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Gaius Julius Avitus Alexianus

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Gaius Julius Avitus Alexianus[1][2] (died 217[2]) was a Roman nobleman of Syria who had an impressive military and political career.

Background and career

Although Alexianus was a Roman citizen who was born and raised in Emesa (modern Homs, Syria), little is known on his origins. It has been assumed that Alexianus was born in c. 155.[3] What is known about him is from surviving inscriptional and Roman historical evidence. Through marriage he was a relation to the Royal family of Emesa and the ruling Severan dynasty of the Roman Empire.

He was an Equestrian officer[4][2] serving as a praefectus and tribune in the Roman military, and then as a procurator of the food supply in Rome, being stationed in Ostia.[3]

Later he was promoted to the Senate by the Emperor Septimius Severus, his brother-in-law.[2] Having entered the Senate with the rank of Praetor in 194,[3] Alexianus was made Legatus in the Legio IV Flavia Felix[4] and later served as governor of Raetia,[2] which may be dated to 196/197.[3] During his proconsulship of Raetia, he dedicated an altar to the Emesene God Elagabalus.[4] The altar and its inscription, still intact, mentions him as a priest of the deified Emperor Titus.[3]

Alexianus served as consul in 200,[4] even perhaps as early as 198 or 199.[3] After his consulship, Alexianus was not appointed to further military or political positions, probably due to the enmity of the Praetorian prefect Gaius Fulvius Plautianus.[4] After the death of Plautianus in 205, Alexianus took part in Septimius Severus’ expedition in Britain where he acted as a Comes (Companion) to the emperor[2] from 208 until 211.[4]

Under Septimius Severus’ successor Caracalla, for two years Alexianus served as a Prefect of the Italian orphanages.[3] He served as a Legatus in Dalmatia in c. 214[4] and later as a Proconsul in Asia[2] and in Mesopotamia.[5] In 216–217, Alexianus became a comes to Caracalla on his campaign against the Parthian Empire.[4] He died from old age on his way to Cyprus, sent there by Caracalla in early 217 to act as an advisor to the Governor.[3]

Marriage and issue

Alexianus married the powerful, influential and rich Syrian noblewoman Julia Maesa,[4] the first daughter of Julius Bassianus, a high priest of the Temple of the Sun. The temple was dedicated to the Syrian Aramaic Sun God El-Gebal (counterpart to the Phoenician Baal) in Emesa. The younger sister of Maesa was Septimius Severus' empress Julia Domna,[2] who was the mother of the emperors Caracalla and Geta.

Maesa bore two distinguished daughters[2] to Alexianus who were born and raised in Syria:

Among his grandchildren were the emperors Elagabalus and Severus Alexander.[5]

Severan dynasty family tree

References

  1. ^ AE 1962, 229
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hazel, Who's who in the Roman World, p. 34
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Gaius Julius Avitus Alexianus" at Livius.org (last accessed 21 June 2020)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Birley, Septimius Severus: The African Emperor, p. 223
  5. ^ a b Julius Avitus’ article at ancient library Archived 2011-08-05 at the Wayback Machine

Sources

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