Marcus Lollius
SpouseVolusia Saturnina
ChildrenLollia Paulina
Lollia Saturnina
Parents

Marcus Lollius was a Roman Senator who was active in the second half of 1st century BC and first half of 1st century. He is best remembered as the father of empress Lollia Paulina.

Family background

Lollius was a member of the plebeian gens Lollia.[1] He was the son of the Roman senator and Military Officer Marcus Lollius[2] and his wife Aurelia.[3] Ronald Syme identifies Aurelia as "a sister of the postulated and unattested Aurelius Cotta who adopted the younger son of Messalla Corvinus".[3] Lollius was the namesake of his father and paternal grandfather. Publius Lollius Maximus may have been his brother, or at least a close relation.[4]

Some sources have provided Lollius with the cognomen "Paulinus" due to his daughters name,[5] but it is nowhere attested and is more likely that empress Lollia Paulina derived her surname from her maternal grandmother Nonia Polla instead.[6]

Career

Little is known on the life of Lollius. The Horrea Lolliana was either built by his father or Lollius himself.[7] It is known from the inscriptions refer to them and also, from their plan in the Severan Marble Plan of Rome.[7] It seems his family had long trade connections and his family's name is found among the Italian merchants on the Greek island of Delos in the Hellenistic period.[7]

Due to a passage in Tacitus,[8] a number of scholars have argued that Lollius was a suffect consul, possibly even in AD 13. However, Ronald Syme pointed out that Lollius could never have been consul due to the disgrace of his father in 2 BC, which resulted in a prolonged antipathy towards him by Tiberius. "When requesting the Senate to honor Sulpicius Quirinius with a public funeral," Syme writes, "and recounting his merits and his loyalty, the Princeps was put in mind of the Rhodian years and could not suppress harsh words about Lollius."[9] Syme proposes an emendation that would make the passage refer to the elder Lollius, not this one. Providing a definite solution is the findings of Diana Gorostidi Pi, who completed the list of consuls for this year and showed there is no room for Lollius here.[10]

Wife and issue

Lollius married a Roman noblewoman called Volusia Saturnina, a daughter to the consul Lucius Volusius Saturninus and his wife Nonia Polla.[11] Her paternal grandmother was Claudia, aunt of the emperor Tiberius.

Through Volusia, Lollius was the father of two daughters:[2]

References

  1. ↑ Lollia Gens article at ancient library Archived 2013-10-18 at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 Marcus Lollius’ article at Livius.org
  3. 1 2 Syme, Augustan Aristocracy, p. 178
  4. ↑ Harrison, Homage to Horace: A Bimillenary Celebration, p. 290
  5. ↑ Marcus Lollius no. 5 article at ancient library Archived 2012-10-22 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. University of Michigan: Habelt. 2001. p. 229.
  7. 1 2 3 Rickman, Roman Granaries and Store Buildings, p. 164
  8. ↑ Annales, XII.1
  9. ↑ Syme, The Augustan Aristocracy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), p. 177
  10. ↑ Pi, "Sui consoli dell’anno 13 d.C.: Nuovi dati dai fasti consulares Tusculani", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 189 (2014), pg 265–275
  11. ↑ Syme, Augustan Aristocracy, p. 56

Sources

  • Horace - Edited by O.A.W Dilke, Horace: Epistles Book I, Taylor & Francis
  • G. Highet, The Classical Tradition: Greek and Roman Influences on Western Literature, Oxford University Press, 1949
  • G. Rickman, Roman Granaries and Store Buildings, CUP Archive, 1971
  • S.J. Harrison, Homage to Horace: A Bimillenary Celebration, Oxford University Press, 1995
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