Senecio Memmius Afer 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 ...

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

active in the last quarter of the first century AD. He was

suffect consul 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 ...

for 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 June to July AD 99 as the colleague of

Publius Sulpicius Lucretius Barba Publius may refer to: Roman name * Publius (praenomen) * Ancient Romans with the name: ** Publius Valerius Publicola (died 503 BC), Roman consul, co-founder of the Republic **Publius Clodius Pulcher (c. 93 BC – 52 BC), Republican politician * ...

. Afer is known primarily from inscriptions. Memmius Afer's origins are disputed.

Edward Champlin Edward Champlin is a Professor of Classics, Cotsen Professor of Humanities, and former Master of Butler College at Princeton University. He teaches Roman history, Roman law, and Latin literature and has written several books regarding these subje ...

believes he was "almost certainly African and perhaps from

Thugga Dougga or Thugga or TBGG was a Berber, Punic and Roman settlement near present-day Téboursouk in northern Tunisia. The current archaeological site covers . UNESCO qualified Dougga as a World Heritage Site in 1997, believing that it represents "t ...

", while John Grainger suggests that his origins were in Spain.

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 ...

, noting Afer'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 ...

was "Galeria", states that it is attested for only one city in North Africa,

Hadrumetum Hadrumetum, also known by #Names, many variant spellings and names, was a Phoenician Phoenician colonies, colony that pre-dated Carthage. It subsequently became one of the most important cities in Roman Africa before Vandal Kingdom, Vandal and Uma ...

, while later members of the

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 ...

Memmius "tend to come from Bulla Regia or Gigthis"; on the other hand, Syme states the

cognomen A ''cognomen'' (; plural ''cognomina''; from ''con-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became here ...

Afer is well-attested in Spain, while he counted eighteen instances of the gentilicium Memmius in the Spanish provinces. Afer was the father-in-law of

Tiberius Catius Caesius Fronto Tiberius Catius Caesius Fronto was a Roman senator who was suffect consul in the ''nundinium'' of September to December 96 AD with Marcus Calpurnius ..cus as his colleague. These two consuls were presiding over the Roman Senate when the Emperor Dom ...

, the son of the poet

Silius Italicus Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus (, c. 26 – c. 101 AD) was a Roman senator, orator and Epic poetry, epic poet of the Silver Age of Latin literature. His only surviving work is the 17-book ''Punica (poem), Punica'', an epic poem about th ...

. Two inscriptions, one from Tibur, the other from North Africa, name his son, Lucius Memmius Tuscillus Senecio; the North African inscription describes Afer as ''pronepoti'' and Senecio as ''nepoti'', indicating that the family continued for two more generations. His ''

cursus honorum The ''cursus honorum'' (; , or more colloquially 'ladder of offices') was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The '' ...

'' is known only from the Tibur inscription, which has preserved only two of the offices Memmius Afer held. The first on the list is the imperial province of

Gallia Aquitania Gallia Aquitania ( , ), also known as Aquitaine or Aquitaine Gaul, was a province of the Roman Empire. It lies in present-day southwest France, where it gives its name to the modern region of Aquitaine. It was bordered by the provinces of Gallia ...

;

Werner Eck Werner Eck (born 17 December 1939) is Professor of Ancient History at Cologne University, Germany, and a noted expert on the history and epigraphy of imperial Rome.Eck, W. (2007) ''The Age of Augustus''. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, cover notes. His ...

dated his tenure as governor from 94 to 96. Next he was

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...

ar governor of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, which Eck dated to the years 97/98. However, Paul Leunissen notes that the order of these two offices is not certain, so it is possible his governorship of Sicily may have preceded that of Aquitania. The men selected to be consuls in the year 99 numbered more than usual, and can be considered to reflect the emperor

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

's choices, and the factions in the Senate he looked to for support. Both the ordinary consuls,

Quintus Sosius Senecio Quintus Sosius Senecio ( 1st century AD) was a Roman senator who was favored by the emperors Domitian and Trajan. As a result of this relationship, he was twice ordinary consul, an unusual and prestigious honor: first in 99, with Aulus Cornelius P ...

and

Aulus Cornelius Palma Frontonianus Aulus Cornelius Palma Frontonianus (died AD 118) was a soldier and Roman statesman who was twice consul: first as consul ordinarius in AD 99, with Quintus Sosius Senecio as his colleague; and again in 109, with Publius Calvisius Tullus Ruso as h ...

, were military men, each going on to enjoy the exceptional honor of a second consulate. Of the possibly as many as ten suffect consuls for that year, five are known; of these, two are provincials, two Italians, all of them active in government; the fifth, Afer's colleague Lucretius Barba, is only a name.Grainger, ''Nerva'', pp. 100f Afer fades from history after his consulship.

References

Further reading