Lucius Aelius Lamia Plautius Aelianus

Lucius Aelius Lamia Plautius Aelianus (c. 45 - 81/96) was a Roman senator, described by Brian W. Jones as "the most eminent of the consular victims" of Domitian.[1] Juvenal used his family as representative of Domitian's most noble victims;[2] Lamia was consul suffect in 80 with three different colleagues: Aulus Didius Gallus Fabricius Veiento, Quintus Aurelius Pactumeius Fronto, and Gaius Marius Marcellus Octavius Publius Cluvius Rufus.[3]

A number of scholars have concluded that Lamia was most likely a son of Tiberius Plautius Silvanus Aelianus.[4] He married Domitia Longina, the daughter of the general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo and Cassia Longina. Their son is thought to have been Lucius Fundanius Lamia Aelianus (consul 116), born before Domitian forced them to divorce.[1] It is surmised Lamia had a daughter, referred to as Ignota Plautia, who married three times and gave birth to several prominent Romans.[5]

Domitia was seduced by Domitian while his father Vespasian was still in Roman Egypt (AD 70); Domitian afterwards forced Lamia to divorce her so he could have her for himself.[6] Despite this, Lamia retained his sense of humor. Jones suspects it was his sense of humor, in the form of harmless jokes directed at the emperor, that led to his execution. Domitian was unable to handle personal criticism of any sort, and there was ample precedent for the laws of treason to be applied to writings of this kind.[7]

References
  1. Jones, The Emperor Domitian (London: Routledge, 1993), p. 184
  2. Satires, IV.152
  3. Paul Gallivan, "The Fasti for A. D. 70-96", Classical Quarterly, 31 (1981), pp. 189, 215
  4. Frederik Juliaan Vervaet provides a list: "A Note on Syme's Chronology of Vistilia's Children", Ancient Society, 30 (2000), p. 103 n. 23
  5. Ronald Syme, "Antonine Relatives: Ceionii and Vettulani", Athenaeum 35 (1957), pp. 306-315
  6. Dio Cassius, 66.3.4
  7. Jones, Domitian, p. 185

Further reading
Political offices
Preceded by
Titus Caesar Vespasianus VIII, and
Caesar Domitianus VII
as ordinary consuls		 Suffect consul of the Roman Empire
80
with Aulus Didius Gallus Fabricius Veiento
Quintus Aurelius Pactumeius Fronto
Gaius Marius Marcellus Octavius Publius Cluvius Rufus		 Succeeded by
Marcus Atilius Postumus Bradua,
and Quintus Pompeius Trio
as suffect consuls


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