Manius Aemilius Lepidus (consul 11)

Manius Aemilius Lepidus was a Roman senator who was active during the Principate. He was ordinary consul in AD 11 as the colleague of Titus Statilius Taurus.[1] Tacitus reports that Augustus, while discussing possible rivals for the Roman Emperor Tiberius on his deathbed, described him as worthy of becoming emperor (capax imperii), but "disdainful" of supreme power.[2]

Biography

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Early life

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Lepidus has been assumed to be the son of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus the Younger and his wife Servilia Isaurica, but modern-day historians believe he was more likely the nephew of Lepidus the Younger. He had a sister named Aemilia Lepida.

Career

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After 5 BC, but prior to acceding to the consulship, Lepidus was co-opted as an Augur.[3] He defended his sister at her trial in AD 20. At the trial of Clutorius Priscus, he argued without success that the proposed death sentence was excessively harsh.[4][5] In AD 21, he achieved the pinacle of a Senatorial career, the proconsular governorship of Asia.[6]

Personal life

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He had a daughter also called Aemilia Lepida who married Emperor Galba.[7]

Family

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References

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  1. ^ Attilio Degrassi, I fasti consolari dell'Impero Romano dal 30 avanti Cristo al 613 dopo Cristo (Rome, 1952), p. 7
  2. ^ Tacitus, Annales, 1.13
  3. ^ Martha W. Hoffman Lewis, The Official Priests of Rome under the Julio-Claudians (Rome: American Academy, 1955), p. 43
  4. ^ Shotter, D. C. A. (April 1969). "The Trial of Clutorius Priscus". Greece & Rome. 16 (1): 14–18. doi:10.1017/S0017383500016260. JSTOR 642891.
  5. ^ Rogers, Robert Samuel (January 1932). "Two Criminal Cases Tried before Drusus Caesar". Classical Philology. 27 (1): 75–79. doi:10.1086/361432. JSTOR 265249.
  6. ^ Ronald Syme, "Problems about Proconsuls of Asia", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 53 (1983), pp. 192
  7. ^ Barrett, Anthony A. (2002). Agrippina: Mother of Nero. Roman Imperial Biographies. Routledge. p. 95. ISBN 9781134618637.
Political offices
Preceded byas Suffect consuls Consul of the Roman Empire
AD 11
with Titus Statilius Taurus
Succeeded byas Suffect consul