Titus Avidius Quietus

Titus Avidius Quietus was a consul of the Roman Empire in the year 93.

Family

Quietus’ paternal and maternal ancestors were Romans of the highest political rank. He was the son of an elder Gaius Avidius Nigrinus by an unnamed mother; his brother was the consul Gaius Avidius Nigrinus; his paternal uncle was the proconsul Tiberius Avidius Quietus and his niece was Roman Emperor Hadrian’s daughter-in-law Avidia Plautia. Quietus’ family were wealthy, distinguished and well connected politically from Faventia (modern Faenza, Italy) and he was born and raised in Faventia. Quietus and his family may have been related to the consul Gaius Petronius Pontius Nigrinus, who had served his consulship at the time that the Roman Emperor Tiberius had died in 37.

His family had strong links to Greece. The father of Quietus, had served at an unknown date during the reign of Roman Emperor Domitian (81-96) as Proconsul of Achaea, as well as his paternal uncle. His family was friends of Greek Historian Plutarch and Roman Senator Pliny the Younger. Plutarch dedicated a writing piece to the elder Nigrinus and his uncle entitled ‘On Brotherly Love’.

Quietus married an unnamed Roman woman and had a son, also named Titus Avidius Quietus, who served as suffect consul in 111.

Career

Quietus was a successful military leader and social figure. He served as a Proconsul of Achaea, became consul in 93 and later in 98 served as Governor of Roman Britain.

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