Titus Curtilius Mancia 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 ...

, who held several offices in the emperor's service during the middle of the first century. 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 ...

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 November to December 55 as the colleague of Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus. No other senator with his gentilicium is known, so Mancia seems to have been a ''

homo novus ''Novus homo'' or ''homo novus'' (Latin for 'new man'; ''novi homines'' or ''homines novi'') was the term in ancient Rome for a man who was the first in his family to serve in the Roman Senate or, more specifically, to be elected as consul. When ...

''. His origins are not known for sure; however, there are several indications that he came from

Gallia Narbonensis Gallia Narbonensis (Latin for "Gaul of Narbonne", from its chief settlement) was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in Southern France. It was also known as Provincia Nostra ("Our Province"), because it was the ...

. At this time several senators came from this province, probably due to the influence of Nero's advisor,

Sextus Afranius Burrus Sextus Afranius Burrus (born AD 1 in Vasio, Gallia Narbonensis; = ILS 1321. English translation died AD 62) was a prefect of the Praetorian Guard and was, together with Seneca the Younger, an advisor to the Roman emperor Nero, making him a ...

. In addition, his daughter married

Gnaeus Domitius Lucanus Gnaeus Domitius Lucanus was a Roman senator and military commander active in the first century AD. His full name is Gnaeus Domitius Afer Titius Marcellus Curvius Lucanus. He was suffect consul sometime between 76 and 78. Lucanus was the son of Se ...

, a member of the Narbonensian aristocracy. His granddaughter, Domitia Lucilla Major, was, through her eponymous daughter, grandmother of the emperor

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...

Life

Details of Mancia's life are known only after his consulate. According to the ancient writer

Phlegon of Tralles Phlegon of Tralles ( grc, Φλέγων ὁ Τραλλιανός ''Flegon o Trallianos'') was a Greek writer and freedman of the emperor Hadrian, who lived in the 2nd century AD. Works His chief work was the ''Olympiads'', an historical compendi ...

he was governor of the imperial province of

Germania Superior Germania Superior ("Upper Germania") was an imperial province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of today's western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany. Important cities were Besançon ('' Vesontio' ...

by the year 56 as the successor of

Lucius Antistius Vetus Lucius ( el, Λούκιος ''Loukios''; ett, Luvcie) is a male given name derived from ''Lucius'' (abbreviated ''L.''), one of the small group of common Latin forenames (''praenomina'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius derives from L ...

. He still held this office in the year 58, for

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

attests that his colleague in

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 Agrippin ...

Lucius Duvius Avitus Lucius Duvius Avitus was a Roman senator, who held several offices in the emperor's service. He was suffect consul in the '' nundinium'' of November to December 56 with Publius Clodius Thrasea Paetus as his colleague. Avitus is the only known me ...

, asked him this year for military support for the campaign against the

Ampsivarii The Ampsivarii, sometimes referenced by modern writers as Ampsivari (a simplification not warranted by the sources), were a Germanic tribe mentioned by ancient authors. Their homeland was originally around the middle of the river Ems, which fl ...

. Mancia appears to have agreed to Duvius' request and campaigned with an army beyond the Rhine. It is not known when Mancia resigned the governorship; he possibly remained in Germania Superior until the appointment of

Publius Sulpicius Scribonius Proculus Publius Sulpicius Scribonius Proculus (died AD 67) was a Roman senator, who was active during the reign of Nero. He was suffect consul in the ''nundinium'' of September to October 56 as the colleague of his brother Publius Sulpicius Scribonius Ru ...

, in the year 63. Several ancient inscriptions attest to the ''

Lex Manciana The ''Lex Manciana'' is a Roman law dealing with tenancy agreements of imperial estates in Roman North Africa. Location The Imperial estates in question are all from the Bagradas Valley region of Africa Proconsularis (modern day Tunisia, around ...

'', a law on the administration of state and imperial land ownership in the province 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 ...

. Various scholars have assumed from its name that Titus Curtilius Mancia enacted it. In turn, they have argued that he had been either governor or extraordinary legate of the emperor in that province, either 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 ...

or the

Flavian dynasty The Flavian dynasty ruled the Roman Empire between AD 69 and 96, encompassing the reigns of Vespasian (69–79), and his two sons Titus (79–81) and Domitian (81–96). The Flavians rose to power during the civil war of 69, known as ...

. Ultimately, however, it is not certain whether Mancia is connected to the law, nor whether it was created at all during his lifetime.

Pliny the Younger Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo (61 – c. 113), better known as Pliny the Younger (), was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate ...

reports in one of his letters that Mancia disliked his son-in-law, Domitius Lucanus. For this reason, he left his inheritance to his granddaughter on the condition that Lucanus release her from his power as

paterfamilias The ''pater familias'', also written as ''paterfamilias'' (plural ''patres familias''), was the head of a Roman family. The ''pater familias'' was the oldest living male in a household, and could legally exercise autocratic authority over his ext ...

; this would prevent Lucanus from benefiting from the inheritance. This Lucanus did, only to have his brother

Gnaeus Domitius Tullus Gnaeus Domitius Tullus was a Roman senator and military commander active in the first century AD. His full name is Gnaeus Domitius Curvius Tullus. He was twice suffect consul: the first time between 76 and 79; the second time for the '' nundinium ...

adopt her, allowing both brothers to benefit from her inheritance.Pliny, '' Epistulae'', VIII.18.4

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curtilius Mancia, Titus 1st-century Romans Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Roman governors of Germania Superior