Caius Junius Faustinus Postumianus
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Gaius Junius Faustinus Postumianus 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 flourished in the third century. He is known from an inscription found near Thugga erected by his son Placidus and daughter Paulina. He held a number of appointments, most importantly as ''
praeses ''Praeses'' (Latin  ''praesides'') is a Latin word meaning "placed before" or "at the head". In antiquity, notably under the Roman Dominate, it was used to refer to Roman governors; it continues to see some use for various modern positions. ...
'' (governor) in
Hispania Tarraconensis Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the northern, eastern and central territories of modern Spain along with modern northern Portugal. Southern Spain, the region now called Andalusia was the ...
and Britain. The date of his appointment is unclear, so the province may have been either
Britannia Superior Britannia Superior (Latin for "Upper Britain") was a province of Roman Britain created after the civil war between Septimius Severus and Claudius Albinus. Although Herodian credits Severus with dividing Roman Britain into the Northern territory ...
or the undivided province of
Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered was ...
.


A second inscription

A second inscription recounting a
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 '' ...
of a man with an identical name, is thought by many scholars to also apply to this Postumianus. However,
Anthony Birley Anthony Richard Birley (8 October 1937 – 19 December 2020) was a British ancient historian, archaeologist and academic. He was the son of Margaret Isabel (Goodlet) and historian and archaeologist Eric Birley. Early life and education Anthony ...
notes, "the only discepant item" is that his name "seems to match the ''cognomen'' of our governor's son": . Jnius Faustinus l ius Postumian s This inscription mentions that he was promoted to '' comes'' of two Emperors, which implies this happened either in the co-reign of
Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa (Roman province), Africa. As a young man he advanced thro ...
and his son
Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor S ...
, or perhaps as late as the co-reign of Valerian and Gallienus. If it was during the reign of the first pair, Birley reconstructs his biography as follows. Postumianus was born in the 160s and entered the Senate during the reign of Commodus. Both as plebeian tribune 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 ...
he was the candidate of the emperor, between which he was selected to serve a year as '' legatus'' to the
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
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
. Postumius followed this with a term as '' juridicus'' of Aemilia, Etruria and Tuscany, then a commission as ''
legatus legionis A ''legatus'' (; anglicised as legate) was a high-ranking Roman military officer in the Roman Army, equivalent to a modern high-ranking general officer. Initially used to delegate power, the term became formalised under Augustus as the officer ...
'' of Legio I Adiutrix. He was appointed to a series imperial provinces, first
Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and a portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lusita ...
, then during the reign of the two Emperors Gallia Belgica followed by
Moesia Inferior Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...
; Birley dates Postumianus' suffect consulate to c. 204, between the last two provinces, and the governorship of Moesia Inferior between 205 and 208. Then, as ''comes'', he participated in the British campaign of 208–211; this inscription was then erected "not later than 209, since otherwise ''Auggg.'' would have been required" -- that was the year Severus made his younger son
Geta Geta may refer to: Places *Geta (woreda), a woreda in Ethiopia's Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region *Geta, Åland, a municipality in Finland * Geta, Nepal, a town in Attariya Municipality, Kailali District, Seti Zone, Nepal *Get ...
co-emperor. Birley admits that if Postumianus' career properly belongs to the later reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, "the various posts ... could have been held under those two emperors and their predecessors in the 240s and 250s."


Date of his governorship

The title ''praeses'' suggests the third century, when it came into common usage. Beyond that, little can be said for certain. If we assume both inscriptions refer to the same man, that the first inscription provides the proper order he held those two provinces, and that he was governor in Britain before it was divided into two provinces (which happened by 217), he must have been governor of Britain during the sole reign of Caracalla. But if the order of the two provinces are reversed -- he was governor of Britain then Hispania Tarraconensis -- as
Géza Alföldy Géza Alföldy (June 7, 1935 – November 6, 2011) was a Hungarian historian of ancient history. Life Géza Alföldy was born in Budapest. He studied at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Budapest from 1953 to 1958, where he in ...
argues, he was governor of Britain between 207 and 211, then governor in Spain c. 211–214. Or, if he was governor after Britain was divided into two provinces, he might have been the first consular governor of Britannia Superior. Lastly, if his career properly belongs to the later reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, then he could have been governor of either British province in the mid- to late 250s.As discussed by Birley, pp. 163f


See also

*
Junia (gens) The gens Junia was one of the most celebrated families of ancient Rome. The gens may originally have been patrician, and was already prominent in the last days of the Roman monarchy. Lucius Junius Brutus was the nephew of Lucius Tarquinius Su ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Postumianus, Gaius Junius Faustinus Iunius Faustinus Postumianus, Gaius Iunius Faustinus Postumianus, Gaius Faustinus Postumianus, Gaius 3rd-century Romans