Lucius Egnatius Victor Lollianus (fl. 3rd century) was a
Roman military officer and
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 served as governor of a number of provinces of the Roman East, including Galatia, Achaea, Bithynia and Pontus, Pannonia Inferior, and Asia. He has been called "the best documented governor of the province of Asia in the Imperial period" on account of the large number of surviving monuments erected in his honour.
Biography
Egnatius Victor was a member of the third century ''
gens Egnatia'', and it has been speculated by his ''praenomen'', ''nomen'' and first ''cognomen'' that he was the son of
Lucius Egnatius Victor
(Lucius) Egnatius Victor (fl. 3rd century) was a Roman military officer and senator who was appointed suffect consul for an uncertain ''nundinium'' prior to 207.
Biography
Egnatius Victor was a member of the second and third century ''gens Egnati ...
. In 213 he was coopted to serve with the ''
sodales Antoniniani''. He was then appointed ''
legatus Augusti pro praetore'' of
Galatia
Galatia (; grc, Γαλατία, ''Galatía'', "Gaul") was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir, in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace (c ...
in 218, before being appointed
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 ...
in a ''
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 ...
'' sometime between 225 and 230.
[Mennen, p. 101]
Around 230, Egnatius Victor was appointed ''
corrector'' of the
province of
Achaea
Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaïa'' ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The ...
. This was followed by his posting as ''
legatus Augusti pro praetore'' of
Bithynia et Pontus sometime between 230 and 235. It has been speculated that he was also ''legatus Augusti pro praetore'' of
Pannonia Inferior sometime during the reign of
Alexander Severus (222 – 235).
Egnatius Victor and his brother-in-law
Valerian were probably important senatorial supporters of the
Gordiani, and he reached the pinnacle of his career during the reign of
Gordian III
Gordian III ( la, Marcus Antonius Gordianus; 20 January 225 – February 244) was Roman emperor from 238 to 244. At the age of 13, he became the youngest sole emperor up to that point (until Valentinian II in 375). Gordian was the son of Anton ...
when, between 242 and 244 he became the
Proconsular
governor of
Asia, which he held for three years. He was possibly assigned to the province ''extra sortem'' (or outside the usual assignment of senatorial provinces by
lot
Lot or LOT or The Lot or ''similar'' may refer to:
Common meanings Areas
* Land lot, an area of land
* Parking lot, for automobiles
*Backlot, in movie production
Sets of items
*Lot number, in batch production
*Lot, a set of goods for sale togethe ...
) by Gordian III in relation to his planned campaign against the
Sassanid Empire
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
. Egnatius Victor was retained as governor by
Philip the Arab after the death of Gordian III, indicating he gave immediate support to Philip after he returned from the Persian campaign. Finally, in 254, he was appointed ''
Praefectus urbi'' of
Rome by his brother-in-law
Valerian who had become emperor the year before.
Egnatius Victor was probably the brother of
Egnatia Mariniana, who was the wife of Valerian and mother of
Gallienus. It has been conjectured that he had a son named
Egnatius Lucillianus;
[Settipani, Christian, ''Continuité gentilice et continuité sénatoriale dans les familles sénatoriales romaines à l'époque impériale'' (2000), pp. 398-400] however, a relationship between the imperial ''gens Egnatia'' and Egnatius Lucillianus has been described as very doubtful.
[ But in the case of his given great-grandchildren Quintus Flavius Maesius Egnatius Lollianus Mavortius and Egnatia Lolliana, his and her ''nomina'' Egnatius / Egnatia and their ''cognomina'' Lollianus / Lolliana point to a direct descent connection from him.
]
Sources
*
* Martindale, J. R.; Jones, A. H. M, ''The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'', Vol. I 260–395 AD, Cambridge University Press (1971)
* Mennen, Inge, ''Power and Status in the Roman Empire, 193–284 AD'' (2011)
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Egnatius Victor Lollianus, Lucius
3rd-century Romans
Victor Lollianus, Lucius
Roman governors of Galatia
Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome
Roman governors of Bithynia and Pontus
Roman governors of Asia
Urban prefects of Rome
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown