Gaius Bruttius Praesens
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Lucius Fulvius Gaius Bruttius Praesens Laberius Maximus (c. 119 – after 180) 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 lette ...
senator who held a number of imperial appointments during the reigns of
emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
s
Antoninus Pius Antoninus Pius ( Latin: ''Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius''; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Born into a senatori ...
,
Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...
and Commodus, and was twice
consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...
. Although he was the recipient of one of the letters of Pliny the Younger (''Epistulae'', vii.3), most of what we know about him comes from inscriptions. Praesens was the son and (as far as is known) the only child of consul and senator Gaius Bruttius Praesens Lucius Fulvius Rusticus, by his second marriage to the wealthy heiress Laberia Hostilia Crispina. His mother was the daughter of Manius Laberius Maximus, a general who was also twice consul. Praesens was born and raised in Volceii,
Lucania Lucania was a historical region of Southern Italy. It was the land of the Lucani, an Oscan people. It extended from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Gulf of Taranto. It bordered with Samnium and Campania in the north, Apulia in the east, and Bruttiu ...
,
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. To judge by the presumed dates of his first offices, he must have been born in or around the year 119. He served as a military tribune in
Legio III Gallica Legio III Gallica ( Third Legion "Gallic") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. The cognomen ''Gallica'' suggests that its earliest recruits came from veterans of the Gallic legions of Gaius Julius Caesar, a supposition supported by it ...
in Syria, probably about 136 when his father was governing the province. At the beginning of Antoninus Pius' reign the family evidently stood in high favour: the father took his second consulship in 139 as colleague of the new emperor, and the son was elevated to
patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...
status about the same time. He went on to fill the coveted position of ''quaestor augusti'' to Antoninus. His first consulship fell in 153: he was ''consul ordinarius'', initiating the year with Aulus Junius Rufinus as his colleague. He continued to prosper under Marcus Aurelius: like his father, he was
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 ...
of
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, in 166–167. In 178, Marcus Aurelius' son, the future Emperor Commodus, was married to Praesens's daughter Bruttia Crispina and Marcus designated Praesens consul for the year 180. On 3 August 178, Praesens was one of those who accompanied Marcus and the young Commodus on the so-called 'expeditio Germanica secunda' against the Quadi,
Iazyges The Iazyges (), singular Ἰάζυξ. were an ancient Sarmatian tribe that traveled westward in BC from Central Asia to the steppes of modern Ukraine. In BC, they moved into modern-day Hungary and Serbia near the Dacian steppe between th ...
and
Marcomanni The Marcomanni were a Germanic people * * * that established a powerful kingdom north of the Danube, somewhere near modern Bohemia, during the peak of power of the nearby Roman Empire. According to Tacitus and Strabo, they were Suebian. Or ...
, and received military decorations for his part in the campaign. Praesens held the fasces again in 180, again as ''consul ordinarius'', with Sextus Quintilius Condianus as his colleague. Praesens had two children by an unknown woman: a son, the future consul Lucius Bruttius Quintius Crispinus, and a daughter, future Empress Bruttia Crispina.


Sources

* https://web.archive.org/web/20070706043759/http://www.forumancientcoins.com/historia/coins/r3/r1361.htm * https://www.livius.org/bn-bz/bruttius/crispina.html * Various essays by Sir Ronald Syme, notably 'An Eccentric Patrician', in ''Roman Papers'' Volume III (Oxford, 1984). {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruttius Praesens, Gaius 119 births Year of death unknown 2nd-century Romans Praesens, Gaius Fulvii Imperial Roman consuls Roman patricians