Publius Aelius Crispinus 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 ...

'' eques'' who held a number of appointments in the second century AD. He is known from a series of inscriptions. His public career is known from an inscription recovered from Bir Selmoun in modern

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. Crispinus had his start as a soldier, reaching the rank of

centurion A centurion (; la, centurio , . la, centuriones, label=none; grc-gre, κεντυρίων, kentyríōn, or ) was a position in the Roman army during classical antiquity, nominally the commander of a century (), a military unit of around 80 ...

and twice achieving ''

primus pilus The ''primus pilus'' or ''primipilus'' was the senior centurion of the first cohort in a Roman legion, a formation of five double-strength centuries of 160 men, was called the ''primus pilus''; he was a career soldier and advisor to the le ...

''. After this he was appointed to several civilian positions, beginning with

procurator Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to: * Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency * ''Procurator'' (Ancient Rome), the title of ...

or manager of the Emperor's properties in

Hispania Tarraconensis Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the northern, eastern and central territories of modern Spain along with modern northern Portugal. Southern Spain, the region now called Andalusia was the ...

, then procurator or governor of

Mauretania Tingitana Mauretania Tingitana (Latin for "Tangerine Mauretania") was a Roman province, coinciding roughly with the northern part of present-day Morocco. The territory stretched from the northern peninsula opposite Gibraltar, to Sala Colonia (or Chella ...

; an inscription found at

Volubilis Volubilis (; ar, وليلي, walīlī; ber, ⵡⵍⵉⵍⵉ, wlili) is a partly excavated Berber-Roman city in Morocco situated near the city of Meknes, and may have been the capital of the kingdom of Mauretania, at least from the time of Kin ...

in modern

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

allows us to date his tenure to 173. Crispinus then returned to Rome where he was appointed to ''procurator

vicesima hereditatium The ''Vicesima hereditatium'' was a Roman 5% tax on inheritance money. History No inheritance tax was recorded for the Roman Republic, despite abundant evidence for testamentary law. The ''vicesima hereditatium'' ("twentieth of inheritance") was ...

'', or overseer of the inheritance tax of 5%; J. E. H. Spaul notes this order was unusual, as other known ''equites'' (e.g. Publius Besius Betuinianus, and

Marcus Gavius Maximus Marcus Gavius Maximus (died 156) was an '' eques'' of ancient Rome who held several imperial positions, both civil and military, under Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. Firmum in northern Italy is considered his hometown, confirmed by the fact that his ...

) were appointed as overseers of the inheritance tax then to the governorship. "Has this financial post become more important, or Tingitana less?" Spaul wonders.Spaul
"Governors of Tingitana"
in ''Antiquités Africaines'', 30 (1994), p. 245 This was followed by another procuratorship at Rome where he oversaw all inheritances (''hereditatium''). His last known appointment was as procurator or governor of

Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Caesariensis (Latin for "Caesarean Mauretania") was a Roman province located in what is now Algeria in the Maghreb. The full name refers to its capital Caesarea Mauretaniae (modern Cherchell). The province had been part of the Kingd ...

. The life of Aelius Crispinus after this is a blank.

See also

References

Further reading