Lucius Valerius Proculus 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 ...

'' eques'' who held a number of military and civil appointments during the reigns of the Emperors Hadrian and

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 ...

. He is known primarily from inscriptions and non-literary

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. The career of Valerius Proculus is documented in an inscription recovered from Málaga in Spain. His earliest imperial appointments conform to the steps in the ''

tres militiae The ''tres militiae'' ("three military posts") was a career progression of the Roman Imperial army for men of the equestrian order. It developed as an alternative to the ''cursus honorum'' of the senatorial order for enabling the social mobility ...

''. First was a commission as ''

praefectus ''Praefectus'', often with a further qualification, was the formal title of many, fairly low to high-ranking, military or civil officials in the Roman Empire, whose authority was not embodied in their person (as it was with elected Magistrates) but ...

'' or commander of

cohors A cohort (from the Latin ''cohors'', plural ''cohortes'', see wikt:cohors for full inflection table) was a standard tactical military unit of a Roman legion. Although the standard size changed with time and situation, it was generally compose ...

IV Tracum in Syria. Then he was commissioned a

military tribune A military tribune (Latin ''tribunus militum'', "tribune of the soldiers") was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion. Young men of Equestrian rank often served as military tribune as a stepping stone ...

Legio VII Claudia Legio VII Claudia (Claudius' Seventh Legion) was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. History According to H.M.D. Parker, the first legion Julius Caesar raised for his campaigns in Cisalpine Gaul was the Seventh; the numbers 1-4 were omitted ...

. It is likely his commission with the VII Claudia coincided with that of his brother, Gaius Valerius Florinum; Dessau argues for this relationship based on the shared praenomen of their fathers (Lucius) and

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

(Quirina). Proculus then was appointed prefect of the '' Classis Alexandriae et Potamophylaciae''—a combined command of the Roman fleet based at Alexandria, and the officials who policed the Nile and collected customs. At this point the civil track of his career begins. First Proculus was appointed

procurator Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to: * Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency * ''Procurator'' (Ancient Rome), the title o ...

or governor of the province of

Alpes Maritimae The Alpes Maritimae (; English: 'Maritime Alps') were a small province of the Roman Empire founded in 63 AD by Nero. It was one of the three provinces straddling the Alps between modern France and Italy, along with the Alpes Graiae et Poeninae a ...

. After being given the task of military recruitment in an unknown province (the inscription is broken here), he went to serve as procurator, or overseer of imperial estates, in these provinces:

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, and the Three Gauls. Proculus then advanced to two senior appointments. First was as '' praefectus annonae'', or overseer of the grain supply of Rome; he held this position from 142 to 144. The second was the related but more prestigious post of prefect or governor of Roman Egypt, which he held from 144 to 147.

Guido Bastianini Guido Bastianini (born September 10, 1945 in Florence), Italian papyrologist and palaeographer. Bastianini finished his papyrological studies in Florence 1970. He had participated in various archaeological missions in Egypt organized by the Isti ...

a al 299^p"">"Lista dei prefetti d'Egitto dal 30^a al 299^p"
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Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik The ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'' (commonly abbreviated ZPE; "Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy") is a peer-reviewed academic journal which contains articles that pertain to papyrology and epigraphy. It has been described as " ...

'', 17 (1975), p. 289 Apparently after concluding his service in Egypt, Valerius Proculus retired to Málaga, for the inscription that details his career was set up to honor him and his wife Valeria Lucilla as civic patrons.

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Further reading