Pomponius Bassus (175 – 221) 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 ...

active during the reigns of

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa (Roman province), Africa. As a young man he advanced thro ...

Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor S ...

, and

Geta Geta may refer to: Places *Geta (woreda), a woreda in Ethiopia's Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region *Geta, Åland, a municipality in Finland * Geta, Nepal, a town in Attariya Municipality, Kailali District, Seti Zone, Nepal *Get ...

Life

The father of Pomponius Bassus was probably

Gaius Pomponius Bassus Terentianus Gaius Pomponius Bassus Terentianus (fl. 2nd century AD) was a Roman military officer and senator. Biography Pomponius Bassus Terentianus was a member of the second century '' gens Pomponia'' by adoption and of '' gens Terentia'' by birth, as his ' ...

(c. 155-after 193), who served as a suffect consul around 193; the name of his mother is unknown. Bassus was ordinary consul in 211. Between 212 and 217 Bassus served as a

legatus 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 ...

of Inferior or Superior

Moesia 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 ...

and possibly as

Roman governor A Roman governor was an official either elected or appointed to be the chief administrator of Roman law throughout one or more of the many provinces constituting the Roman Empire. The generic term in Roman legal language was '' Rector provinciae ...

Mysia Mysia (UK , US or ; el, Μυσία; lat, Mysia; tr, Misya) was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor (Anatolia, Asian part of modern Turkey). It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on the ...

. Sometime between 216 and 218, he married the wealthy

Annia Aurelia Faustina Annia Aurelia Faustina (fl. 201 – c. 222) was an Anatolian Roman noblewoman. She was briefly married to the Roman emperor Elagabalus in 221 and thus a Roman empress. She was Elagabalus' third wife. Ancestry and family Faustina was of noble ...

, the great-granddaughter of

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 ...

and

Faustina the Younger Annia Galeria Faustina the Younger (born probably 21 September AD, – 175/176 AD) was Roman empress from 161 to her death as the wife of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, her maternal cousin. Faustina was the youngest child of Emperor Antoninus Pius an ...

. When Bassus married Faustina, they moved to Faustina's large estate in

Pisidia Pisidia (; grc-gre, Πισιδία, ; tr, Pisidya) was a region of ancient Asia Minor located north of Pamphylia, northeast of Lycia, west of Isauria and Cilicia, and south of Phrygia, corresponding roughly to the modern-day province of An ...

. Their marriage was a happy one. There are inscriptions at the Pisidian estate attesting both to their marriage and joint ownership of the estate. Faustina bore Bassus at least two children: a daughter called

Pomponia Ummidia {{Short description, 3rd century prominent Roman noblewoman Pomponia Ummidia (219-after 275) was an Anatolian Roman noblewoman and was a prominent figure in Rome during the reigns of the Roman Emperors Gallienus, Claudius Gothicus, Quintillus and ...

(born 219) and a son, Pomponius Bassus (born 220). Before June 221,

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), ...

Elagabalus Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Sextus Varius Avitus Bassianus, 204 – 11/12 March 222), better known by his nickname "Elagabalus" (, ), was Roman emperor from 218 to 222, while he was still a teenager. His short reign was conspicuous for s ...

became attracted to Faustina's charm, beauty, and imperial descent. Elagabalus ordered the Senate to put Bassus to death under some frivolous pretext in order to have her. After Bassus' execution, Elagabalus forbade Faustina to mourn him. In July 221, Elagabalus took Faustina as his third wife, but he divorced her by the end of the year.

Sources

* Descriptive catalogue of a cabinet of Roman imperial large-brass medals By William Henry Smyth 1834 * The Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia: Being an Essay of the Local History of Phrygia from the Earliest Times to the Turkish Conquest Volume One, Part One - By William M. Ramsay 2004 * http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0482.html {{s-end Senators of the Roman Empire Imperial Roman consuls 3rd-century Romans Bassus