Lucius Volusius Maecianus (c. 110 – 175) 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 ...

jurist, who advised the

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), ...

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 ...

on legal matters, as well educating his son the future

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 ...

in the subject. Originally of the equestrian class, Maecianus held a series of imperial offices culminating with

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 ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

in 161, when Marcus Aurelius adlected him ''inter praetorios'', or with the rank of

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vari ...

, into the

Roman Senate The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...

. Maecianus was suffect consul in an undetermined '' nundinium'' around AD 166. We can follow his career as an ''eques'' from an inscription set up in Ostia to honor Maecianus as the patron of that '' colonia''. This inscription attests that he was

of the Cohort I Aelia classica, and ''

prefectus fabrum The military engineering of Ancient Rome's armed forces was of a scale and frequency far beyond that of any of its contemporaries. Indeed, military engineering was in many ways institutionally endemic in Roman military culture, as demonstrated by ...

'', two 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 ...

'' of the equestrian class. The next notable office was a sinecure from the emperor Antoninus Pius himself: ''prefectus vehiculorum'', or director of the public post. According to Anthony Birley this was done so Maecianus "could remain in Rome, where he would be available to give advice on legal problems in the council -- one of those experts to whom, Marcus ureliusrelates, Pius was so ready to listen." Other positions he held in Rome include ''a studiis'', ''a libellis'' (also known as ''

ab epistulis ''Ab epistulis'' was the chancellor's office in the Roman Empire with responsibility for the emperor's correspondence. The office sent ''mandata'' (instructions) to provincial governors and other officials. ''Ab epistulis'' wrote in Latin (''ab e ...

''), and ''a censibus''. At this point Maecianus was promoted to senior equestrian offices. The first was '' Praefectus annonae'', or overseer of the grain supply for the capital city. Next was prefect of Egypt in 161, the largest province governed by an ''eques''. It was after Marcus Annaeus Syriacus succeeded him in Egypt that Maecianus was admitted into the Senate. Following his promotion to the Senate, Marcus Aurelius appointed Maecianus prefect of the '' aerarium Saturni'' so, as Birley explains, the emperor "was able to keep this eminent lawyer, his former tutor, by his side." His suffect consulate followed a few years later.

Writings

Maecianus was the author of a monograph on trusts ('' fideicommissa'') in 16 books, another on the ''Judicia publica'', and a third on the Rhodian laws relating to maritime affairs.

Fergus Millar Sir Fergus Graham Burtholme Millar, (; 5 July 1935 – 15 July 2019) was a British ancient historian and academic. He was Camden Professor of Ancient History at the University of Oxford between 1984 and 2002. He numbers among the most influ ...

, ''The Emperor in the Roman World'' (Cornell: University Press, 1992), p. 103 His treatise on numerical divisions, weights and measures (''Assis distributio''), is extant, with the exception of the concluding portion. An edition by Emil Seckel and B. Klübler, was published as part of Huschke, ''Jurisprudentiae anteiustinianae reliquias'', vol. 1 (1908).

Writings

References

Further reading