Lucius Vipstanus Messalla 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 ...

Life

He was ''

consul ordinarius 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 115 with

Marcus Pedo Vergilianus Marcus Pedo Vergilianus was consul at the beginning of AD 115, during the reign of Trajan. He died in an earthquake toward the end of that year. Career Vergilianus was a Roman senator early in the second century. In the year 115, he was consul ...

as his colleague. Vergilianus was killed in an

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

at the end of January and was replaced by

Titus Statilius Maximus Severus Hadrianus Titus Statilius Maximus Severus Hadrianus was a Roman senator, who was active during the reign of Trajan. He was suffect consul in the year 115, replacing the consul Marcus Pedo Vergilianus killed by an earthquake in Antioch. Hadrianus was desce ...

, who completed the ''

nundinium Nundinium was a Latin word derived from the word '' nundinum'', which referred to the cycle of days observed by the Romans. During the Roman Empire, ''nundinium'' came to mean the duration of a single consulship among several in a calendar year. S ...

'' with Messalla as ''consul suffectus''.

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 ...

states that Vipstanus Messalla was the son of Lucius Vipstanus Messalla. The younger Messalla had a son named

Lucius Vipstanus Poplicola Messalla Lucius Vipstanus Poplicola Messalla was a patrician senator. Life He was the son of Lucius Vipstanus Messalla, ordinary consul in 115. The presence of the ''cognomina'' "Popicola" and "Messalla" indicates that he was related to the Valerii thro ...

.Syme
"Missing Persons III"
'' Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte'', 11 (1962), p. 153

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vipstanus Messalla, Lucius 2nd-century Romans Imperial Roman consuls Messalla, Lucius Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown