Lucius Cornelius Lentulus (c. 42 BC – c. AD 4) 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 ...

politician and military officer who served 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 3 BC.

Biography

A member of the

Patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

gens Cornelia The gens Cornelia was one of the greatest patrician houses at ancient Rome. For more than seven hundred years, from the early decades of the Republic to the third century AD, the Cornelii produced more eminent statesmen and generals than any oth ...

, Lentulus was probably the son of

Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Cruscellio Lucius Cornelius Lentulus (probably Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Cruscellio) (fl. 1st century BC) was a suffect consul in 38 BC, in the late Roman Republic. Biography A member of the Patrician gens Cornelia, Cruscellio was the son of Lucius Cornel ...

and

Sulpicia Sulpicia was the author, in the first century BCE, of six short poems (some 40 lines in all) written in Latin which were published as part of the corpus of Albius Tibullus's poetry (poems 3.13-18). She is one of the few female poets of ancient Rom ...

. An adherent of

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...

, Lentulus was elected

alongside

Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus (also spelled as Messalinus,Gagarin, ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome: Academy Bible'', p.131 c. 36 BC – after AD 21) was a Roman senator who was elected consul for 3 BC. Early life Messa ...

in 3 BC, serving the entire year. In around AD 4, he was appointed

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. While governor, he was confronted by uprisings of the native tribes in the south of the province and beyond the borders. During an expedition into the

Libyan Desert The Libyan Desert (not to be confused with the Libyan Sahara) is a geographical region filling the north-eastern Sahara Desert, from eastern Libya to the Western Desert of Egypt and far northwestern Sudan. On medieval maps, its use predates t ...

against one of the tribes, the

Nasamones The Nasamones ( grc, Νασαμῶνες) were a nomadic Berber tribe inhabiting southeast Libya. They were believed to be a Numidian people, along with the Garamantes. They took their name from Nasamon (Νασάμων), the son of Amphithemis an ...

, he was killed.Roller, Duane W., ''The World of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene: Royal Scholarship on Rome's African Frontier'' (2003), p. 109 Lentulus married at some point, although

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 ...

admits to be uncertain of her identity, suggesting the daughter of Publius Cornelius Scipio consul in 16 BC, or of

Publius Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus Publius Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus (fl. 1st century BC – 1st century AD) was a Roman Senator who was elected Roman consul in 18 BC, with Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus as his colleague. During his consulship, the Senate and the Roman assembly aga ...

, "yet an Aemilia Lepida is not excluded."Syme, ''Aristocracy'', p. 252 They had a daughter, Cornelia Lentula, who married Lucius Volusius Saturninus, the suffect consul of AD 3.

References

Sources

* Syme, Ronald, ''The Roman Revolution'' (1939) * Syme, Ronald, ''The Augustan Aristocracy'' (1986) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cornelius Lentulus, Lucius 40s BC births AD 4 deaths 1st-century BC Roman consuls 1st-century Romans Ancient Romans killed in action

Lucius Lucius ( el, Λούκιος ''Loukios''; ett, Luvcie) is a male given name derived from ''Lucius'' (abbreviated ''L.''), one of the small group of common Latin forenames (''praenomina'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius derives from L ...

Imperial Roman consuls Roman governors of Africa Ancient Roman patricians Senators of the Roman Empire