Marcus Appius Bradua

Marcus Appius Bradua,[1] also known by his full name Marcus Atilius Metilius Bradua [2] (Greek: Μαρκόν Άππιον Βραδούαν [1]) was a distinguished Roman Politician who lived in the second half of the 1st century and the first half of the 2nd century in the Roman Empire.

Contents

Biography

Bradua was a member of the Atilia (gens). He was born, raised in a Roman family of consular rank that could have been of Patrician rank .[2] Bradua originated from Cisalpina.[2] His father, Marcus Atilius Postumus Bradua, served as a proconsul of the Asia Province under the Roman Emperor Domitian (81-96).[2] According to his second nomen Metilius, suggest that his mother may have been a Metilia.[2] If so, his uncle could be the governor Publius Metilius Nepos.[2]

Probably due to his patrician rank, Bradua went from the quaestorship to praetorship.[2] There is a possibility at some point he could have served as a military tribune.[2] In 108, Bradua served as an ordinary consul with Appius Annius Trebonius Gallus.[2] After his time as consul, he served as a Pontifex Maximus.

From probably at least 111 until 118, Bradua served as the governor of Britain. At an unknown date he served as governor of either Germania Inferior or Germania Superior.[3] Either in the year 122 or 123, Bradua became Proconsul of the Africa Province. Sometime after his African Proconsulship, he may have accompanied on one of the Roman Emperor Hadrian’s numerous journeys around the Roman Empire.[3] Bradua outlived Hadrian’s reign and died at an unknown date during the reign of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161).[3]

Marriage and issue

Bradua had marry Caucidia Tertulla, a Roman aristocratic woman, who may had Etruscan linage.[4] Tertulla bore Bradua two children:

One of the Roman governors of Lower Moesia, Publius Vigellius Raius Plaurius Saturninus Atilius Braduanus Caucidius Tertullus that served in the province c. 169-170, may have been a descendant from Bradua’s marriage to Caucidia Tertulla.

Posthumous Honors

At Olympia, Greece, there is a stone inscription dedicated to him by his granddaughter Aspasia Annia Regilla.[2]

The city of the Eleans (honors) Marcus Appius Bradua, quaestor, praetor, [?proconsul of … and of Africa?, comes?] of the god Hadrian, consular (governor) of Germany and Britain, ponifex, sodalis Hadrianalis, maternal grandfather of Regilla, wife of Herodes.

On a stone, dated perhaps after 126, there is an honorific inscription stating, “[…] Bradua […] Propraetor”, that is found in Gwynedd. This may refer to the period that Bradua was governor of Britain.[7]

Aspasia Annia Regilla and her husband Herodes Atticus had built at Olympia an outdoor monument called an exedra. Regilla and her husband on the monument had added statues honoring their various relatives and members of the ruling imperial family. Among the statues that Regilla added was of Bradua. From his statue at the exedra, only survived the head and his portrait bust is on display at the Archaeological Museum of Olympia.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b this version of his name is known from an honorific Greek stone inscription dedicated to Bradua at Olympia, Greece. Birley, The Roman government of Britain p.112
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Birley, The Roman government of Britain p.112
  3. ^ a b c Birley, The Roman government of Britain p.113
  4. ^ Pomeroy, The murder of Regilla: a case of the domestic violence in antiquity p.14-15
  5. ^ a b Pomeroy, The murder of Regilla: a case of the domestic violence in antiquity p.15
  6. ^ a b Birley, The Roman government of Britain p.113-114
  7. ^ http://www.roman-britain.org/people/bradua.htm
  8. ^ http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/women_civicdonors.html

Sources

Preceded by
Lucius Licinius Sura and Quintus Sosius Senecio
Consul of the Roman Empire with Appius Annius Trebonius Gallus
108
Succeeded by
Aulus Cornelius Palma Frontonianus and Publius Calvisius Tullus Ruso
Preceded by
Unknown, previously Lucius Neratius Marcellus
Roman governors of Britain
c. 115 - 118
Succeeded by
Quintus Pompeius Falco