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
editEarly life
editLepidus 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
editAfter 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
editHe had a daughter also called Aemilia Lepida who married Emperor Galba.[7]
Family
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References
edit- ^ Attilio Degrassi, I fasti consolari dell'Impero Romano dal 30 avanti Cristo al 613 dopo Cristo (Rome, 1952), p. 7
- ^ Tacitus, Annales, 1.13
- ^ Martha W. Hoffman Lewis, The Official Priests of Rome under the Julio-Claudians (Rome: American Academy, 1955), p. 43
- ^ Shotter, D. C. A. (April 1969). "The Trial of Clutorius Priscus". Greece & Rome. 16 (1): 14–18. doi:10.1017/S0017383500016260. JSTOR 642891.
- ^ Rogers, Robert Samuel (January 1932). "Two Criminal Cases Tried before Drusus Caesar". Classical Philology. 27 (1): 75–79. doi:10.1086/361432. JSTOR 265249.
- ^ Ronald Syme, "Problems about Proconsuls of Asia", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 53 (1983), pp. 192
- ^ Barrett, Anthony A. (2002). Agrippina: Mother of Nero. Roman Imperial Biographies. Routledge. p. 95. ISBN 9781134618637.