Titus Junius Montanus 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 ...

of the first century and

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 AD 81 with Lucius Julius Vettius Paullus as his colleague. An inscription found in

Alexandria Troas Alexandria Troas ("Alexandria of the Troad"; el, Αλεξάνδρεια Τρωάς; tr, Eski Stambul) is the site of an ancient Greek city situated on the Aegean Sea near the northern tip of Turkey's western coast, the area known historically a ...

indicates that was his hometown, making Montanus the first person from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

portion of the Roman Empire admitted to the

Roman senate The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...

.Syme, ''Some Arval Brethren'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980), p. 90 Syme further identifies Montanus with "the slow fat senator of

Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the ''Satires''. The details of Juvenal's life ...

4.107", and suggests that he may be the Montanus mentioned in another passage (4.137).

Life

The inscription from Alexandria indicates his father's name was Gaius, and he was a member of the Roman tribe Aniesus. According to

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 ...

, his ancestor is "patently" the homonymous Titus Junius Montanus, an

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

officer of the same tribe as he, who served in the late Augustan period. Montanus began his career in the Imperial service likely in his teens as a '' tresviri aere argento auro flando feriundo'', a prestigious position usually allocated to patricians. His next office was as a

military tribune A military tribune (Latin ''tribunus militum'', "tribune of the soldiers") was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion. Young men of Equestrian rank often served as military tribune as a stepping stone to ...

Legio V Macedonica ''Legio V Macedonica'' (the Fifth Macedonian Legion) was a Roman legion. It was probably originally levied in 43 BC by consul Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus and Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavianus (later known as the Emperor Augustus). It was bas ...

. As

quaestor A ( , , ; "investigator") was a public official in Ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who ...

, Montanus was assigned his home province of

Bithynia et Pontus Bithynia and Pontus ( la, Provincia Bithynia et Pontus, Ancient Greek ) was the name of a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). It was formed during the late Roman Republic by the ama ...

. Montanus held these posts, as well as the subsequent offices of

plebeian tribune Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune ( la, tribunus plebis) was the first office of the Roman state that was open to the plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power of ...

and

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...

, under

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 ...

, who apparently favored the young senator.Brian W. Jones, ''The Emperor Domitian'' (London: Routledge, 1993), p. 54

Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...

had a different opinion of Montanus, for the only office he held under that emperor was praetorian proconsul of

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

at an undetermined date. Syme also speculates that Montanus was obtained the suffect consulate due to "special favour from Titus".Syme, ''Arval Brethren'', p. 90 n. 12 Jones agrees that Titus' "assessment, it is clear, differed substantially" about Montanus, speculating that "perhaps Montanus and Titus had known each other from Nero's court, for they were about the same age." Jones notes he retained imperial favor after Titus' death "for his conviviality rather than for any other discernible quality." His inscription also attests that Montanus was a member of the Titii sodales, and was appointed

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

of an unnamed city.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Junius Montanus, Titus 1st-century Romans Senators of the Roman Empire Roman governors of Sicily Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Montanus, Titus Junius