Titus Sextius ( BC) was a Roman soldier and governor in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. Sextius' origins are obscure. He belonged to ''

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; : gentes ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same ''nomen gentilicium'' and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens, sometimes identified by a distinct cognomen, was cal ...

'' Sextia and may have been an Ostian. Some of his descendants achieved

consular A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

rank and took the

cognomen A ''cognomen'' (; : ''cognomina''; from ''co-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditar ...

Africanus in honour of his service in Africa.C. B. R. Pelling, "Sextius, Titus", in Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth, eds., ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary'', 3rd rev. ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). Sextius held a command under

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

during the

Gallic Wars The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, and Switzerland). Gauls, Gallic, Germanic peoples, Germanic, and Celtic Britons, Brittonic trib ...

in 53–50 BC. He may also have served him during the Roman civil war of 49–45. In 44, he replaced

Sallust Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (, ; –35 BC), was a historian and politician of the Roman Republic from a plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became a partisan of Julius ...

as governor of the new province of

Africa Nova Numidia was a Roman province on the North African coast, comprising roughly the territory of northeastern Algeria. History The people of the area were first identified as Numidians by Polybius around the 2nd century BC, although they were of ...

, carved out of the defeated kingdom of

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 ...

. He supported

Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman people, Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the Crisis of the Roman Republic, transformation of the Roman Republic ...

during the Mutine War of 43, and was consequently ordered by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

to send two of his legions to Italy and a further one to

Quintus Cornificius Quintus Cornificius (died 42 BC) was an ancient Roman of senatorial rank from the ''gens'' Cornificia. He was a general, orator and poet, a friend of Catullus and a correspondent of Cicero. He was also an augur. He wrote a now lost epyllion titl ...

in the province of

Africa Vetus Africa was a Roman province on the northern coast of the continent of Africa. It was established in 146 BC, following the Roman Republic's conquest of Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day Tunisi ...

. After the creation of the

Second Triumvirate The Second Triumvirate was an extraordinary commission and magistracy created at the end of the Roman republic for Mark Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian to give them practically absolute power. It was formally constituted by law on 27 November ...

, of which Antony was a member, in November 43, he was tasked with removing Cornificius. He invaded Africa Vetus and defeated Cornificius, killing him in battle near Utica in 42. After Utica, Sextius governed both African provinces until, at the request of Lucius Antonius, he surrendered them to Gaius Fuficius Fango in 41. When the

Perusine War The Perusine War (also Perusian or Perusinian War, or the War of Perusia) was a civil war of the Roman Republic, which lasted from 41 to 40 BC. It was fought by Lucius Antonius (the younger brother of Mark Antony) and the Umbrians of Perusia ...

broke out later that year, he sided with Antony again and recovered both Africas. At the conclusion of the war, he surrendered the provinces to the triumvir

Lepidus Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (; 89 BC – late 13 or early 12 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who formed the Second Triumvirate alongside Octavian and Mark Antony during the final years of the Roman Republic. Lepidus had previously been ...

References

{{reflist 1st-century BC Romans Sextii