Servius Sulpicius Similis

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Battle scene between the Dacians and the Romans on the Trajan's Column
The Imperial Province of Egypt
Approximate extent of the Parthian Empire

Servius Sulpicius Similis (* in the 1st century; † probably around 125) was a Roman plebeians , who Emperor Trajan in the knighthood rose and completed an extraordinary career.

With the rank of centurion he had probably proven himself outstanding on the first campaign of Trajan against the Dacians , so that the emperor's attention was drawn to him. In addition to his military ability, Trajan probably valued the humble, honest character of Servius Sulpicius Similis. Cassius Dio based this assumption on his traditional anecdote.

After his military service, Servius Sulpicius Similis was appointed Praefectus annonae around the year 106, according to a fragment by Ulpian . In this office he was responsible for supplying the city of Rome with grain .

In the following year, as Praefectus Aegypti , he carried out governorship in the imperial province of Egypt until 112. As governor of an imperial province, he was in command of the troops there and was in charge of finance and taxation. He exercised the jurisdiction as the highest judicial authority in the province. In addition to the sword law ( ius gladii ), the ius edicendi was available to him. With this authority he could issue new edicts, repeal or take over existing edicts. Servius Sulpicius Similis became known through a papyrus find that he invoked the edict of a former prefect in his judgment in a legal dispute and that the decree of his predecessor 20 years ago was re-certified as the applicable law.

In his further career, he was probably appointed Praetorian prefect in 112 . The knight Publius Acilius Attianus was appointed to his side as an official colleague . In recent research, it is believed that Servius Sulpicius Similis also took part in the campaign against the Parthians in 113-114 and was awarded a dona militaria by Trajan . At the accession to the throne of Emperor Hadrian in 117 he and his colleague played an important role; it was to them that Hadrian owed the recognition of his rule.

Cassius Dio reports that Servius Sulpicius Similis was reluctant to take up his post as Praetorian prefect and asked for his dismissal in 118, the first year of the reign of Emperor Hadrian. Hadrian was reluctant to comply with the request, as Servius Sulpicius Similis was considered extremely loyal and had an excellent reputation. Presumably in 125, after seven years of retirement, Servius Sulpicius Similis died on a country estate. Only a small, modest inscription that distinguished him during his lifetime is said to have stood on his tombstone.

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ A b Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 69, 19, 1 .
  2. ↑ CIL 3, 24
  3. ↑ Papyrus from Oxyrhynchus II 237, col. VIII, lines 21 to 27 .
  4. ↑ Michel Christol , Ségolène Demougin: Notes de prosopographie équestre V. Les ornements de Ser. Sulpicius similis . In: Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy. Vol. 74, 1988, pp. 13-14.
  5. ↑ Historia Augusta , Hadrian 9: 6.
predecessor Office successor
Gaius Vibius Maximus Prefect of the Roman Province of Egypt
107–112 		Marcus Rutilius Lupus
personal data
SURNAME Similis Sulpicius, Servius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prefect of the Province of Egypt under Trajan, Praetorian Prefect under Trajan and Hadrian
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: around 125