cn. Julius Verus, when the latter went from
Germania Inferior
''Germania Inferior'' ("Lower Germania") was a Roman province from AD 85 until the province was renamed ''Germania Secunda'' in the 4th century AD, on the west bank of the Rhine bordering the North Sea. The capital of the province was Colonia Cl ...
to Britain.Birley, ''Fasti of Roman Britain'', pp. 255f After concluding his command of the VI Victrix, Numisius Junior acceded to the consulate.
His life after the consulate is a blank.