Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus was the name of several Roman men who lived during the early Roman Empire. They were descendants of Orfitus who was
adopted
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...
by Servius Cornelius Scipio, an otherwise unknown member of the
patrician branch of the
Cornelii Scipiones.
There were at least six members of this family who used this name, all direct male descendants of the earliest known member of this branch, the consul of 51. Except for the first two generations, little is known about any of them.
Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus (consul 51)
Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus was ordinary consul in AD 51 as the colleague of the emperor
Claudius
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...
. He was one of the victims of the ''
delator''
Marcus Aquilius Regulus 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 un ...
.
Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus (consul 1st century)
Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus was a suffect consul in some year prior to 87; his colleague has not been identified. He was the son of the consul of AD 51. He was also a victim of imperial suspicion, and was first banished to an island by the emperor
Domitian
Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavi ...
then later executed.
Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus (consul 110)
Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus was ordinary consul in AD 110 as the colleague of
Marcus Peducaeus Priscinus
Marcus Peducaeus Priscinus was a Roman senator of the second century. He was ordinary consul in the year 110 with Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus as his colleague. Priscinus is primarily known from inscriptions.
Priscinus came from ...
. He was the son of the previous Orfitus. The only other fact known of his life is that he was
Urban prefect
The ''praefectus urbanus'', also called ''praefectus urbi'' or urban prefect in English, was prefect of the city of Rome, and later also of Constantinople. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, and ...
of Rome during the reign of
Antoninus Pius.
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 ...
states that Orfitus succeeded
Lucius Catilius Severus
Lucius Catilius Severus Julianus Claudius Reginus was a Roman senator and general active during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. He was appointed consul twice: the first time in 110 CE (as ''consul suffectus'') with Gaius Erucianus Silo as his co ...
(whom Hadrian removed from that post), and although the ''
Historia Augusta
The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the sim ...
'' states that he asked
Antoninus Pius to be released from the office, Syme speculates that this language "may mask a swift demotion".
Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus (proconsul of Africa)
Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus is known through inscriptions to have been
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 ' ...
of
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
in 163/164. From this it can be inferred that this Orfitus was suffect consul around 146. It is surmised he was the son of the consul of 110.
It was assumed at one point that this Orfitus was also the ordinary consul of 149, but more recent research has identified that Orfitus as
Lucius Sergius Salvidienus Scipio Orfitus
The gens Sergia was a patrician family at ancient Rome, which held the highest offices of the Roman state from the first century of the Republic until imperial times. The first of the Sergii to obtain the consulship was Lucius Sergius Fidenas in ...
, a member of the ''
gens Sergia
The gens Sergia was a patrician (ancient Rome), patrician family at ancient Rome, which held the highest offices of the Roman state from the first century of the Roman Republic, Republic until Roman Empire, imperial times. The first of the Sergii ...
''.
Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus (consul 178)
Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus was ordinary consul in AD 178 with
Decimus Velius Rufus Decimus may refer to:
Romen praenomen
* Decimus (praenomen)
* Decimus Carfulenus (died 43 BC), Roman statesman
* Decimus Haterius Agrippa (died 32 AD), consul in 22 AD
* Decimus Junius Brutus (consul 77 BC)
* Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus (–43 ...
as his colleague. He is known only through consular dating; it is surmised he was the son of the previous Orfitus.
Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus (salius Palatinus)
Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus was a member of the ''
Salii Palatinii'' an ancient Roman priesthood for the years 189 and 190.
[, ] It is surmised he was the son of the previous Orfitus. There is no record of this Orfitus acceding to the consulate; while this may indicate that he died before the age of 31 or 32, the earliest point a Patrician could be a consul, attestations of suffect consul become much more scarce after 180 and evidence of his consulate may simply await recovery.
References
{{Set index article, ancient Rome
Salvidienus Orfitus
Ancient Roman prosopographical lists