Tiberius Claudius Severus Proculus
Encyclopedia
Tiberius Claudius Severus Proculus (about 163-by 218) was a Roman Senator
that lived in the Roman Empire
.
, a city in the Roman province
of Galatia
. He was the son of the Pontian Greek
Roman Senator
and Peripatetic Philosopher, Gnaeus Claudius Severus
and his second wife the Roman Princess Annia Aurelia Galeria Faustina
. Severus Proculus was of Pontian Greek
and Italian Roman descent. He had a paternal half-brother called Marcus Claudius Ummidius Quadratus, the child from his father’s first marriage. His paternal half-brother was adopted by the Roman Consul Marcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus
, who was the nephew of the Roman Emperor
Marcus Aurelius.
His paternal grandfather Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus
, was a Roman Senator
and Peripatetic Philosopher. He was a one of the teachers of Marcus Aurelius, whom later the two had become friends. His maternal grandparents were the Roman Emperor
Marcus Aurelius and Roman Empress Faustina the Younger
. Through his mother, Severus Proculus was a relative to the ruling Nerva–Antonine dynasty of the Roman Empire
. Among his maternal aunts and uncles were the Roman Empress Lucilla
and Roman Emperor Commodus
.
It appears that Severus Proculus wasn’t involved in any plots to kill or overthrow Commodus. When his maternal uncle was assassinated in December 192, Pertinax
assumed briefly the Roman throne. When Pertinax succeeded Commodus, Severus Proculus was one of Commodus’ few remaining living male relatives. He was completely ignored as a potential successor to Commodus.
In 193, after the deaths of the brief Roman Emperors Pertinax
and Didius Julianus
, Lucius Septimius Severus
finally became a stable Roman Emperor and founded a new imperial dynasty, known as the Severan dynasty
. During the reign of Lucius Septimius Severus (193-211), Proculus Severus served as a Roman Senator and in 200 served as an ordinary consul.
After his consulship, Severus Proculus had married his maternal second cousin Annia Faustina
, who was the granddaughter of Marcus Aurelius’ sister, Annia Cornificia Faustina
and was a wealthy heiress. After Severus Proculus married Annia Faustina, they had settled to live in his wife’s large great estate in Pisidia
. On the estate there is an honorific inscription dated in 207, stating that the owners of the estate was Severus Proculus and Annia Faustina.
Around 201, Severus Proculus and Annia Faustina had a daughter called Annia Aurelia Faustina
. When his daughter was born, Severus Proculus did not name the child after himself. It appears that Severus Proculus, named his daughter in honor of his mother’s family the gens Aurelia and gens Annia
. It also appears that his daughter was named in honor of his wife and her maternal ancestry. By giving their daughter that name, Severus Proculus and Annia Faustina, are honoring, their relations and links to the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Severus Proculus and Annia Faustina seem not to have any more children. Their daughter was born and raised on the Pisidian Estate.
About 216, Severus Proculus may have made a political alliance with a Roman Senator who was a member of the Pomponia (gens)
. In the result, his daughter married her first husband, the Roman Politician Pomponius Bassus
. Later in 221 Annia Aurelia Faustina, would become a brief Roman Empress and marry the Roman Emperor Elagabalus
(218-222) as her second husband. Elagabalus’ marriage with Annia Aurelia Faustina would have been his third marriage.
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
that lived in the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
.
Descent and Family
Severus Proculus was born of noble descent. He was from a wealthy, prominent, distinguished family in PompeiopolisPompeiopolis
Pompeiopolis was a Roman city-state in ancient Paphlagonia, situated today in the Taşköprü district, Kastamonu, Turkey. The exact location is 45 km north of Kastamonu, to the north of Taşköprü, in the valley of the Gökırmak...
, a city in the Roman province
Roman province
In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...
of Galatia
Galatia
Ancient Galatia was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. Galatia was named for the immigrant Gauls from Thrace , who settled here and became its ruling caste in the 3rd century BC, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC. It has been called the "Gallia" of...
. He was the son of the Pontian Greek
Pontic Greeks
The Pontians are an ethnic group traditionally living in the Pontus region, the shores of Turkey's Black Sea...
Roman Senator
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
and Peripatetic Philosopher, Gnaeus Claudius Severus
Gnaeus Claudius Severus
Gnaeus Claudius Severus was a Roman senator and philosopher who lived in the Roman Empire during the 2nd century.Severus was the son of the Roman senator and philosopher Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus by an unnamed mother. Severus was of Pontian Greek descent. He was born and raised in...
and his second wife the Roman Princess Annia Aurelia Galeria Faustina
Annia Aurelia Galeria Faustina
Annia Aurelia Galeria Faustina , was a Roman Princess. She was the first born daughter and child to Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Roman Empress Faustina the Younger. Her younger sister was Roman Empress Lucilla and younger brother was Roman Emperor Commodus...
. Severus Proculus was of Pontian Greek
Pontic Greeks
The Pontians are an ethnic group traditionally living in the Pontus region, the shores of Turkey's Black Sea...
and Italian Roman descent. He had a paternal half-brother called Marcus Claudius Ummidius Quadratus, the child from his father’s first marriage. His paternal half-brother was adopted by the Roman Consul Marcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus
Marcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus
Marcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus was a wealthy Roman Politician and the nephew of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.Quadratus was the son of Marcus Aurelius’ sister, Annia Cornificia Faustina and the Roman Senator who served as a suffect consul in 146, Gaius Ummidius Quadratus Annianus Verus....
, who was the nephew of the Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Marcus Aurelius.
His paternal grandfather Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus
Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus
Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus was a Roman Senator and philosopher that lived in the Roman Empire.Severus was the son of the consul and the first Roman Governor of Arabia Petraea, Gaius Claudius Severus by an unnamed mother. Severus was of Pontian Greek descent...
, was a Roman Senator
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
and Peripatetic Philosopher. He was a one of the teachers of Marcus Aurelius, whom later the two had become friends. His maternal grandparents were the Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Marcus Aurelius and Roman Empress Faustina the Younger
Faustina the Younger
Annia Galeria Faustina Minor , Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger was a daughter of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and Roman Empress Faustina the Elder. She was a Roman Empress and wife to her maternal cousin Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius...
. Through his mother, Severus Proculus was a relative to the ruling Nerva–Antonine dynasty of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. Among his maternal aunts and uncles were the Roman Empress Lucilla
Lucilla
Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla or Lucilla was the second daughter and third child of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Roman Empress Faustina the Younger and an elder sister to future Roman Emperor Commodus....
and Roman Emperor Commodus
Commodus
Commodus , was Roman Emperor from 180 to 192. He also ruled as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until his father's death in 180. His name changed throughout his reign; see changes of name for earlier and later forms. His accession as emperor was the first time a son had succeeded...
.
Life
Severus Proculus was born and raised in Pompeiopolis. It is unknown whether if he had become a follower of Peripatetic Philosophy. When Marcus Aurelius died in 180, Commodus succeeded his father and ruled as Roman Emperor until 192.It appears that Severus Proculus wasn’t involved in any plots to kill or overthrow Commodus. When his maternal uncle was assassinated in December 192, Pertinax
Pertinax
Pertinax , was Roman Emperor for three months in 193. He is known as the first emperor of the tumultuous Year of the Five Emperors. A high ranking military and Senatorial figure, he tried to restore discipline in the Praetorian Guards, whereupon they rebelled and killed him...
assumed briefly the Roman throne. When Pertinax succeeded Commodus, Severus Proculus was one of Commodus’ few remaining living male relatives. He was completely ignored as a potential successor to Commodus.
In 193, after the deaths of the brief Roman Emperors Pertinax
Pertinax
Pertinax , was Roman Emperor for three months in 193. He is known as the first emperor of the tumultuous Year of the Five Emperors. A high ranking military and Senatorial figure, he tried to restore discipline in the Praetorian Guards, whereupon they rebelled and killed him...
and Didius Julianus
Didius Julianus
Didius Julianus , was Roman Emperor for three months during the year 193. He ascended the throne after buying it from the Praetorian Guard, who had assassinated his predecessor Pertinax. This led to the Roman Civil War of 193–197...
, Lucius Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus , also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of...
finally became a stable Roman Emperor and founded a new imperial dynasty, known as the Severan dynasty
Severan dynasty
The Severan dynasty was a Roman imperial dynasty, which ruled the Roman Empire between 193 and 235. The dynasty was founded by the Roman general Septimius Severus, who rose to power during the civil war of 193, known as the Year of the Five Emperors....
. During the reign of Lucius Septimius Severus (193-211), Proculus Severus served as a Roman Senator and in 200 served as an ordinary consul.
After his consulship, Severus Proculus had married his maternal second cousin Annia Faustina
Annia Faustina (daughter of Ummidia Cornificia Faustina)
Annia Faustina was a noblewoman of Anatolian Roman descent and a wealthy heiress who lived in the Roman Empire.Annia Faustina was the daughter and only child of the wealthy Roman heiress Ummidia Cornificia Faustina by an unnamed Roman Senator. The full name of Annia Faustina is unknown...
, who was the granddaughter of Marcus Aurelius’ sister, Annia Cornificia Faustina
Annia Cornificia Faustina
Annia Cornificia Faustina was the youngest child and only daughter to Praetor Marcus Annius Verus and Domitia Lucilla. The parents of Cornificia came from wealthy senatorial families who were of consular rank. She was born and raised in Rome. The brother of Cornificia was the future Roman Emperor...
and was a wealthy heiress. After Severus Proculus married Annia Faustina, they had settled to live in his wife’s large great estate in Pisidia
Pisidia
Pisidia was a region of ancient Asia Minor located north of Lycia, and bordering Caria, Lydia, Phrygia and Pamphylia. It corresponds roughly to the modern-day province of Antalya in Turkey...
. On the estate there is an honorific inscription dated in 207, stating that the owners of the estate was Severus Proculus and Annia Faustina.
Around 201, Severus Proculus and Annia Faustina had a daughter called Annia Aurelia Faustina
Annia Faustina
Annia Aurelia Faustina was an Anatolian Roman noblewoman. She was an Empress of Rome and third wife of Roman Emperor Elagabalus briefly in 221.-Ancestry & Family:...
. When his daughter was born, Severus Proculus did not name the child after himself. It appears that Severus Proculus, named his daughter in honor of his mother’s family the gens Aurelia and gens Annia
Annia (gens)
The gens Annia was a plebeian family of considerable antiquity at Rome. The first person of this name whom Titus Livius mentions is the Latin praetor Lucius Annius of Setia, a Roman colony in 340 BC. By the time of the Second Punic War, the Annii were obtaining minor magistracies at Rome, and in...
. It also appears that his daughter was named in honor of his wife and her maternal ancestry. By giving their daughter that name, Severus Proculus and Annia Faustina, are honoring, their relations and links to the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Severus Proculus and Annia Faustina seem not to have any more children. Their daughter was born and raised on the Pisidian Estate.
About 216, Severus Proculus may have made a political alliance with a Roman Senator who was a member of the Pomponia (gens)
Pomponia (gens)
The gens Pomponia was a plebeian family at Rome throughout the period of the Republic and into imperial times. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Marcus Pomponius, tribune of the plebs in 449 BC; the first who obtained the consulship was Manius Pomponius Matho in 233 BC.-Origin of the...
. In the result, his daughter married her first husband, the Roman Politician Pomponius Bassus
Pomponius Bassus (consul 211)
Pomponius Bassus was a Roman Senator that lived in the Roman Empire.The father of Pomponius Bassus was probably Gaius Pomponius Bassus Terentianus , who served as a suffect consul around 193 and the name of his mother is unknown....
. Later in 221 Annia Aurelia Faustina, would become a brief Roman Empress and marry the Roman Emperor Elagabalus
Elagabalus
Elagabalus , also known as Heliogabalus, was Roman Emperor from 218 to 222. A member of the Severan Dynasty, he was Syrian on his mother's side, the son of Julia Soaemias and Sextus Varius Marcellus. Early in his youth he served as a priest of the god El-Gabal at his hometown, Emesa...
(218-222) as her second husband. Elagabalus’ marriage with Annia Aurelia Faustina would have been his third marriage.
Sources
- Marcus Aurelius, by Anthony Richard Birley, Routledge, 2000
- Septimius Severus: the African emperor, by Anthony Richard Birley Edition: 2 - 1999
- From Tiberius to the Antonines: a history of the Roman Empire AD 14-192, by Albino Garzetti, 1974
- The Cities and Bishoprics of Phyrgia: Being an Essay of the Local History of Phrygia from the Earliest Times to the Turkish Conquest Volume One, Part One - By William M. Ramsay 2004
- Articles – Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus, Gnaeus Claudius Severus & Tiberius Claudius Severus Proculus from German Wikipedia
- http://www.livius.org/fa-fn/faustina/faustina_ii.html
- Marcus Aurelius - MeditationsMeditationsMeditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor 161–180 CE, setting forth his ideas on Stoic philosophy....