Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus

1st century Hispanic Roman Senator

Publius Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus (c. 31 – c. 91 AD), also known as Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus or Aelius Marullinus, was a Roman Senator of Praetorian rank from Hispania who lived in the Roman Empire during the 1st century.

Family

Marullinus came from a well-established, wealthy and aristocratic family of Praetorian rank in the gens Aelia. His mother is unknown and his father was a Roman senator called Publius Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus, also the name of his paternal grandfather and paternal great-grandfather.

The paternal ancestors of Marullinus had descended from Picenum (modern Marche and Abruzzo, Italy). They were originally centurions who participated in the Punic Wars possibly under the general Scipio Africanus. About 205 BC, at the end of the Second Punic War, the paternal ancestors of Marullinus left Picenum and settled in Italica (near modern Seville, Spain) in the Roman Province of Hispania Baetica.

The paternal great-grandfather of Marullinus, Publius Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus, was admitted into the Roman Senate by Octavian (future Emperor Augustus) when he served as a member of the Second Triumvirate between 43 BC and 33 BC. He was the first person in his family to become a senator, however the circumstances leading him to be admitted into the senate are unknown. Nevertheless, Marullinus was one of the few Romans that came from the provinces who Octavian had ever admitted into the Senate.

History

Marullinus was born and raised in Italica, but spent various amounts of time in Rome. He married a noblewoman from Italica called Ulpia, who was a sister of the Roman general and senator Marcus Ulpius Traianus, the father of Emperor Trajan.

Ulpia and Marullinus had at least one child, a son called Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer, who later was a soldier and politician. Hadrianus Afer married Domitia Paulina and had two children: Aelia Domitia Paulina (75–130) and Publius Aelius Hadrianus (76–138). Hadrianus was adopted by Trajan as his heir and eventually succeeded him as Emperor Hadrian.

Marullinus had a reputation in practising astrology and had predicted that his grandson would rule as Roman Emperor.

When Hadrian ruled as Roman Emperor, as a tribute to his birthplace and ancestry, he established Hispania Baetica as a province. Hadrian's second adoptive son and successor Antoninus Pius, assumed the name Aelius Hadrianus as a part of his name when he ruled as Emperor. The sixth child born to Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Roman Empress Faustina the Younger was named Hadrianus. Hadrianus (152–157) was named in honour of his grandfather Hadrian.

Nerva–Antonine family tree

  • v
  • t
  • e
Nerva–Antonine family tree
Q. Marcius Barea SoranusQ. Marcius Barea SuraAntonia FurnillaM. Cocceius NervaSergia PlautillaP. Aelius Hadrianus
Titus
(r. 79–81)		Marcia FurnillaMarciaTrajanus PaterNerva
(r. 96–98)		Ulpia[i]Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus
Flavia[ii]Marciana[iii]C. Salonius Matidius[iv]Trajan
(r. 98–117)		PlotinaP. Acilius AttianusP. Aelius Afer[v]Paulina Major[vi]
Lucius Mindius (2)Libo Rupilius Frugi (3)Salonia Matidia[vii]L. Vibius Sabinus (1)[viii]
Paulina Minor[vi]L. Julius Ursus Servianus[ix]
Matidia Minor[vii]Sabina[iii]Hadrian[v][x][vi] (r. 117–138)Antinous[xi]
C. Fuscus Salinator IJulia Serviana Paulina
M. Annius Verus[xii]Rupilia Faustina[xiii][xiv]Boionia ProcillaCn. Arrius Antoninus
L. Ceionius CommodusAppia SeveraC. Fuscus Salinator II
L. Caesennius PaetusArria AntoninaArria Fadilla[xv]T. Aurelius Fulvus
L. Caesennius AntoninusL. CommodusPlautiaunknown[xvi]C. Avidius Nigrinus
M. Annius Verus[xiii]Calvisia Domitia Lucilla[xvii]Fundania[xviii]M. Annius Libo[xiii]Faustina[xv]Antoninus Pius
(r. 138–161)[xv]		L. Aelius Caesar[xvi]Avidia[xvi]
Cornificia[xiii]Marcus Aurelius
(r. 161–180)[xix]		Faustina Minor[xix]C. Avidius Cassius[xx]Aurelia Fadilla[xv]Lucius Verus
(r. 161–169)[xvi] (1)		Ceionia Fabia[xvi]Plautius Quintillus[xxi]Q. Servilius PudensCeionia Plautia[xvi]
Cornificia Minor[xxii]M. Petronius SuraCommodus
(r. 177–192)[xix]		Fadilla[xxii]M. Annius Verus Caesar[xix]Ti. Claudius Pompeianus (2)Lucilla[xix]M. Plautius Quintillus[xvi]Junius Licinius BalbusServilia Ceionia
Petronius AntoninusL. Aurelius Agaclytus (2)Aurelia Sabina[xxii]L. Antistius Burrus (1)Plautius QuintillusPlautia ServillaC. Furius Sabinus TimesitheusAntonia GordianaJunius Licinius Balbus?
Furia Sabina TranquillinaGordian III
(r. 238–244)
  • (1) = 1st spouse
  • (2) = 2nd spouse
  • (3) = 3rd spouse
  •   Reddish-purple indicates emperor of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty
      lighter purple indicates designated imperial heir of said dynasty who never reigned
      grey indicates unsuccessful imperial aspirants
      bluish-purple indicates emperors of other dynasties
  • dashed lines indicate adoption; dotted lines indicate love affairs/unmarried relationships
  • Small Caps = posthumously deified (Augusti, Augustae, or other)
Notes:

Except where otherwise noted, the notes below indicate that an individual's parentage is as shown in the above family tree.

  1. ^ Sister of Trajan's father: Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
  2. ^ Giacosa (1977), p. 8.
  3. ^ a b Levick (2014), p. 161.
  4. ^ Husband of Ulpia Marciana: Levick (2014), p. 161.
  5. ^ a b Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
  6. ^ a b c DIR contributor (Herbert W. Benario, 2000), "Hadrian".
  7. ^ a b Giacosa (1977), p. 9.
  8. ^ Husband of Salonia Matidia: Levick (2014), p. 161.
  9. ^ Smith (1870), "Julius Servianus".
  10. ^ Smith (1870), "Hadrian", pp. 319–322.
  11. ^ Lover of Hadrian: Lambert (1984), p. 99 and passim; deification: Lamber (1984), pp. 2–5, etc.
  12. ^ Husband of Rupilia Faustina: Levick (2014), p. 163.
  13. ^ a b c d Levick (2014), p. 163.
  14. ^ It is uncertain whether Rupilia Faustina was Frugi's daughter by Salonia Matidia or another woman.
  15. ^ a b c d Levick (2014), p. 162.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Levick (2014), p. 164.
  17. ^ Wife of M. Annius Verus: Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
  18. ^ Wife of M. Annius Libo: Levick (2014), p. 163.
  19. ^ a b c d e Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
  20. ^ The epitomator of Cassius Dio (72.22) gives the story that Faustina the Elder promised to marry Avidius Cassius. This is also echoed in HA "Marcus Aurelius" 24.
  21. ^ Husband of Ceionia Fabia: Levick (2014), p. 164.
  22. ^ a b c Levick (2014), p. 117.
References:
  • DIR contributors (2000). "De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families". Retrieved 2015-04-14.
  • Giacosa, Giorgio (1977). Women of the Caesars: Their Lives and Portraits on Coins. Translated by R. Ross Holloway. Milan: Edizioni Arte e Moneta. ISBN 0-8390-0193-2.
  • Lambert, Royston (1984). Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-15708-2.
  • Levick, Barbara (2014). Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537941-9.
  • Smith, William, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Sources

  • Historia Augusta – Life of Hadrian
  • Tiberius the Politician – Ed2, By Barbara Levick, Levick B Staff
  • Marcus Aurelius By Anthony Richard Birley
  • The provincial at Rome, By Ronald Syme, Anthony Birley
  • Rome and the Balkans 80 BC – AD 14 By Ronald Syme, Anthony Birley