Sextus Afranius Burrus
Appearance
Sextus Afranius Burrus | |
---|---|
Born | 1 Gallia Narbonensis, Vasio |
Died | 62 (age 61) Rome |
Allegiance | Roman Empire |
Years of service | 50 AD – 62 |
Rank | Praetorian prefect |
Commands | Praetorian Guard |
Sextus Afranius Burrus (born AD 1 in Vasio, Gallia Narbonensis;[1] died AD 62) was a prefect of the Praetorian Guard and was, together with Seneca the Younger, an advisor to the Roman emperor Nero, making him a very powerful man in the early years of Nero's reign.[2][3]
Agrippina the Younger chose him as Prefect in 51 to secure her son Nero's place as emperor after the death of Claudius.[4] For the first eight years of Nero's rule, Burrus and Nero's former tutor Seneca helped maintain a stable government. Burrus acquiesced to Nero's murder of Agrippina the Younger but lost his influence over Nero anyway. He died in 62, some say from poison.[5]
The cognomen "Burrus" is the Latin version of the name Pyrrhus, king of Epirus.
Sources
References
- ^ CIL XII, 5842 = ILS 1321
- ^ Albino Garzetti (1974). From Tiberius to the Antonines: A History of the Roman Empire AD 14-192. Routledge. pp. 611f. ISBN 978-1-317-69844-9.
- ^ Robert K. Sherk (1988). The Roman Empire: Augustus to Hadrian. Cambridge University Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-521-33887-5.
- ^ Anthony A. Barrett (1996). Agrippina: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Early Empire. Yale University Press. pp. 122f. ISBN 978-0-300-07856-5.
- ^ Boris Rankov (1994). The Praetorian Guard. Osprey Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-85532-361-2. Archived from the original on 14 February 2016.