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Sextus Calpurnius Agricola was a Roman
Sextus Calpurnius Agricola was a Roman 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 ...
and general active during the 2nd century. He was ''consul suffectus
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 ...
'' with Tiberius Claudius Julianus for the '' nundinium'' of September-October 154. Agricola is known primarily from inscriptions.
Life
No information has yet been found about Calpurnius Agricola prior to his consulate. His origin is attested in no surviving document, and the '' gentilicium'' "Calpurnius" is commonly found all over the Empire. However,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 ...
notes the combination "Sextus Calpurnius" is very uncommon, and he suggests that Agricola is related to Fronto's friend Sextus Calpurnius Julianus; if so, he may have been a native of Cirta
Cirta, also known by #Names, various other names in classical antiquity, antiquity, was the ancient Berbers, Berber, Punic people, Punic and Roman Empire, Roman settlement which later became Constantine, Algeria, Constantine, Algeria.
Cirta was ...
or another town in Numidia
Numidia was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisia and Libya. The polity was originally divided between ...
.
Calpurnius Agricola was governor of Germania Superior
Germania Superior ("Upper Germania") was an imperial province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of today's western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany. Important cities were Besançon ('' Vesont ...
around 158.Patricia Southern, ''Roman Britain: A New History 55BC - AD 450''
In 161 or 162 he was made governor of Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales
* The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...
and remained until at least 163, possibly until the end of the 160s.
In 163, he was sent to Britain to control uprisings in the north. He rebuilt a number of forts, most notably that at Coria (Corbridge
Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, west of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle and east of Hexham. Villages nearby include Halton, Northumberland, Halton, Acomb, Northumberland, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe.
Etymology
Corbridge was k ...
). He withdrew troops southwards from Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
towards the line of Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...
to contend with the threats of further rebellion.
There are indications of unrest in Britain around the time of his rule attested by damage to the forum at Viroconium Cornoviorum ( Wroxeter) and the burning of a large part of Verulamium (St Albans
St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...
).Historia Augusta
The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, Caesar (title), designated heirs and Roman usurper, usurpers from 117 to 284. S ...
''Life of Marcus Aurelius'' 8.8
Around 166 AD Agricola was appointed imperial legate in Roman Dacia
Roman Dacia ( ; also known as ; or Dacia Felix, ) was a province of the Roman Empire from 106 to 271–275 AD. Its territory consisted of what are now the regions of Oltenia, Transylvania and Banat (today all in Romania, except the last regi ...
. Between 168 and 169, he was one of the governors of Lower Moesia.
Notes
Sources
Epigraphics
* '' PIR'' C 249 * '' CIL'' VII, 226 * ''RIB
In vertebrate anatomy, ribs () are the long curved bones which form the rib cage, part of the axial skeleton. In most tetrapods, ribs surround the thoracic cavity, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the ...
'' I, 1137
Secondary
* Patricia Southern, ''Roman Britain: A New History 55BC - AD 450'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Calpurnius Agricola, Sextus Calpurnius Agricola, Sextus Ancient Roman generals 2nd-century Romans Roman governors of Lower Moesia Roman governors of Germania Inferior Roman governors of Dacia Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Agricola, Sextus Generals of Lucius Verus Generals of Marcus Aurelius