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Manius Acilius Glabrio 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 letter ...
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
consul ordinarius 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 AD 91 as the colleague of
Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...
, afterwards
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), ...
. Although one of many senators executed during the reign of
Domitian Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavi ...
on the alleged grounds of plotting against the emperor,
Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...
, "Domitian"
ch. 10
/ref> he was remembered by his contemporaries best for his strength. Domitian summoned Glabrio during the latter's consulate to his Alban estate during the festival of the
Juvenalia In classical antiquity, the Juvenalia, or Ludi Juvenales ( Gr ), were scenic games instituted by Nero in 59 AD, at the age of 21, in commemoration of his shaving his beard for the first time, thus indicating that he had passed from youth into manho ...
to kill a large lion; not only did Glabrio despatch the beast, but he escaped all injury. Following his defeat of the lion, Glabrio was banished by Domitian, then executed while in exile.


Family

Glabrio belonged to the
gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same Roman naming conventions#Nomen, nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (p ...
Acilia Acilia is a neighborhood and a ''frazione'' of Rome, Italy, located about half- way between Rome and Ostia, along the Via Ostiense. With a population 66,932 in 2008 it is the third largest Italian ''frazione'' after Ostia and Mestre. History Th ...
, a
plebeian In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words " commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of ...
family that first came to notice in the Third century BC, and could claim a number of consuls as ancestors, beginning with Manius Acilius Glabrio in 191 BC. Glabrio's own father, whose existence is alluded to by
Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the ''Satires''. The details of Juvenal's life ...
as an old man still alive at his son's death, is inferred to have been a suffect consul during the reign of
Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...
. His wife has been identified as Arria L.f. Plaria Vera Priscilla, known from a surviving inscription . They had one known son, Manius Acilius Glabrio, consul ordinarius in 124.


Possible Christianity

According to
Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...
, Domitian ordered several senators and ex-consuls, including Glabrio, to be executed on the charge of conspiring against the empire -- ''quasi molitores rerum novarum'', "as contrivers of revolution".
Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...
alludes to this proscription of "well-born and notable men", but does not mention why Domitian had done this, nor provides any names.
John Xiphilinus Joannes Xiphilinus (also John Xiphilinus; el, Ἰωάννης Ξιφιλῖνος), epitomator of Dio Cassius, lived at Constantinople during the latter half of the 11th century AD. He was a monk and the nephew of Patriarch John VIII of Consta ...
, speaking of the executions of AD 95, says that some members of the imperial family and other persons of importance were condemned for impiety. Some writers afterwards interpreted the charge of impiety against Acilius Glabrio as evidence that he belonged to the
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
religion, although others believe it more likely he might have converted to
Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
. The legend that Glabrio was an early
convert to Christianity Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person to Christianity. Different Christian denominations may perform various different kinds of rituals or ceremonies initiation into their community of believe ...
was suggested to be true when in 1888 a tomb of the Acilii Glabriones was discovered adjacent to the Catacomb of Priscilla. Although the inscriptions from the tomb mentioning the family were inscribed in a script used generations later than this Manius Acilius Glabrio and his wife Priscilla, at the time numerous experts eagerly cited this archaeological find as certain proof of the story. It was in 1931 when P. Styger was able to show the stone inscriptions did not properly belong to the chamber, but had been part of a sepulchre that was demolished in the construction of the Basilica of San Silvester after the fourth century. Half a century later, F. Tolotti was able to confirm Styger's interpretation when he identified the funerary area the inscriptions had come from.


See also

* Catacomb of Priscilla


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Acilius Glabrio, Manius (consul 844 AUC) 95 deaths 1st-century Romans Glabrio, Manius (consul 844 AUC) Executed ancient Roman people Imperial Roman consuls People executed by the Roman Empire Year of birth unknown