Lucius Norbanus Balbus 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 ...
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 in AD 19, as the colleague of
Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus
Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus was a Roman senator. He was consul in AD 19, with Lucius Norbanus Balbus as his colleague.
Biography
Silanus was a descendant of the noble Roman house of the Junii Silani. His grandfather was Marcus Junius Silanus ...
. Balbus was the younger son of
Gaius Norbanus Flaccus Gaius Norbanus Flaccus was a Roman politician and general during the 1st century BC.
Of Etruscan descent, Flaccus was the grandson of Gaius Norbanus. His family had suffered under the proscriptions of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, but had found favour u ...
; his brother was the consul of AD 15,
Gaius Norbanus Flaccus Gaius Norbanus Flaccus was a Roman politician and general during the 1st century BC.
Of Etruscan descent, Flaccus was the grandson of Gaius Norbanus. His family had suffered under the proscriptions of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, but had found favour u ...
.
According to
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 ...
, Balbus is known only from a single anecdote from
Cassius Dio
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
(LVII.18.3), yet in it he "comes to life." Dio describes Balbus as a keen trumpeter; at dawn on his first day as consul he began to play his trumpet, terrifying the populace who had believed the year to be announced with fateful omens.
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
mentions a Norbanus, a nobleman of great bodily strength, who was killed by the German bodyguards when
Caligula
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germanicu ...
was assassinated (''Antiquities of the Jews'', XVIII, 123).
Edmund Groag
Edmund Groag (2 February 1873, in Prerau – 19 August 1945, in Vienna) was an Austrian classical scholar, who specialized in Roman history.
From 1892 he studied history and philology at the University of Vienna, receiving his doctorate in 18 ...
argues he was Balbus; if so, then Balbus died in January 41. However Syme points out this Norbanus might be the son of Balbus or his older brother.
[Syme "Early Tiberian Consuls", p. 190 n. 7]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norbanus Balbus, Lucius
Imperial Roman consuls
1st-century Romans
Norbani