Gaius Avidius Nigrinus
Gaius Avidius Nigrinus (died 118 AD) was a
senator who lived between the 1st and 2nd centuries. Nigrinus served as suffect consul for the nundinium of April to June 110 with Tiberius Julius Aquila Polemaeanus
as his colleague.
Ancestry
Nigrinus’ ancestors were Romans of the highest political rank: he was the son of an elder
Gaius Petronius Pontius Nigrinus
, who was consul in the year 37.
His family had strong links to
Emperor Domitian (81-96), as had his paternal uncle. His family was friendly with Pliny the Younger and Plutarch
, the latter of whom dedicated ‘On Brotherly Love’ to the elder Nigrinus and Quietus.
Career
The earliest known office Nigrinus held was as
’s attempt to recognize and stabilize the administration of the financially troubled province.Nigrinus was a trusted lieutenant of the Emperor Trajan. During the year of his consulship, Trajan sent Nigrinus to Delphi, Greece as a member of an advisory council to assist the future historian Arrian in settling boundary disputes. This event is recorded in Delphi, where there are honorific inscriptions dedicated to Nigrinus in Greek and Latin.
Following his consulate, Nigrinus was appointed governor of
Dacia; he held this office from 113 until his death.[3]
In 117, Trajan died and he was succeeded by his paternal second cousin
Lucius Aelius). However, Birley also suggests Hadrian adopted Commodus out of "sheer perversity -- Hadrian's desire to infuriate other aspirants."[6]
Family
Nigrinus is known to have had two wives. The name of his first wife is not known, but their daughter
Lucius Titius Plautius Aquilinus (ordinary consul 162) and Plautius Quintillus (ordinary consul 159).[7]
Nerva–Antonine family tree
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Except where otherwise noted, the notes below indicate that an individual's parentage is as shown in the above family tree.
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References:
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References
- ^ Syme, Tactius (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958) p. 669. Pliny, Epistulae, V.20.6; Pliny mentions Nigrinus twice more: V.13.6f, and VII.6
- ^ Werner Eck, "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69/70 bis 138/139", Chiron, 13 (1983), p. 186 and n. 479
- ^ Eck, "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69/70 bis 138/139", Chiron, 12 (1982), pp. 355-361
- ^ Historia Augusta, Hadrian, 7.1; translated by Antony Birley, The Lives of the Later Caesars (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976), p. 64
- ^ As suggested by John D. Grainger, Nerva and the Roman Succession Crisis of AD 96-99 (London: Routledge, 2004), pp. 127f
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, (London: Routledge, 1987), p. 42. Syme had previously raised the possibility of Hadrian's remorse motivating him here in Tactius, p. 600.
- ^ Birley, Marcus Aurelius, pp. 238, 246
Sources
- Matthew Bunson, A dictionary of the Roman Empire 1995
- C. Konrad, Plutarch's Sertorius: A Historical Commentary Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994
- Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey, Dominic Rathbone, The Cambridge ancient history, Volume 11, 2nd Edition 2000
- Anthony Richard Birley, The Roman Government of Britain Oxford, 2005
- Anthony R. Birley, "Hadrian and Greek Senators", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 116 (1997), pp. 209–245
- http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Aelius*.html#2.8
- http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Lucius_Verus*.html