Lucius Antistius Vetus (died AD 65) 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 lived during the

Principate The Principate is the name sometimes given to the first period of the Roman Empire from the beginning of the reign of Augustus in 27 BC to the end of the Crisis of the Third Century in AD 284, after which it evolved into the so-called Dominate. ...

. He was

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 ...

for the year 55 as the colleague of the emperor

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 ...

. He is thought to be the son of Gaius Antistius Vetus, consul in 23, and the brother of Gaius Antistius Vetus, consul in 50; Paul von Rohden speculates Vetus might be identical with the L. Antistius C. f. Aem(ilia) Vetus augur mentioned in the inscription . His daughter Antistia Politta married the senator

Rubellius Plautus Rubellius Plautus (33–62 AD) was a Roman noble and a political rival of Emperor Nero. Through his mother Julia, he was a relative of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. He was the grandson of Drusus (only son of Tiberius Caesar), and the great-grandson o ...

. Immediately after his consulate, Vetus was appointed governor 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' ...

, where he attempted construction of a canal that would join the Rhine and Rhone rivers and facilitate traffic. He was replaced in this position in the year 56 by

Titus Curtilius Mancia Titus Curtilius Mancia was a Roman senator, who held several offices in the emperor's service during the middle of the first century. He was suffect consul in the '' nundinium'' of November to December 55 as the colleague of Gnaeus Cornelius Len ...

. The

sortition In governance, sortition (also known as selection by lottery, selection by lot, allotment, demarchy, stochocracy, aleatoric democracy, democratic lottery, and lottocracy) is the selection of political officials as a random sample from a larger ...

awarded him governorship 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 ...

for 64/65; during that time, he had Claudius Demianus imprisoned for serious crimes. However, in the year 65 Vetus gained the enmity of the emperor Nero.

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 ...

claims it was because he was the father-in-law of Rubellius Plautus, whom Nero had executed several years before, although Vetus was also accused of wrongdoing by his

freedman A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...

Fortunatus and Claudius Demianus; Nero had released Demianus in return for his accusations against Vetus. After Vetus retired to his estate at

Formiae Formia is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Latina, on the Mediterranean coast of Lazio, Italy. It is located halfway between Rome and Naples, and lies on the Roman-era Appian Way. It has a population of 38,095. Istat 2017 History ...

, his daughter Politta sought to plead his case before the emperor, but as she was forbidden to approach him, according to Tacitus "she would haunt his doors and implore him to hear an innocent man." Nevertheless, Nero ignored her and she returned to her father with news of his impending judgment of the Senate. Vetus then manumitted his slaves, giving them all his ready money and ordered each to take of his possessions whatever they could carry, and with his daughter and mother-in-law Sextia, the three committed suicide.Tacitus, ''Annales'', XVI.11

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antistius Vetus, Lucius 1st-century Romans Imperial Roman consuls Vetus, Lucius Antistius (55) Roman governors of Germania Superior Roman governors of Asia Ancient Romans who committed suicide 65 deaths Year of birth unknown