Pomponius Bassus (Consul 211)
Pomponius Bassus was a Roman politician and senator in the early 3rd century.
His father was probably Gaius Pomponius Bassus Terentianus, suffect consul around 193. Bassus was an ordinary consul in 211 and a legate of Moesia ( inferior or superior ) between 212 and 217 .
Bassus was married to Annia Faustina , who was descended from the consul Claudius Severus , the son-in-law of the emperor Marcus Aurelius . She was probably a great-granddaughter of Marcus Aurelius and his wife Annia Galeria Faustina, known as Faustina the Younger . Bassus' father-in-law was probably the son of Claudius Severus, Tiberius Claudius Severus Proculus , who held the ordinary consulate in 200 .
Emperor Elagabal accused Bassus of criticizing imperial measures. This was considered high treason . Therefore Elagabal had Bassus killed. He had the death sentence subsequently imposed by the Senate. He refrained from giving evidence of the alleged high treason and justified this with the fact that the consular was already dead. The contemporary historian Cassius Dio claims that Elagabal ordered the death of Bassus in order to be able to marry Annia, who was "beautiful and of noble descent", and that he did not allow her to mourn her first husband. According to recent research, however, the execution took place very early, even before Elagabal, who had been made emperor in Syria in May 218, arrived in Rome in the summer of 219. The real reason for the elimination of Bassus was therefore not the later marriage plan of the emperor. Elagabal presumably feared that Bassus could lay claim to the dignity of Emperor due to his marriage to a descendant of Mark Aurel.
literature
- Ladislav Vidman: Pomponius Bassus . In: Leiva Petersen , Klaus Wachtel (ed.): Prosopographia Imperii Romani . 2nd edition, part 6, de Gruyter, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-11-015048-4 , p. 308 (P 700); see. the family table p. 310
Remarks
- ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 78,21,2.
- ↑ Cassius Dio 80 (79), 5.4.
- ↑ The statement in Herodian 5,6,2 is incorrect , it comes from Mark Aurel's son Commodus .
- ↑ Edmund Groag : Ti. Claudius Severus Proculus. In: Edmund Groag, Arthur Stein (Ed.): Prosopographia Imperii Romani. 2nd edition, part 2, Berlin / Leipzig 1936, p. 249 f.
- ↑ Cassius Dio 80 (79), 5: 1-4.
- ↑ Björn Schöpe: The Roman imperial court in Severan times (193–235 AD) , Stuttgart 2014, p. 142 f. and note 349.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Pomponius Bassus |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Roman politician and senator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 2nd century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 3rd century |