Marcus Servilius Nonianus (died 59 AD) was a Roman historian.

There are scarce information about his life. His father was Marcus Servilius, consul in 3 AD. Servilius Nonianus was consul in 35 AD. Tacitus

Tacitus

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...

 describes Servilius Nonianus as a man of great eloquence and as a good-natured man. He married one Considia, who give him a daughter Servilia Considia, married to the senator Quintus Marcius Barea Soranus.

Servilius Nonianus wrote a book on the history of Rome, but this work has not been preserved: even its title is unknown. According to Tacitus and Quintilian

Quintilian

Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was a Roman rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing...

, this work at their time was considered a very important Rome history reference book, especially for those historians who belonged to the Senatorial Party. Quintilian writes also that Servilius Nonianus used to publicly read his own work (recitationes). In scholars' opinion, the history book by Servilius Nonianus was one of the history sources used by Tacitus for the narration of the first Imperial period, then mixed with information coming from other authors, like the historian Aufidius Bassus

Aufidius Bassus

Aufidius Bassus was a Roman historian who lived in the reign of Tiberius.His work, which probably began with the civil wars or the death of Caesar, was continued by the elder Pliny. The elder Pliny carried it down at least as far as the end of Nero's reign...

. The exact period covered by the historical narration by Servilius Nonianus is unknown. It is very probable that Nonianus treated also the years of princedom of the emperor Tiberius.

Pliny the Younger

Pliny the Younger

Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo , better known as Pliny the Younger, was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate him...

writes also that, during one of his public recitationes, the audience was so excited when listening to him and the applause was so loud and great that the emperor Claudius himself decided to attend one of the recitationes of Servilius Nonianus.

Sources

• Olivier Devillers: Tacite et les sources des Annales. Leuven 2003.
• Michael M. Sage: Tacitus’ Historical Works: A Survey and Appraisal. In: Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt. Bd. II.33.2. Berlin-New York 1990, S. 851–1030.
• Ronald Syme: Tacitus. 2 Bde. Oxford 1958.
• Ronald Syme: The Historian Servilius Nonianus. In: Hermes 92 (1964), S. 408ff.