Lucius Aurelius Commodus Pompeianus

Lucius Aurelius Commodus Pompeianus (c. 177 – 211/212) was a Roman senator active in the early 3rd century. He was the son of Lucilla, the daughter of Marcus Aurelius, and her second husband Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus, a general active politically during the reigns of Emperors Commodus and Pertinax.[1]

Of Pompeianus himself, we know very little. As Oates expresses it, "He has a ringing name of great auctoritas, but we do not know if he was capax imperii."[1] He dedicated an altar for the welfare of Septimius Severus and his family in Lyon while serving as military tribune in the Legio I Minervia, which would date his commission to the early years of Severus' reign, in the 190s.[2] In 209, he achieved the rank of consul. [3][4] If Pompeianus became consul suo anno, as John Oates suggests, then he was born in 177, and was five years old when his mother Lucilla was executed in the aftermath of a failed attempt to assassinate her brother Commodus. John Oates opines that he and his father Tiberius had retired to their country estates in 180 when Commodus ascended to the throne.[1]

In 211/212, he was executed by Caracalla, following the murder of Caracalla's brother Geta.[5] H.-G. Pflaum notes that Caracalla took the precaution of making the murder appear to have been perpetrated by bandits.[2]

Lucius Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus (cos. ord. 231) and Clodius Pompeianus (cos. ord. 241) are likely his sons.[6]

References

1. John F. Oates, "A Sailor's Discharge and the Consuls of A. D. 209", Phoenix, 30 (1976), pp. 282-287.
2. Hans-Georg Pflaum, "Les gendres de Marc-Aurèle", Journal des savants, 1 (1961), p. 33.
3. Allmer, Auguste & de Terrebasse, Alfred. Inscriptions antiques et du Moyen Age de Vienne en Dauphiné, Volume 3 (French), p.504-7 (1875). There his name is listed as Ti. Claudius Pompeianus.
4. Mennen, p. 107.
5. Historia Augusta (Caracalla 3.8)
6. Pflaum, "Les gendres", p. 41.

Sources

• Mennen, Inge, Power and Status in the Roman Empire, AD 193-284 (2011)