Publius Mummius Sisenna 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 ...

politician who was ''

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 133 with

Marcus Antonius Hiberus Marcus Antonius Hiberus was a Roman senator, who was active during the reign of Hadrian. He was consul ''ordinarius'' for the year 133 with Publius Mummius Sisenna as his colleague. He is known entirely from inscriptions. Besides his consulshi ...

as his colleague, and governor of

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered was ...

shortly afterwards.

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. R ...

may have been finished under his governorship.

Ronald Syme Sir Ronald Syme, (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Roman ...

considers Sisenna's

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...

"Galeria" as clear evidence that his family origins lay in Spain, and counts twenty different individuals from those provinces who shared his ''

gentilicium The (or simply ) was a hereditary name borne by the peoples of Roman Italy and later by the citizens of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. It was originally the name of one's (family or clan) by patrilineal descent. However, as Rome expande ...

''.

Life

Little is known of his career. Syme speculates that Sisenna may be identical with a "Publius" known to have been governor of

Thracia Thracia or Thrace ( ''Thrakē'') is the ancient name given to the southeastern Balkan region, the land inhabited by the Thracians. Thrace was ruled by the Odrysian kingdom during the Classical and Hellenistic eras, and briefly by the Greek ...

between the years 128 and 136. Sisenna is attested as

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of Roman Britain in a fragmentary inscription at

Wroxeter Wroxeter is a village in Shropshire, England, which forms part of the civil parish of Wroxeter and Uppington, beside the River Severn, south-east of Shrewsbury. ''Viroconium Cornoviorum'', the fourth largest city in Roman Britain, was sited ...

dated 14 April 135. The brief period between his consulship and governorship is unusual; he was one of only three persons known to have proceeded directly to governorship of Roman Britain without governing another province first. The sudden departure of

Sextus Julius Severus Gnaeus Minicius Faustinus Sextus Julius Severus was an accomplished Roman general of the 2nd century. He also held the office of suffect consul in the last three months of 127 with Lucius Aemilius Juncus as his colleague. Biography Julius Severus ...

Judaea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous south ...

to suppress a rebellion there would explain part of this. Birley speculates that no other person was suitable for the job, and

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania B ...

appointed him to the ordinary consulship as a means to render Sisenna eligible more rapidly.Birley, ''Fasti'', p. 110 Another inscription shows Sisenna was to be proconsul of Asia in 150–51. Based on the unusual name, he was kinsman to, if not father of, the suffect consul of 146 and proconsul of Asia,

Publius Mummius Sisenna Rutilianus Publius Mummius Sisenna Rutilianus was a Roman senator of the second century AD. He is best known from Lucian's vivid portrayal of him in ''Alexander vel Pseudomantis'', where the senator is described as "a man of good family and tested in many Rom ...

. Rutilianus served as

legate Legate may refer to: *Legatus, a higher ranking general officer of the Roman army drawn from among the senatorial class :*Legatus Augusti pro praetore, a provincial governor in the Roman Imperial period *A member of a legation *A representative, ...

Legio VI Victrix Legio VI Victrix ("Victorious Sixth Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army founded in 41 BC by the general Octavian (who, as Augustus, later became Rome's first emperor). It was the twin legion of VI ''Ferrata'' and perhaps held vete ...

, which was stationed in Britain, likely during the tenure of Sisenna. If they were father and son, that Rutilianus became consul only thirteen years after Sisenna suggests that the older man attained the ''fasces'' late in life.Birley, ''Fasti'', p. 249

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mummius Sisenna, Publius Imperial Roman consuls Roman governors of Britain 2nd-century Romans

Sisenna Lucius Cornelius Sisenna (c. 120 – 67 BC) was a Roman soldier, historian, and annalist. Life Little is known of Sisenna's life or family. The first Cornelius Sisenna (perhaps Lucius' grandfather or great-grandfather) appears as urban prae ...

Roman governors of Asia