Quintus Volusius Saturninus (Consul 92)

Domitian , Roman emperor from 81 to 96 AD, last ruler of the Flavian dynasty .

Quintus Volusius Saturninus (* around 60 AD) was a senator from the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD. He was consul under Emperor Domitian .

Quintus Volusius Saturninus came from the plebeian family of the Volusii ( Gens Volusia ), from which some praetors and senators had emerged. His father Quintus Volusius Saturninus (around 25 AD - after 70 AD), consul in 56 BC. BC, if not already his grandfather Lucius Volusius Saturninus (38 BC - 56 AD), suffect consul in 3 BC BC, had risen to the rank of patrician . The country estate of the Volusii Saturnini family was the Villa dei Volusii near Lucus Feroniae .

An inscription from the Villa dei Volusii shows his career. Accordingly, he was already as a young man prefect , probably city prefect ( Praefectus urbi ), but only as a nominal representative of a magistrate ( Praefectus feriarum Latinarum causa ) on special occasions. This position was often held by young members of the senatorial class. He was also a member of the Vigintivirate , a group of simple officials with equal status ( Collegium ) who had to do certain public tasks during the imperial era, even before they entered the senatorial career ( Cursus honorum ). Saturninus was evidently concerned with minting coins and was one of the mint masters ( Tresviri aere argento auro flando feriundo ). Saturninus was also an officer in a cavalry unit ( Centurio equitum ).

Quintus Volusius Saturninus also held at least two priesthoods . He was a member of the Palatine Salier ( Salii Palatini ), a college of priests that was in the service of Mars , the god of war , and had its own office ( Curia ) on the Palatine Hill . To become a member you had to be a patrician and both parents had to be alive. You were accepted through the vote of the other members ( co-optation ). Saturninus was also a member of the college of highly respected augurs , one of the four great priesthoods.

The order in which Saturninus exercised these offices remains unclear, as the list in the inscription could have been in ascending or descending order. In any case, Saturninus came to the consulate under Emperor Domitian in AD 92, after his older brother Lucius Volusius Saturninus had already exercised this office in AD 87. Since the family of the Volusii Saturnini was in the favor of the emperor, Saturninus should have been appointed consul soon after the earliest possible appointment, i.e. at the age of 32 to 35 years. Then Saturninus must have been born around AD 60. He became a member of the Salians after AD 70, so that his father must have been alive at that time.

Descendants of Quintus Volusius Saturninus are not certain and the name of Volusii Saturnini does not appear later in the annals either .

family tree

Quintus Volusius Saturninus (Prefect)

Claudia

Lucius Volusius Saturninus (suffect consul 12 BC)

Nonia Polla

Lucius Volusius Saturninus (suffect consul 3 AD)

Cornelia

Volusia

Lucius Volusius Saturninus (Pontifex)

Quintus Volusius Saturninus (consul 56 AD)

Nonia Torquata

Lucius Volusius Saturninus (consul 87 AD)

Licinia Cornelia Volusia Torquata (?)

Quintus Volusius Saturninus (consul 92 AD)

Volusia Torquata (?)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ L'Année épigraphique AE 1972, 00176

literature

• Werner Eck : The family of the Volusii Saturnini in new inscriptions from Lucus Feroniae . In: Hermes . Vol. 100, No. 3 (1972), pp. 461-484.