Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus was a

Roman Senator 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 ...

who lived in the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

in the 1st century.

Biography

Early life

Corvinus was a member of the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

gens Valeria The gens Valeria was a patrician (ancient Rome), patrician family at ancient Rome, prominent from the very beginning of the Roman Republic, Republic to the latest period of the Roman Empire, Empire. Publius Valerius Poplicola was one of the Ro ...

. Corvinus was the namesake of the Senator and Augustan literary patron

Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus (64 BC – AD 8 or c. 12) was a Roman general, author, and patron of literature and art. Family Corvinus was the son of the consul in 61 BC, Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger,Syme, R., ''Augustan Aristocracy'', ...

. He may have been a son of the Senator and consul

Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus (flourished second half of 1st century BC and first half of 1st century AD) was a Roman Senator who was a friend of the first two Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius.Pettinger, ''The Republic in Danger: Dr ...

, who was a son of Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, or possibly the son of the consul

Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus Valeria Messalina (; ) was the third wife of Roman emperor Claudius. She was a paternal cousin of Emperor Nero, a second cousin of Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of Emperor Augustus. A powerful and influential woman with a reputation ...

and

Domitia Lepida the Younger Domitia Lepida (c. 5 BC – AD 54) was a Roman aristocrat, related to the imperial family. She was mother of Valeria Messalina, wife of the Emperor Claudius. Lepida was a beautiful and influential figure. Like her sister, she was also very wealth ...

, thus making him the brother of Valeria

Messalina Valeria Messalina (; ) was the third wife of Roman emperor Claudius. She was a paternal cousin of Emperor Nero, a second cousin of Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of Emperor Augustus. A powerful and influential woman with a reputation ...

, the third wife of the emperor

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...

Political career

In 46/47AD, Corvinus was a member of the

Arval Brethren In ancient Roman religion, the Arval Brethren ( la, Fratres Arvales, "Brothers of the Fields") or Arval Brothers were a body of priests who offered annual sacrifices to the Lares and gods to guarantee good harvests. Inscriptions provide eviden ...

. From January to April in 58AD, he served as an ordinary

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 throug ...

with 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), ...

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 ...

and then from May to June in 58AD, as a suffect consul with Gaius Fonteius Agrippa. Starting with his consulship, he was granted an annual half a million

sesterces The ''sestertius'' (plural ''sestertii''), or sesterce (plural sesterces), was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin. The na ...

to maintain his senatorial qualifications.Tacitus, ''

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 ...

'' xiii.34

References

Sources

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

, ''Annals of Imperial Rome'' * D. Shotter, ''Nero'' (Google eBook) Routledge, 2012 * Lucan, ''Civil War'' (Google eBook), Penguin, 2012 * Velleius Paterculus – Translated with Introduction and Notes by J.C. Yardley & A.A. Barrett, ''The Roman History'', Hackett Publishing, 2011 * Biographischer Index der Antike (Google eBook), Walter de Gruyter, 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Valerius Messala Corvinus, Marcus Corvinus, Marcus Roman patricians Imperial Roman consuls 1st-century Romans 1st-century clergy