Lucius Licinius Sura

Trajan's Column, Trajan in conversation with a general (perhaps Lucius Licinius Sura).jpg

Lucius Licinius Sura was an influential Roman Senator from Tarraco, Hispania, a close friend of the Emperor Trajan and three times consul, in a period when three consulates were very rare for non-members of the Imperial family. The dates of two of these consulates are certain: in 102 and 107 AD he was consul ordinarius; the date of his first consulate, as a suffect consul has been debated. Fausto Zevi[1] postulated that he was also suffect consul in 97, based on a plausible restoration of part of the Fasti Ostienses, which reads "..]us". However, two more recently recovered fragments of military diplomas show that the name of this consul is L. Pomponius Maternus, who is otherwise unknown.[2] Most authorities have returned to endorsing C.P. Jones' surmise that Sura was consul for the first time in the year 93.[3] He was a correspondent of Pliny the Younger.

  1. ^ Fausto Zevi, "I consoli del 97 d. Cr. in due framenti gia' editi dei Fasti Ostienses", Listy filologické / Folia philologica, 96 (1973), pp. 125-137
  2. ^ Werner Eck and Pangerl, "Zwei Konstitutionen für die Truppen Niedermösiens vom 9. September 97", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 151 (2005), pp. 185-192
  3. ^ Jones, "Sura and Senecio", Journal of Roman Studies, 60 (1970), pp. 98-104