... Rufinus is the fragment of the name of a governor of

Britannia Superior Britannia Superior ( Latin for "Upper Britain") was a province of Roman Britain created after the civil war between Septimius Severus and Claudius Albinus. Although Herodian credits Severus with dividing Roman Britain into the Northern terr ...

, a province of

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered wa ...

probably some time during the early third century AD. He may have been the same man as Aulus Triarius Rufinus who was suffect

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 th ...

around 210, although Quintus Aradius Rufinus who was consul ten or fifteen years later is another possibility. The name Rufinus is recorded only on an inscription found at the ancient Roman fort of Regulbium in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, in a context with pottery that could be loosely dated to c. 220 AD. This same name is also identified at the Roman Fort at Aballava in reference to the

Aurelian Aurelian ( la, Lucius Domitius Aurelianus; 9 September 214 October 275) was a Roman emperor, who reigned during the Crisis of the Third Century, from 270 to 275. As emperor, he won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited ...

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct o ...

: "To Jupiter, Best and Greatest, and to the Divinities of the two Emperors and the Genius of the unit of Aurelian Moors, Valerian's and Gallienus' Own, Flavius Vibianus, tribune of the cohort and commander of the unit mentioned above, (set this up) under the direction of Julius Rufinus, princeps." Likely referring to the Governor of the Province.

References

*Sheppard Sunderland Frere
''Britannia: A History of Roman Britain''
Routledge 1987, , p. 165 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rufinus Roman governors of Britain Ancient Romans in Britain 3rd-century Romans