Sextus Afranius Burrus
Born1
Gallia Narbonensis, Vasio
Died62(62-00-00) (aged 60–61)
Rome
AllegianceRoman Empire
Years of service50 AD – 62
RankPraetorian prefect
Commands heldPraetorian Guard

Sextus Afranius Burrus (born AD 1 in Vasio, Gallia Narbonensis;[1] died AD 62) was a prefect of the Praetorian Guard and was, together with Seneca the Younger, an advisor to the Roman emperor Nero, making him a very powerful man in the early years of Nero's reign.[2]

Agrippina the Younger chose him as Prefect in 51 to secure her son Nero's place as emperor after the death of Claudius.[3] For the first eight years of Nero's rule, Burrus and Nero's former tutor Seneca helped maintain a stable government. Burrus acquiesced to Nero's murder of Agrippina the Younger but lost his influence over Nero anyway. He died in 62, some say from poison.[4]

The cognomen "Burrus" is the Latin version of the name Pyrrhus, king of Epirus.

Sources

References

  1. ^ CIL XII, 5842 = ILS 1321. English translation Robert K. Sherk (1988). The Roman Empire: Augustus to Hadrian. Cambridge University Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-521-33887-5.
  2. ^ Albino Garzetti (1974). From Tiberius to the Antonines: A History of the Roman Empire AD 14-192. Routledge. pp. 611f. ISBN 978-1-317-69844-9.
  3. ^ Anthony A. Barrett (1996). Agrippina: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Early Empire. Yale University Press. pp. 122f. ISBN 978-0-300-07856-5.
  4. ^ Boris Rankov (1994). The Praetorian Guard. Osprey Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-85532-361-2. Archived from the original on 14 February 2016.
Government offices Preceded byLusius Geta and Rufrius Crispinus Praetorian prefect 50–62 Succeeded byFaenius Rufus and Gaius Ophonius Tigellinus
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