Marcus Appius Bradua, also known by his full name Marcus Atilius Metilius Bradua (Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

: Μαρκόν Άππιον Βραδούαν ) was a distinguished Roman

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....

 Politician who lived in the second half of the 1st century and the first half of the 2nd century in the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

.

Biography

Bradua was a member of the Atilia (gens). He was born, raised in a Roman family of consular rank that could have been of Patrician rank
. Bradua originated from Cisalpina

Cisalpine Gaul

Cisalpine Gaul, in Latin: Gallia Cisalpina or Citerior, also called Gallia Togata, was a Roman province until 41 BC when it was merged into Roman Italy.It bore the name Gallia, because the great body of its inhabitants, after the expulsion of the Etruscans, consisted of Gauls or Celts...

. His father, Marcus Atilius Postumus Bradua, served as a proconsul

Proconsul

A proconsul was a governor of a province in the Roman Republic appointed for one year by the senate. In modern usage, the title has been used for a person from one country ruling another country or bluntly interfering in another country's internal affairs.-Ancient Rome:In the Roman Republic, a...

 of the Asia Province under the Roman Emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

 Domitian

Domitian

Domitian was Roman Emperor from 81 to 96. Domitian was the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty.Domitian's youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his brother Titus, who gained military renown during the First Jewish-Roman War...

 (81-96). According to his second nomen Metilius, suggest that his mother may have been a Metilia. If so, his uncle could be the governor Publius Metilius Nepos

Publius Metilius Nepos

Publius Metilius Nepos was a Roman politician during the late 1st century.He was the son of Publius Metilius . He was Consul Suffectus in 91 and was appointed Governor of Britannia sometime before the murder of the Emperor Domitian in 96, perhaps 92, 94 or 95, or at least Legatus pro praetore in 98...

.

Probably due to his patrician rank, Bradua went from the quaestor

Quaestor

A Quaestor was a type of public official in the "Cursus honorum" system who supervised financial affairs. In the Roman Republic a quaestor was an elected official whereas, with the autocratic government of the Roman Empire, quaestors were simply appointed....

ship to praetor

Praetor

Praetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...

ship. There is a possibility at some point he could have served as a military tribune

Tribune

Tribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...

. In 108, Bradua served as an ordinary consul with Appius Annius Trebonius Gallus

Appius Annius Trebonius Gallus (consul 108)

Appius Annius Trebonius Gallus was a distinguished Roman general and politician that lived in the second half of the 1st century and the first half of the 2nd century in the Roman Empire....

. After his time as consul, he served as a Pontifex Maximus

Pontifex Maximus

The Pontifex Maximus was the high priest of the College of Pontiffs in ancient Rome. This was the most important position in the ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians until 254 BC, when a plebeian first occupied this post...

.

From probably at least 111 until 118, Bradua served as the governor of Britain

Roman Britain

Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...

. At an unknown date he served as governor of either Germania Inferior

Germania Inferior

Germania Inferior was a Roman province located on the left bank of the Rhine, in today's Luxembourg, southern Netherlands, parts of Belgium, and North Rhine-Westphalia left of the Rhine....

 or Germania Superior

Germania Superior

Germania Superior , so called for the reason that it lay upstream of Germania Inferior, was a province of the Roman Empire. It comprised an area of western Switzerland, the French Jura and Alsace regions, and southwestern Germany...

. Either in the year 122 or 123, Bradua became Proconsul of the Africa Province

Africa Province

The Roman province of Africa was established after the Romans defeated Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day northern Tunisia, and the small Mediterranean coast of modern-day western Libya along the Syrtis Minor...

. Sometime after his African Proconsulship, he may have accompanied on one of the Roman Emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

 Hadrian

Hadrian

Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...

’s numerous journeys around the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

. Bradua outlived Hadrian’s reign and died at an unknown date during the reign of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius

Antoninus Pius

Antoninus Pius , also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty and the Aurelii. He did not possess the sobriquet "Pius" until after his accession to the throne...

 (138-161).

Marriage and issue

Bradua had marry Caucidia Tertulla, a Roman aristocratic woman, who may had Etruscan linage

Etruscan civilization

Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany. The ancient Romans called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci...

. Tertulla bore Bradua two children:

• Son, Marcus Atilius Metilius Bradua Caucidius Tertullus…Bassus. He served as a polyonymous Proconsul of the Africa Province
  Africa Province
  The Roman province of Africa was established after the Romans defeated Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day northern Tunisia, and the small Mediterranean coast of modern-day western Libya along the Syrtis Minor...
  
   under Antoninus Pius.
• Daughter, Atilia Caucidia Tertulla
  Atilia Caucidia Tertulla
  Atilia Caucidia Tertulla was an aristocratic woman from Ancient Roman society.Atilia was a member of the Atilia and was born into a family of consular rank, probably of Patrician rank. Atilia was the daughter of the Roman Senator, Consul and Governor Marcus Appius Bradua and Caucidia Tertulla...
  
  , who married the younger Appius Annius Trebonius Gallus
  Appius Annius Trebonius Gallus (consul 139)
  Appius Annius Trebonius Gallus, sometimes known as Appius Annius Gallus was a Roman senator.Annius Gallus was the son of the Roman politician and general Appius Annius Trebonius Gallus and an unnamed Roman noble woman. His paternal grandfather could have been Appius Annius Gallus, one of the...
  
  . His father an elder Appius Annius Trebonius Gallus was Bradua’s consular colleague in 108. Atilia Caucidia Tertulla bore the younger Appius Annius Trebonius Gallus, two children.

One of the Roman governors of Lower Moesia

Moesia

Moesia was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans, along the south bank of the Danube River. It included territories of modern-day Southern Serbia , Northern Republic of Macedonia, Northern Bulgaria, Romanian Dobrudja, Southern Moldova, and Budjak .-History:In ancient...

, Publius Vigellius Raius Plaurius Saturninus Atilius Braduanus Caucidius Tertullus that served in the province c. 169-170, may have been a descendant from Bradua’s marriage to Caucidia Tertulla.

Posthumous Honors

At Olympia, Greece

Olympia, Greece

Olympia , a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. Both games were held every Olympiad , the Olympic Games dating back possibly further than 776 BC...

, there is a stone inscription dedicated to him by his granddaughter Aspasia Annia Regilla

Aspasia Annia Regilla

Aspasia Annia Regilla, full name Appia Annia Regilla Atilia Caucidia Tertulla , was a wealthy, aristocratic and influential Roman woman, who was a distant relative of several Roman Emperors and Roman Empresses. She was the wife of the prominent Greek Herodes Atticus .-Genealogy:Regilla was born...

.

The city of the Eleans (honors) Marcus Appius Bradua, quaestor, praetor, [?proconsul of … and of Africa?, comes?] of the god Hadrian, consular (governor) of Germany and Britain, ponifex, sodalis Hadrianalis, maternal grandfather of Regilla, wife of Herodes.

On a stone, dated perhaps after 126, there is an honorific inscription stating, “[…] Bradua […] Propraetor”, that is found in Gwynedd

Gwynedd

Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...

. This may refer to the period that Bradua was governor of Britain.

Aspasia Annia Regilla and her husband Herodes Atticus

Herodes Atticus

Lucius Vibullius Hipparchus Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodes, otherwise known as Herodes Atticus was a very distinguished, rich Greek aristocrat who served as a Roman Senator and a Sophist. He is notable as a proponent in the Second Sophistic by Philostratus.-Ancestry and Family:Herodes Atticus...

 had built at Olympia an outdoor monument called an exedra

Exedra

In architecture, an exedra is a semicircular recess or plinth, often crowned by a semi-dome, which is sometimes set into a building's facade. The original Greek sense was applied to a room that opened onto a stoa, ringed with curved high-backed stone benches, a suitable place for a philosophical...

. Regilla and her husband on the monument had added statues honoring their various relatives and members of the ruling imperial family. Among the statues that Regilla added was of Bradua. From his statue at the exedra, only survived the head and his portrait bust is on display at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia.

Sources

• http://www.roman-britain.org/people/bradua.htm
• http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/women_civicdonors.html
• A. R. Birley, The Roman government of Britain, Oxford University Press, 2005
• S. B. Pomeroy, The murder of Regilla: a case of domestic violence in antiquity, Harvard University Press, 2007