Gaius Vettius Sabinianus Julius Hospes
Gaius Vettius Sabinianus Julius Hospes | |
|---|---|
Consul of the Roman Republic | |
| Assumed office 175 or 176 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Roman North Africa |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Roman Empire |
| Commands | Governor of Dalmatia Governor of Dacia Governor of Pannonia Superior Governor of Africa |
Gaius Vettius Sabinianus Julius Hospes (
fl. 2nd century) was a Roman military officer and senator. He was born into the equestrian order, possibly in North Africa. He held the traditional series of military, administrative and judicial positions of steadily increasing responsibility which aspiring upper class Romans were expected to progress through, known as the cursus honorum. He had a long and distinguished military and political career under the reigns of the emperors Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius and Commodus
.
He was appointed a special representative of the Emperor on several occasions. He was governor successively of four turbulent Roman frontier provinces. He acquired a reputation as a capable, if brutal, military commander and suppressed a number of internal and external threats. He was used by the emperors he served under as something of a trouble shooter. He was appointed consul in AD 175 or 176 by Emperor Marcus Aurelius as a reward for his loyalty and ability during a revolt by General Avidius Cassius. Hospes received numerous awards for personal gallantry.
Biography
Early career
Originally a member of the
plebeian tribune, a senior position with – in theory – extensive powers over the legislature; and praetor, a senior administrative and judicial position reporting directly to the emperor. He was then appointed legatus of the proconsular governor of Asia. Vettius Sabinianus’ next appointment was a special command, functioning as the imperial legate responsible for investigating the status of the Cyclades in relation to their administration by the Roman province of Asia.[5]
Later career
At the beginning of the joint reigns of
Germanic tribes. For his services Marcus Aurelius rewarded him with a large share of the booty from the campaign.[1]
During the
curator aedium sacrarum, curator of the temples, a senior religious position. Next he was appointed legatus Augusti pro praetore (imperial legate) of Dalmatia in AD 177, with instructions to deal with the bandits which infested the areas around modern Albania and Montenegro, which the previous governor Didius Julianus had been unable to eradicate.[14]
From 179 to 182 Vettius Sabinianus held the post of imperial governor of
Tres Daciae, during which he subdued some 12,000 Free Dacians on the border of the province and settled them inside the provincial border.[15] He was probably the governor who fought in a victorious but brutal war against the Buri until 182, which saw the creation of a five-mile wide security zone along the borders of the province.[16] This was followed by his posting as imperial legate of the province of Pannonia Superior. The last position Sabinianus is recorded to have held, in around AD 191, was proconsular governor of Africa which, because of the reliance of the city of Rome on its grain, was considered the most important Roman governorship.[1]
Decorations and family
Vettius Sabinianus was awarded the
Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus, proconsular governor of Africa in AD 163/164. His grandson was Gaius Vettius Gratus Sabinianus, who was consul in AD 221.[1]
Notes
- grass crownwas held in higher regard.
References
- ^ a b c d e f Mennen, pg. 129
- ^ Potter, pg. 74
- ^ Arnheim, pg. 62
- ^ Birley (2000b), pg. 115
- ^ Buraselis, pg. 145
- ^ Corbier, "Les circonscriptions judiciaires de l'Italie, de Marc-Aurèle à Aurélien",:Mélanges de l'Ecole française de Rome. Antiquité, 85 (1973), p. 639
- ^ a b Maxfield, pg. 42
- ^ Birley (2000a), pg. 160
- ^ Grant, pg. 154
- ^ Kovács, pg. 196; Birley, pg. 176
- ^ Birley (2000a), pg. 187
- ^ McLynn, pg. 370
- ^ Alföldy, p. 190
- ^ Birley (2000a), pg. 198
- ^ Dumitrascu, pg. 179
- ^ Kovács, pg. 260
- ^ Pliny (1986). "Book 16, Section 5". Natural History. The Loeb Classical Library (in Latin and English). Vol. 4. H. Rackham (trans.).
Sources
- Alföldy, Géza Konsulat und Senatorenstand unter der Antoninen (1977) Bonn: Rudolf Habelt Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7749-1334-9
- Arnheim, Michael, The senatorial aristocracy in the later Roman empire (1972) Oxford: Clarendon. Press. OCLC 848446152
- Birley, Anthony, Marcus Aurelius (2000a) London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-17125-0
- Birley, A. R., "Senators as Generals" in Kaiser, Heer und Gesellschaft in der Römischen Kaiserzeit (ed. Eric Birley, Géza Alföldy, Brian Dobson, Werner Eck) (2000b) Stuttgart: Steiner. ISBN 978-3-515-07654-8
- Buraselis, Kostas, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. Vol. 90, pt. 4: Kos between Hellenism and Rome: Studies on the Political, Institutional and Social History of Kos from ca. the Middle Second Century B.C. until Late Antiquity (2000) Philadelphia American Philosophical Society. ISBN 978-0-87169-904-6
- Dumitrascu, Sever, "Research and Discovery in Northwest Rumania" in Rumanian Studies: An International Annual of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol III 1973 – 1975 (1976)
- Grant, Michael, The Antonines: The Roman Empire in Transition (1996) London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-13814-7
- Kovács, Péter, Marcus Aurelius' Rain Miracle and the Marcomannic Wars (2009) Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-474-4326-1
- ISBN 978-0-520-04499-9
- McLynn, Frank, Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor (2011) London: Vintage Digital, 2011. ISBN 978-1-4464-4933-2
- Mennen, Inge, Power and Status in the Roman Empire, AD 193–284 (2011) Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-20359-4
- Potter, David S., The Roman Empire at Bay: AD 180–395 (2004) London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-10058-8