Valerius Maximus Basilius (urban prefect 319)

(Lucius) Valerius Maximus Basilius[1] (fl. 4th century) was a Roman senator who held high office during the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine I.

Biography

Valerius Maximus was a member of the fourth century patrician Gens Valeria, either the son of Valerius Messalla, the Roman consul of AD 280, or (more likely) another descendant of Lucius Valerius Claudius Poplicola Balbinus Maximus, the consul of AD 253.[2]

A pagan, Valerius Maximus’ early career is unknown. He must have had a successful political career, as he managed to be appointed Urban Prefect of Rome, serving from September 1, 319 until September 13, 323.[3] He held this post while the emperor Constantine I was campaigning in the Balkans, and the emperor’s son, the Caesar Crispus was at Augusta Treverorum. The abnormally long period of time he held this post, and the extended imperial absence, indicate that he was a trusted imperial subordinate.[4]

Christian Settipani has speculated that Valerius Maximus married the daughter of Septimius Bassus and had a son Valerius Maximus.[5]

Ancestry

  1. ↑ Lucius Valerius Messalla Apollinaris was a descendant of Octavia the Younger, through her granddaughter Valeria Messalla (daughter of Claudia Marcella Minor).

Sources

  • Martindale, J. R.; Jones, A. H. M, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. I AD 260-395, Cambridge University Press (1971)
  • Mennen, Inge, Power and Status in the Roman Empire, AD 193-284 (2011)

References

  1. ↑ The praenomen Lucius is assumed
  2. ↑ Mennen, pg. 127
  3. ↑ Martindale & Jones, pg. 589
  4. ↑ Potter, David S., The Roman Empire at Bay: AD 180-395 (2004), pg. 389
  5. ↑ Settipani,Continuité gentilice et continuité sénatoriale dans les familles sénatoriales romaines à l'époque impériale, (2000)
Political offices
Preceded by
Septimius Bassus		 Praefectus urbi of Rome
September 319 – September 323		 Succeeded by
Locrius Verinus
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