Decius Marius Venantius Basilius

Inscription erected by Basilius at the Colosseum in Rome, one of the two copies produced in occasion of a restoration funded by Basilius after the damages of an earthquake (CIL VI, 1716).

Decius Marius Venantius Basilius (fl. 484) was a Roman official under Odoacer's rule.

Biography

He was the son of Caecina Decius Basilius and the brother of Caecina Mavortius Basilius Decius and Caecina Decius Maximus Basilius, all Roman Consuls. Basilius Venantius iunior, Consul in 508, was probably his son.

Venantius was Praefectus urbi and Consul in 484, with Theoderic the Great as colleague.

He financed the restoration of the damages made by an earthquake to the Colosseum of Rome; two inscriptions are still extant, reading (CIL VI, 1716 b and c):

DECIVS MARIVS VENANTIVS
BASILIVS V[IR] C[LARISSIMVS] ET INL[VSTRIS] PRAEF[ECTVS]
VRB[I] PATRICIVS CONSVL
ORDINARIVS ARENAM ET
PODIVM QVAE ABOMI
NANDI TERRAEMO
TVS RVINA PROS
TRAVIT SVM[P]TV PRO
PRIO RESTITVIT

Decius Marius Venantius Basilius, vir clarissimus and inlustris, Praefectus urbi, Patricius, Consul ordinarius restored at his own expenses the arena and the podium, destroyed by a terrible earthquake

Bibliography

• Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin, John Robert Martindale, John Morris, "Decius Marius Venantius Basilius 13", The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-521-07233-6, p. 218.