Lucius Valerius Messalla

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Lucius Valerius Messalla was a Roman politician and lawyer . He was consul in 214 .

Origin and family environment

Lucius Valerius Messalla came from one of the most distinguished patrician families of the Roman Republic , which, which was rare, had not only managed to continue during the imperial era , but also to hold political offices. The gens Valeria belonged to the gentes maiores of the patriciate, to which only four other families belonged ( Aemilia , Claudia , Cornelia , Fabia ) and which alone were entitled to provide the princeps senatus . Within the gens Valeria he belonged to the branch of the Messallae , that of Manius Valerius Maximus Corvinus Messalla , the consul of the year 263 BC. BC, was established.

His father was in all probability Lucius Valerius Messalla Thrasea Priscus , who had been consul in 196 and was executed under Caracalla 211/12. Nothing more is known about the life data (birth, date of death, marriage, descendants).

Political career

Lucius Valerius Messalla was an eminent lawyer who helped unify Roman law under Emperor Caracalla. In any case, his legal edicts were so important that they were still valid at the time of the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian and were included in the Codex Justinianus . In 214 he became full consul with Gaius Octavius ​​Appius Suetrius Sabinus . He apparently stayed in office all year long, which was quite unusual for the time. This is evidenced by the dates of the edicts issued by him, which begin on January 4, 214 and do not end until November 18 of that year. From 236 to 238 he was proconsul Asiae .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Volkmann : Fathers, patricii. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 4, Stuttgart 1972, column 551.
  2. ↑ Eg Codex Justinianus, Volume V, 31.1; Volume VIII, 20.1.
  3. ^ Rudolf Hanslik : Valerius (258). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VIII A, 1, Stuttgart 1955, Col. 129.
  4. ^ Inge Mennen: Power and Status in the Roman Empire, AD 193-284 , Brill, Leiden 2011, pp. 123 ff. ( Online ) pdf.
personal data
SURNAME Valerius Messalla, Lucius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Messalla, Lucius Valerius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman politician and lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century
DATE OF DEATH after 214