Gaius Norbanus Flaccus (fl. 1st century BC) was a Roman

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 ...

who was appointed

Roman 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 ...

in 24 BC as the colleague of the emperor

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

Biography

A member of the

Nobiles The ''nobiles'' ( ''nobilis'') were members of a social rank in the Roman Republic indicating that one was "well known". This may have changed over time: in Cicero's time, one was notable if one descended from a person who had been elected Roman c ...

, Flaccus was the son of

Gaius Norbanus Flaccus Gaius Norbanus Flaccus was a Roman Republic, Roman politician and general during the 1st century BC. Of Etruscan civilization, Etruscan descent, Flaccus was the grandson of Gaius Norbanus. His family had suffered under the proscriptions of Lucius C ...

, who had been consul in 38 BC. The father possessed a good relationship with Augustus, and this connection was continued with the younger Flaccus, who became consul as the colleague of the emperor. In either 18/17 or 17/16 BC, the

sortition In governance, sortition (also known as selection by lottery, selection by lot, allotment, demarchy, stochocracy, aleatoric democracy, democratic lottery, and lottocracy) is the selection of political officials as a random sample from a larger ...

appointed him

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. Flaccus was also a member of the ''

Quindecimviri sacris faciundis In ancient Rome, the were the fifteen () members of a college (''collegium'') with priestly duties. They guarded the Sibylline Books, scriptures which they consulted and interpreted at the request of the Senate. This ''collegium'' also oversaw t ...

''.Syme, Ronald, ''The Augustan Aristocracy'' (1986).

Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, p. 33. Flaccus was married to Cornelia Balba, a daughter of

Lucius Cornelius Balbus the Younger Lucius Cornelius Balbus (fl. 1st century BC) was a Roman politician and general of Punic origin from Gades. Although from a family of naturalized foreigners (he received Roman citizenship at the same time as his uncle, around 72 BC) he did valua ...

, and they had at least three children:

(consul of AD 15), Lucius Norbanus Balbus (consul of AD 19) and a daughter, Norbana Clara.

References

Sources

* PIR ² N 167 {{DEFAULTSORT:Norbanus Flaccus, Gaius 1st-century BC Romans Senators of the Roman Empire Imperial Roman consuls Roman governors of Asia Flaccus, Gaius Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 1st-century BC Roman consuls