Sextus Varius Marcellus was a 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....

 of equestris

Equestrian (Roman)

The Roman equestrian order constituted the lower of the two aristocratic classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the patricians , a hereditary caste that monopolised political power during the regal era and during the early Republic . A member of the equestrian order was known as an eques...

class, but was later elevated to the rank of senator

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...

.

Although he had little administrative experience he was related to Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus

Septimius Severus , also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of...

 and the new emperor sent him to Roman 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...

 in 197 to assist Virius Lupus

Virius Lupus

Virius Lupus was a Roman soldier and politician of the late second and early 3rd century.His parents were Lucius Virius, born c. 140, and wife Antonia, also born c. 140 and daughter of Marcus Antonius Zeno. His paternal grandparents were Quintus Virius, born c. 110, and wife Larcia, born c...

 in rebuilding the province. Marcellus served as provincial procurator

Promagistrate

A promagistrate is a person who acts in and with the authority and capacity of a magistrate, but without holding a magisterial office. A legal innovation of the Roman Republic, the promagistracy was invented in order to provide Rome with governors of overseas territories instead of having to elect...

, collecting taxes, generally managing Britain's finances and possibly overseeing the appropriation of private land to the emperor's res privata.

He married Julia Soaemias

Julia Soaemias

Julia Soaemias Bassiana was the mother of Roman Emperor Elagabalus and ruled over the Roman Empire during the minority of her son's rule....

, and was the supposed father of Varius Avitus Bassianus, the later Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, better known as Elagabalus

Elagabalus

Elagabalus , also known as Heliogabalus, was Roman Emperor from 218 to 222. A member of the Severan Dynasty, he was Syrian on his mother's side, the son of Julia Soaemias and Sextus Varius Marcellus. Early in his youth he served as a priest of the god El-Gabal at his hometown, Emesa...

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