Marcus Vinicius (c. 5 BC – AD 46) was twice

Roman consul 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 ...

and, as 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 ...

, grandson-in-law (''progener'') 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 ...

. He was the son and grandson of two consuls,

Publius Vinicius Publius Vinicius was a Roman senator active during the reigns of Emperors Augustus and Tiberius. He was the son of Marcus Vinicius, consul in 19 BC. Vinicius was ordinary consul in AD 2 with Publius Alfenus Varus, and was an imperial legate fo ...

(consul 2 AD) and Marcus Vinicius (consul 19 BC).

Life

Born in Cales in

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

, Vinicius started his

senatorial 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 e ...

career as quaestor in AD 20. That same year, Vinicius was requested to take part in the defence of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso for the murder of Germanicus, but refused. He was present for the trial, as his name appears as one of seven witnesses of the '' Senatus consultum de Cn. Pisone patre'', the Roman Senate's official act concerning Piso's trial and punishment. In 30, Vinicius was appointed to the consulship, which he held with Lucius Cassius Longinus. In the same year,

Velleius Paterculus Marcus Velleius Paterculus (; c. 19 BC – c. AD 31) was a Roman historian, soldier and senator. His Roman history, written in a highly rhetorical style, covered the period from the end of the Trojan War to AD 30, but is most useful for the per ...

published his ''Histories'', which he dedicated to Vinicius. In 33, Tiberius selected him as the husband for

, the youngest daughter of Germanicus. On that occasion, Tacitus describes Vinicius as "mild in character and an elaborate orator". For the term 39/40, Vinicius was

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ...

ar governor 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 are ...

. Prior to this he had been appointed to a committee assigned to estimate the damages caused by a fire on the Aventine Hill. Vinicius and his nephew Lucius Annius Vinicianus were involved in the assassination of the emperor Caligula and, for a short time, even tried to be his successor to the throne. After Claudius became emperor, Vinicius accompanied him during the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 and was awarded the '' ornamenta triumphalia''. In 45, he was honoured with the rare distinction of a second consulship as prior consul; his colleague that year was

Titus Statilius Taurus Corvinus Titus Statilius Taurus Corvinus was a member of the Titus Statilius Taurus family of Roman Senators which went back to Titus Statilius Taurus, the general of emperor Augustus. Corvinus was consul in 45 AD during the reign of the Emperor Claudiu ...

. At Messalina's instigation, Vinicius was killed in 46. He nevertheless received a state funeral.

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 ...

60, 27, 4

Appearance in fiction

* The lead character in the novel '' Quo Vadis'' by Henryk Sienkiewicz, also named Marcus Vinicius, is the fictional son of the historical Marcus Vinicius.

References

Secondary sources

* Syme, Ronald (1939). ''The Roman Revolution.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press. *Vogel-Weidemann, Ursula (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 0s BC births 46 deaths Year of birth uncertain 1st-century BC Romans 1st-century Romans Ancient Roman generals Senators of the Roman Empire Imperial Roman consuls Roman governors of Asia Julio-Claudian dynasty Vinicius, Marcus (AD 30)