Lucius Valerius Messalla Volesus 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 flourished under the reign of

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 Pr ...

. He was

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 ...

in AD 5 with

Gnaeus Cornelius Cinna Magnus Gnaeus Cornelius Cinna Magnus (born between 47 BC and 35 BC) was an ancient Roman politician and the son of suffect consul Lucius Cornelius Cinna and Pompeia Magna. His sister was Magna. His maternal grandparents were triumvir Pompey and Mucia ...

as his colleague. His father, Potitus Valerius Messala, was suffect consul in 28 BC and

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

of the city of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Lucius was a '' tresviri monetalis'', the most prestigious of the four boards that form the ''

vigintiviri __NOTOC__The ''vigintisexviri'' ( ''vigintisexvir''; ) were a college ( ''collegium'') of minor magistrates (''magistratus minores'') in the Roman Republic. The college consisted of six boards: * the ''decemviri stlitibus judicandis'' – 1 ...

'';

Aulus Licinius Nerva Silianus Aulus Licinius Nerva Silianus was a Roman senator, who was active during the Principate. He was consul in AD 7 as the colleague of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus Silanus. Silianus was born the second of three sons of Publius Silius Nerva, co ...

, consul in AD 7, was one of the other two members of this board at the same time as Silius. Because assignment to this board was usually allocated to

patricians The patricians (from la, patricius, Greek: πατρίκιος) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom, and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after ...

Ronald Syme Sir Ronald Syme, (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Roman ...

sees this as evidence that Lucius was a member of that class. Other offices Volesus held included

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 the Roman province of

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 are ...

. During the latter part of his career, Lucius was charged with crimes against humanity and found guilty. Although it has yet to be discovered, Augustus wrote of the fall of Lucius Valerius in his book, ''de Voleso Messala''.

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

Annales Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts. List of works with titles contai ...

'' III 68, 1

References

Senators of the Roman Empire Imperial Roman consuls Roman governors of Asia 1st-century Romans Volesus, Lucius Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown {{AncientRome-politician-stub