Publius Sulpicius Scribonius Proculus (died AD 67) 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 lette ...

senator, who was active during the reign of

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 unti ...

. He was suffect consul in the ''

nundinium Nundinium was a Latin word derived from the word '' nundinum'', which referred to the cycle of days observed by the Romans. During the Roman Empire, ''nundinium'' came to mean the duration of a single consulship among several in a calendar year. S ...

'' of September to October 56 as the colleague of his brother Publius Sulpicius Scribonius Rufus. Both brothers were denounced by the ''

delator Delator (plural: ''delatores'', feminine: ''delatrix'') is Latin for a denouncer, one who indicates to a court another as having committed a punishable deed. Secular Roman law In Roman history, it was properly one who gave notice (''deferre'') t ...

'' Gaius Paccius Africanus to the emperor

, who summoned the men to

Achaia Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaïa'' ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. T ...

under false pretenses. Once they arrived, they were charged under the '' lex maiestas'', and forced to commit suicide.

Lives

The lives of the brothers are only known in part. M.A. Speidel notes that the origins of the Sulpicii Scribonii are not known, but they are likely from Italy. The father of the two men is identified as the senator Scribonius Proculus, whom the emperor Caligula had murdered. Their '' cursi honori'' is known only from his consulate on.

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

records that, when faced with a riot in

Puteoli Pozzuoli (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean Peninsula. History Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of ''Dicaearchia'' ( el, Δικα ...

in the year 58 that one senator was unable to subdue, the emperor assigned a

cohort Cohort or cohortes may refer to: * Cohort (educational group), a group of students working together through the same academic curriculum * Cohort (floating point), a set of different encodings of the same numerical value * Cohort (military unit ...

to Proculus and Rufus and sent them to that city to restore order. An inscription from the colonia Luna (modern Luni) attests that he was appointed ''curator operum publicorum''. The most important appointment Proculus held was governor of the

imperial province An imperial province was a Roman province during the Principate where the Roman Emperor had the sole right to appoint the governor (''legatus Augusti pro praetore''). These provinces were often the strategically located border provinces. The pro ...

Germania Inferior Germania Inferior ("Lower Germania") was a Roman province from AD 85 until the province was renamed Germania Secunda in the fourth century, on the west bank of the Rhine bordering the North Sea. The capital of the province was Colonia Agripp ...

. Evidence for the date of his tenure is supplied by a

military diploma A Roman military diploma was a document inscribed in bronze certifying that the holder was honourably discharged from the Roman armed forces and/or had received the grant of Roman citizenship from the emperor as reward for service. The diploma ...

dated to 17 June 65, and a building dedication from the year 66. His governorship was ended when the emperor Nero summoned the two brothers to their fatal appointment in Achaia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sulpicius Scribonius Proculus, Publius 1st-century Romans Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Roman governors of Germania Inferior Year of birth unknown 67 deaths Ancient Romans who committed suicide