Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus was a Roman senator. He was consul in AD 19, with Lucius Norbanus Balbus as his colleague.[1]

Biography

Silanus was a descendant of the noble Roman house of the Junii Silani. His grandfather was Marcus Junius Silanus, consul with the emperor Augustus in 25 BC. His mother appears to have been Calpurnia Domitia Calvina, daughter of Lucius Calpurnius Bibulus and Domitia Calvina, daughter of Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus.[2] Torquatus married Aemilia Lepida, daughter of Julia the Younger, and great-granddaughter of Augustus.[3][4]

Consul for the whole year of AD 19, he and his colleague Norbanus brought forward the lex Junia Norbana, which prevented slaves manumitted by praetors from receiving the franchise, and precluding their descendants from inheritance. Freedmen under this law came to be known as Latini Juniani.[5]

From AD 32 to 38, Silanus was proconsul of Africa.[6]

Descendants

Silanus and Aemilia had five children, all of whom suffered as a result of their connection to the imperial family.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ Attilio Degrassi, I fasti consolari dell'Impero Romano dal 30 avanti Cristo al 613 dopo Cristo (Rome, 1952), p. 8
  2. ^ Syme, Ronald (1987). "M. Bibulus and Four Sons". Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. Department of the Classics, Harvard University. 91: 185–198. doi:10.2307/311404. JSTOR 311404 – via JSTOR.
  3. ^ Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2nd Ed. (1970).
  4. ^ Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft.
  5. ^ Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2nd Ed. (1970).
  6. ^ Ronald Syme, "The Early Tiberian Consuls", Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, 30 (1981), pp. 196f.
  7. ^ Syme, The Augustan Aristocracy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), pp. 188, 192
  8. ^ Barrett, Anthony, Caligula: The Corruption of Power (Touchstone, 1989), p.viii-ix.
Political offices Preceded byGaius Rubellius BlandusMarcus Vipstanus Gallusas suffect consuls Roman consul 19with Lucius Norbanus Balbus,Publius Petronius Succeeded byMarcus Valerius MessallaMarcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinusas ordinary consuls
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