Marcus Vinicius (also spelled Vinucius) 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 lett ...

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 ...

and general, who held a number of posts in the service of the first Roman emperor,

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

. Vinicius was suffect consul in the latter part of 19 BC with

Quintus Lucretius Vespillo Quintus Lucretius Vespillo was a Roman senator and consul, whose career commenced during the late Roman Republic and concluded in the reign of emperor Augustus. Lucretius served as a soldier under Pompey in 48 BC. His father, an orator and juris ...

as his colleague.

Career

Born the son of a

Roman knight The ''equites'' (; literally "horse-" or "cavalrymen", though sometimes referred to as "knights" in English) constituted the second of the property-based classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the senatorial class. A member of the equestrian ...

Cales Cales was an ancient city of Campania, in today's ''comune'' of Calvi Risorta in southern Italy, belonging originally to the Aurunci/Ausoni, on the Via Latina. The Romans captured it in 335 BC and established a colony with Latin rights of 2,500 ...

in ''Regio I'' (''Latium et Campania'') of Italia, Vinicius distinguished himself as ''

legatus Augusti pro praetore A ''legatus Augusti pro praetore'' (literally: "envoy of the emperor – acting for the praetor") was the official title of the governor or general of some Imperial provincess of the Roman Empire during the Principate era, normally the larger ones ...

'' or governor of the

imperial province An imperial province was a Roman province during the Principate where the Roman Emperor had the sole right to appoint the governor (''legatus Augusti pro praetore''). These provinces were often the strategically located border provinces. The pr ...

Gallia Belgica Gallia Belgica ("Belgic Gaul") was a province of the Roman Empire located in the north-eastern part of Roman Gaul, in what is today primarily northern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, along with parts of the Netherlands and Germany. In 50 BC, a ...

in 25 BC, when he led a successful campaign into Germania. At some point, Vinicius may also have served as governor of the

senatorial province A senatorial province ( la, provincia populi Romani, province of the Roman people) was a Roman province during the Principate where the Roman Senate had the right to appoint the governor ( proconsul). These provinces were away from the outer ...

Achaea Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaïa'' ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. T ...

; an inscription from Corinth, dated to 18–12 BC and honoring his fellow-general, and the Emperor's right-hand man,

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (; BC – 12 BC) was a Roman general, statesman, and architect who was a close friend, son-in-law, and lieutenant to the Roman emperor Augustus. He was responsible for the construction of some of the most notable build ...

, reveals that an administrative division of the city had been named the ''tribus Vinicia'', apparently in Vinicius' honor. In recognition of his services, Vinicius, the archetypal ''homo novus'', was appointed suffect consul in 19 BC, replacing

Gaius Sentius Saturninus Gaius Sentius Saturninus (fl. late 1st century BC – 1st century AD) was a Roman senator and military officer who was appointed Roman consul in 19 BC. He served as the proconsular governor of Africa, and later as imperial governor of Syria. He t ...

. After his consulship, Vinicius continued to be entrusted with important military commands. He served as governor of Illyricum at the beginning of a series of rebellions which were called by Roman sources ''bellum Pannonicum'' (Pannonian war, 14–10 BC) until late 13 BC when Augustus assigned the supreme command to

.Syme, ''Roman Revolution'', p. 401 An inscription found at Tusculum reads "...

propraetor In ancient Rome a promagistrate ( la, pro magistratu) was an ex-consul or ex-praetor whose ''imperium'' (the power to command an army) was extended at the end of his annual term of office or later. They were called proconsuls and propraetors. Thi ...

of Caesar Augustus in llyricum; he was the first to advancebeyond the river Danube; he

outed Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBT person's sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. It is often done for political reasons, either to instrumentalize homophobia in order to discredit political opponents or to com ...

the army of he Daciansand the

Bastarnae The Bastarnae ( Latin variants: ''Bastarni'', or ''Basternae''; grc, Βαστάρναι or Βαστέρναι) and Peucini ( grc, Πευκῖνοι) were two ancient peoples who between 200 BC and 300 AD inhabited areas north of the Roman front ...

in battle; he brought the

Cotini The Gotini (in Tacitus), who are generally equated to the Cotini in other sources, were a Gaulish tribe living during Roman times in the mountains approximately near the modern borders of the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia. The spelling " ...

, si . . . and Anartii nder the sway of Imperator CaesarAugustus nd the Roman people Between AD 1 and 4, Vinicius commanded the five legions stationed in Germany. His army fought so successfully that he was awarded ''

ornamenta triumphalia The Roman triumph (') was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the success of a military commander who had led Roman forces to victory in the service of the state or in some historical tra ...

''. Throughout his life, Vinicius seems to have enjoyed a close friendship with the emperor: the historian

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τ� ...

quotes a letter by Augustus in which he talks about playing dice with Vinicius and his fellow ''homo novus'',

Publius Silius Nerva Publius Silius Nerva was a Roman senator and general, who flourished under the reign of Augustus. He was consul in 20 BC as the colleague of Marcus Appuleius. Biography Nerva was the son of a senator who had achieved the rank of propraetor. A par ...

.Syme, ''Roman Revolution'', p. 376

Family

Vinicius' son Publius was consul in AD 2. His grandson and namesake Marcus Vinicius was consul in 30 and the husband of

Julia Livilla Julia Livilla ( – ) was the youngest child of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder and the youngest sister of the Emperor Caligula. Life Julia Livilla was the youngest great-granddaughter of Emperor Augustus, great-niece and adoptive grandd ...

, granddaughter of the emperor

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 ...

References

Notes

References

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 ...

(1939). ''The Roman Revolution.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press. * Ursula Vogel-Weidemann (1982). ''Die Statthalter von Africa und Asia in den Jahren 14-68 n. Chr.: Eine Untersuchung zum Verhältnis Princeps und Senat.'' Bonn: Habelt. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vinicius, Marcus 1st-century BC Romans 1st-century Romans Ancient Roman generals Senators of the Roman Empire Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Vinicius, Marcus (19 BC) Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown