Gaius Licinius Geta (fl. 2nd century BC) 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 elected

Roman 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 116 BC.

Biography

Not much is known about the early career of Geta, who was born into the

Plebeian In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words " commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of ...

'' gens Licinia''. By 119 BC, he had been elected to the rank of

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 ...

, and this was followed by his election as

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

in 116 BC. After his tenure in office, Geta was expelled from the

Senate 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 ...

in 115 BC along with 31 other senators by the order of the two Censors

Lucius Caecilius Metellus Diadematus Lucius Caecilius Metellus Diadematus was the second son of Roman politician and general Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus. During his consulship in 117 BC he supported the development of roads in Italy and he probably built ''Via Caecilia''. A ...

and Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus. At a subsequent

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, Geta was reinstated as a senator. He was later himself elected as Censor in 108 BC, alongside his consular colleague

Quintus Fabius Maximus Eburnus Quintus Fabius Maximus Eburnus (fl. 2nd century BC) was a Roman statesman of the patrician ''gens'' Fabia. He was consul in 116 BC. Family Eburnus was the son of Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus, consul in 142 BC, himself adopted from the gens S ...

. During their censorship, they reappointed Marcus Aemilius Scaurus as ''

princeps senatus The ''princeps senatus'' ( ''principes senatus'') was the first member by precedence on the membership rolls of the Roman Senate. Although officially out of the ''cursus honorum'' and possessing no ''imperium'', this office conferred prestige on t ...

''.Broughton, pgs. 548-549

References

Sources

* Broughton, T. Robert S., ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', Vol I (1951) * Smith, William, ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', Vol II (1867) {{DEFAULTSORT:Licinius Geta, Gaius 2nd-century BC Roman consuls Senators of the Roman Republic Geta, Gaius Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown