Marcus Junius Silanus (consul 46)

Marcus Junius Silanus (AD 14–54) was a Roman senator.

Biography

He was the eldest son of Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus and Aemilia Lepida. His mother was the great-granddaughter of the emperor Augustus. As a member of the imperial family, Silanus could therefore be considered a possible candidate for the succession. Silanus was born the same year his great-great-grandfather, Augustus, died.

Although he was honoured with a consulship by the Emperor

Equestrian class named Publius Celerius, with the aid of a freedman named Helius.^[3] The pair committed the crime openly, and the Province of Asia eventually prosecuted Celerius for this deed; moreover, according to Tacitus, Nero saw to it that the prosecution was delayed to such an extent that Celerius died of old age.^[5]

Silanus' son, Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus, whom Tacitus calls a young man of moderation (modesta iuventa),^[6] was considered a threat on similar grounds as his father had been, and informers soon invented a conspiracy implicating him and his aunt Junia Lepida on charges of magic rites and incest.^[7] Upon being exiled to Bari, he was set upon by a centurion and some guards. Young Silanus, however, did not open his veins, when invited to do so; he went down fighting with his fists, and Tacitus notes that the centurion was forced to run him through with his sword; his fatal wound, according to the historian, was in front.^[8]

Footnotes

^ Cassius Dio, 60.1
^ Ronald Syme, "Problems about Proconsuls of Asia", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 53 (1983), p. 196
^ ^a ^b Annales 13.1
^ Dio, 61.6
^ Annales 13.33
^ Annales 16.7
^ Annales 16.10
^ Annales 16.9

Political offices
Preceded by Aulus Antonius Rufus Marcus Pompeius Silvanus Staberius Flavianus as suffect consuls	Decimus Valerius Asiaticus II Camerinus Antistius Vetus Quintus Sulpicius Camerinus Peticus Decimus Laelius Balbus Gaius Terentius Tullius Geminus	Succeeded by Claudius IV Lucius Vitellius III as ordinary consuls

[1] Cassius Dio, 60.1

[2] Ronald Syme, "Problems about Proconsuls of Asia", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 53 (1983), p. 196

[Tacitus-13.1-3] Annales 13.1

[4] Dio, 61.6

[5] Annales 13.33

[6] Annales 16.7

[7] Annales 16.10

[8] Annales 16.9

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