Julius Africanus
Encyclopedia
Julius Africanus was a celebrated orator in the reign of Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....

, and seems to have been the son of the Julius Africanus, of the Gallic
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...

 state of the Santoni
Santones
The Santones or Santoni were a tribe of ancient Gaul located in the modern region of Saintonge and around the city of Saintes, city to which they gave their name. The Romans occupied the territory of the Santones from the 1st century BC....

, who was condemned by Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...

 in 32 AD
32
Year 32 was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Ahenobarbus and Camillus...

. Quintilian
Quintilian
Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was a Roman rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing...

, who had heard Julius Africanus, spoke of him and Domitius Afer
Domitius Afer
Gnaeus Domitius Afer was a Roman orator and advocate, born at Nemausus in Gallia Narbonensis. He flourished in the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero....

 as the best orators of their time. The eloquence of Africanus was chiefly characterized by vehemence and energy. Pliny the Younger
Pliny the Younger
Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo , better known as Pliny the Younger, was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate him...

 mentions a grandson of this Julius Africanus, who was also an advocate and was opposed to him upon one occasion. He was consul suffectus in 108 AD
108
Year 108 was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Trebonius and Bradua...

.

There is a persistent belief in some quarters that Africanus was actually an African; in fact, however, being the son of a Gallic chief he was a member of a Germanic tribe. This confusion probably arises from an incorrect belief that the Roman cognomen Africanus means FROM Africa (ie. born in Africa) rather than the correct meaning of FAMOUS IN RELATION TO Africa. The name Africanus originated with Scipio Africanus
Scipio Africanus
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus , also known as Scipio Africanus and Scipio the Elder, was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic...

, who defeated Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...

 (in North Africa) during the Second Punic War
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and The War Against Hannibal, lasted from 218 to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. This was the second major war between Carthage and the Roman Republic, with the participation of the Berbers on...

.
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