Triarius Maternus, otherwise known as Triarius Maternus Lascivius 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 was ''

consul ordinarius 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 185 CE with

Atticus Bradua Tiberius Claudius Marcus Appius Atilius Bradua Regillus Atticus,Pomeroy, ''The murder of Regilla: a case of domestic violence in antiquity'' otherwise known as Atticus Bradua Graindor, ''Un milliardaire antique'' p. 29 (around 145-after 209) was a ...

as his colleague.

Life

Triarius Maternus was a member of a noble family whose members achieved the consulate throughout the Antonine era. It is surmised that he was the son of Aulus Junius Rufinus (''consul ordinarius'' in 153) and a Pomponia whose father was Quintus Pomponius Maternus (suffect consul in 128). His ''

praenomen The ''praenomen'' (; plural: ''praenomina'') was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the bi ...

'' is unknown while his ''

agnomen An ''agnomen'' (; plural: ''agnomina''), in the Roman naming convention, was a nickname, just as the ''cognomen'' was initially. However, the ''cognomina'' eventually became family names, so ''agnomina'' were needed to distinguish between simila ...

'' Lascivius is only attested in 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 ...

'', and may be a fictional addition by the author based upon the events of 193 CE. Prior to his consulate in 185, he was attested as a ''iuridicus'' of Asturia. Triarius Maternus was eventually caught up in the aftermath of the assassination of the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Commodus Commodus (; 31 August 161 – 31 December 192) was a Roman emperor who ruled from 177 to 192. He served jointly with his father Marcus Aurelius from 176 until the latter's death in 180, and thereafter he reigned alone until his assassination. ...

and the accession of

Pertinax Publius Helvius Pertinax (; 1 August 126 – 28 March 193) was Roman emperor for the first three months of 193. He succeeded Commodus to become the first emperor during the tumultuous Year of the Five Emperors. Born the son of a freed slave ...

. According to the ''

'', the

Praetorian Guard The Praetorian Guard (Latin: ''cohortēs praetōriae'') was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort fo ...

, unhappy with the elevation of Pertinax, tried to bring Triarius to their camp on January 3, 193, and proclaim him emperor in place of Pertinax. Triarius managed to get away from them, although losing his clothes in the process, and fled to Pertinax. Pertinax then allowed him to leave the city unharmed. It has been hypothesised that Triarius's bid for the imperial throne was engineered by his nephew, the consul in 193,

Gaius Julius Erucius Clarus Vibianus Gaius Julius Erucius Clarus Vibianus (died 197 CE) was a Roman politician and senator. He was '' consul ordinarius'' with Quintus Pompeius Sosius Falco in early 193, during the reign of Pertinax. Life Vibianus came from an Italian family or from ...

, who was possibly involved in the conspiracy to murder Commodus. Triarius was married to a Procula (most likely Egnatia Procula), and his son was almost certainly

Aulus Triarius Rufinus Aulus (abbreviated A.) is one of the small group of common forenames found in the culture of ancient Rome. The name was traditionally connected with Latin ''aula'', ''olla'', "palace", but this is most likely a false etymology. ''Aulus'' in fact p ...

, the ''consul ordinarius'' in 210 CE.Champlin, pp. 298-299

References

Sources

* Champlin, Edward, ''Notes on the Heirs of Commodus'', The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 100, No. 2 (Summer, 1979), pp. 288-306 (http://www.jstor.org/stable/293693) 2nd-century Romans 3rd-century Romans Year of birth uncertain Imperial Roman consuls {{AncientRome-politician-stub