Gaius Julius Silanus was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

senator 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 ...

and general who held a series of offices in the emperor's service. He was

suffect consul A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...

for the ''

nundinium Nundinium was a Latin word derived from the word '' nundinum'', which referred to the cycle of days observed by the Romans. During the Roman Empire, ''nundinium'' came to mean the duration of a single consulship among several in a calendar year. S ...

'' of January to April 92 as the colleague of

Quintus Junius Arulenus Rusticus Quintus is a male given name derived from '' Quintus'', a common Latin forename ('' praenomen'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Quintus derives from Latin word ''quintus'', meaning "fifth". Quintus is an English masculine given name and ...

. Silanus is known solely through inscriptions. Ronald Syme speculates Silanus came from Tres Galliae, and adds that "the '' cognomen'' need have nothing to do with the aristocratic Junii Silani." He was co-opted into the

Arval Brethren In ancient Roman religion, the Arval Brethren ( la, Fratres Arvales, "Brothers of the Fields") or Arval Brothers were a body of priests who offered annual sacrifices to the Lares and gods to guarantee good harvests. Inscriptions provide eviden ...

on 22 January 86 to replace the recently deceased Gaius Vipstanus Apronianus. While he was appointed ''magister'' in the year 87, he was absent from the records of the ''

sodales The vocabulary of ancient Roman religion was highly specialized. Its study affords important information about the religion, traditions and beliefs of the ancient Romans. This legacy is conspicuous in European cultural history in its influence on ...

'' for the rest of that year, and again from 89 to 91; Syme speculates Silanus was absent due to imperial appointment either to command a legion or to govern one of the eight imperial

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...

ian provinces.Syme, ''Some Arval Brethren'', p. 28

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Julius Silanus, Gaius Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Silanus 1st-century Romans