Gnaeus Claudius Severus (Consul 173)

Gnaeus Claudius Severus (* around 133) was a Roman politician and senator in the 2nd century.

Severus came from Pompeiopolis in Paphlagonia and was a son of Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus , who held the consulate in 146 . Severus was a peripatetic and married Annia Aurelia Galeria Faustina , daughter of Emperor Mark Aurel , around 167 . His son from this marriage, Tiberius Claudius Severus Proculus , was consul in 200. In his first marriage, Gnaeus Claudius Severus was probably married to Ummidia Quadrata, a niece of Marcus Aurelius. Marcus Claudius Ummidius Quadratus , who was involved in the assassination attempt on Commodus as part of the Lucilla conspiracy and was executed on his orders in 182, was probably his son from this marriage.

Severus' first consulate cannot be precisely dated; but he must have started it by 162 at the latest. Severus held his second consulate in 173. In the following period he did not emerge politically, but was one of the centers of the intellectual circles in Rome of his time and had a great influence on Marcus Aurelius. The connection between the emperor and the sophist Sulpicius Cornelianus was probably established through Severus and the famous doctor Galen also became the emperor's personal physician on his recommendation. In 176 he accompanied his father-in-law Marcus Aurelius to Athens .

literature

• Stéphane Toulouse: Severus (cn. Claudius). In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Volume 6, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2016, ISBN 978-2-271-08989-2 , pp. 244-250
• Prosopographia Imperii Romani (PIR²) C 1024