Gnaeus Sentius Saturninus
Encyclopedia
Gnaeus Sentius Saturninus was the name of two Roman
senators
, father and son.
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
senators
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
, father and son.
- The elder Gnaeus Sentius Saturninus was one of three sons of Gaius Sentius Saturninus, who was imperial legate to Syria in 9-6 BC. He was suffect consulConsulConsul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
when his older brother, Gaius Sentius Saturninus, was consul ordinarius in 4 AD. In 19 AD he replaced Gnaeus Calpurnius PisoGnaeus Calpurnius PisoGnaeus Calpurnius Piso , Roman statesman, was consul in 7 BC; subsequently, he was governor of Hispania and proconsul of Africa.In AD 17 Tiberius appointed him governor of Syria...
as governor of Syria and compelled him to return to Rome to stand trial for the death of Germanicus Caesar.
- The younger Gnaeus Sentius Saturninus was consul in 41 AD alongside the emperor CaligulaCaligulaCaligula , also known as Gaius, was Roman Emperor from 37 AD to 41 AD. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula's father Germanicus, the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, was a very successful general and one of Rome's most...
. When Caligula was murdered that same year he made a speech in the Senate welcoming the return of liberty and urging his fellow senators to preserve it. His ring, which bore Caligula's image, was removed and broken by a fellow senator, Trebellius Maximus. ClaudiusClaudiusClaudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
had already been named as the new emperor, but Sentius and another senator, Pomponius SecundusPomponius SecundusPublius Pomponius Secundus was a distinguished statesman and poet in the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius. He was on intimate terms with the elder Plinius, who wrote a biography of him, now lost.-Family:...
, were prepared to oppose him, by force if necessary, to restore senatorial rule. The army, for their part, supported Claudius and were prepared to use force against the Senate, but Claudius met the rebellious senators and won them over. Eutropius named Sentius as one of the commanders involved in the Roman conquest of BritainRoman conquest of BritainThe Roman conquest of Britain was a gradual process, beginning effectively in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, whose general Aulus Plautius served as first governor of Britannia. Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and...
two years later.
External links
- Gnaeus Sentius Saturninus entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith
- Saturninus entry in Dictionary of Greek & Roman Biography & Mythology