Marcus Iallius or Jallius Bassus 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 ...

, general, and literary figure who held several offices in the imperial service during the mid-second century AD. He was

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 ...

around the year 159. Bassus is known primarily from inscriptions. His full name was Marcus Iallius Bassus Fabius Valerianus. Bassus was from Alba Helviorum (modern

Joyeuse, Ardèche Joyeuse (; oc, Juèsa) is a commune in the Ardèche department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southern France. Geography Joyeuse lies in the historic region of Bas-Vivarais, in the valley of the Beaume, a tributary of the Ardèche. Pop ...

), where two inscriptions record his ''

cursus honorum The ''cursus honorum'' (; , or more colloquially 'ladder of offices') was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The '' ...

''. These inscriptions give his father's name as ''Marcus''; he might be the Marcus Iallius Bassus who was buried at Alba Helviorum. He was probably closely related to the ''Quintus'' Iallius Bassus who was consul in 158. Bassus' senatorial career began with his

adlection During the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic and later, adlecti, or allecti were those who were chosen to fill up a vacancy in any office or collegium (ancient Rome), collegium, and especially those who were chosen to fill up the proper number of the Ro ...

''inter tribunicios'', that is as having held the office of

plebeian tribune Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune ( la, tribunus plebis) was the first office of the Roman state that was open to the plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power of ...

. After his accession to

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 vario ...

, he was commissioned ''

legatus legionis A ''legatus'' (; anglicised as legate) was a high-ranking Roman military officer in the Roman Army, equivalent to a modern high-ranking general officer. Initially used to delegate power, the term became formalised under Augustus as the officer ...

'', or commander of a legion, but its name was not preserved on either inscription;

Géza Alföldy Géza Alföldy (June 7, 1935 – November 6, 2011) was a Hungarian historian of ancient history. Life Géza Alföldy was born in Budapest. He studied at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Budapest from 1953 to 1958, where he in ...

dates his command from around the year 153 to 156, and suggests that the unknown legion could be either

Legio I Adiutrix Legio I Adiutrix ( First Legion "Rescuer"), was a legion of the Imperial Roman army founded in AD 68, possibly by Galba when he rebelled against emperor Nero (r. 54–68). The last record mentioning the ''Adiutrix'' is in 344, when it was stati ...

Legio X Gemina Legio X ''Gemina'' ("The Twins' Tenth Legion"), was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. It was one of the four legions used by Julius Caesar in 58 BC, for his invasion of Gaul. There are still records of the X ''Gemina'' in Vienna in the begi ...

. Then Bassus was governor of

Pannonia Inferior Pannonia Inferior, lit. Lower Pannonia, was a province of the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sirmium. It was one of the border provinces on the Danube. It was formed in the year 103 AD by Emperor Trajan who divided the former province of Pannonia ...

, which Alföldy dates from around the year 156 to 159. His consulate followed. His senatorial career as an ex-consul encompasses more than the average number of offices. First Bassus held the post of ''curator operum locorumque publicorum et aedium sacrum'', which Alföldy dates to the year 161. Then he was appointed governor of

Moesia Inferior Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...

; Alföldy dates his office to the year 162. Bassus was then made one of the Emperor

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 ...

' ''

comites ''Comes'' ( ), plural ''comites'' ( ), was a Roman title or office, and the origin Latin form of the medieval and modern title "count". Before becoming a word for various types of title or office, the word originally meant "companion", either i ...

'', an inner circle of advisors, during the Parthian War. Upon the resolution of that conflict, Bassus was appointed governor of

Pannonia Superior Pannonia Superior, lit. Upper Pannonia, was a province of the Roman Empire. Its capital was Carnuntum. It was one on the border provinces on the Danube. It was formed in the year 103 AD by Emperor Trajan who divided the former province of Pannon ...

; Alföldy dates his tenure in that province from around 166 to 169.Alföldy, ''Konsulat und Senatorenstand'', p. 237.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iallius Bassus, Marcus 2nd-century Romans Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Roman governors of Pannonia Inferior Roman governors of Lower Moesia Roman governors of Pannonia Superior

See also

References