:Gaius Vettius Sabinianus Julius Hospes

Originally a member of the equestrian order, Gaius Vettius Sabinianus may have originated from Roman North Africa.Mennen, pg. 129Potter, pg. 74 At some point he was adopted by the aristocratic Vettii Sabini.Arnheim, pg. 62 He began his military career as the praefectus cohortis, a junior officer position, of II Commagenorum, a battalion sized army unit. He was promoted to the rank of military tribune, a senior officer position, in Legio I Italica. Sabinianus returned to Rome to participate in the magistracies of the cursus honorum, the sequential mixture of military and political administrative positions held by aspiring politicians in the early Roman Empire.Birley (2000b), pg. 115 In succession he was appointed: quaestor, a junior position administering the public treasury; plebeian tribune, a senior position with{{snd}}in theory{{snd}}extensive powers over the legislature; and praetor, a senior administrative and judicial position reporting directly to the emperor. He was then appointed legatus of the proconsular governor of Asia. Vettius Sabinianus’ next appointment was a special command, functioning as the imperial legate responsible for investigating the status of the Cyclades in relation to their administration by the Roman province of Asia.Buraselis, pg. 145

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At the beginning of the joint reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, Sabinianus was appointed juridicus of the Italian circuit comprising Aemilia; Etruria and Liguria; Mireille Corbier states he is the earliest known juridicus for that circuit.Corbier, [http://www.persee.fr/doc/mefr_0223-5102_1973_num_85_2_959 "Les circonscriptions judiciaires de l'Italie, de Marc-Aurèle à Aurélien"],:Mélanges de l'Ecole française de Rome. Antiquité, 85 (1973), p. 639 Around 165 Emperor Marcus Aurelius raised a new legion, Legio III Italica, to fight in the Marcomannic Wars and Sabinianus was appointed its first commander as a legatus legionis, senior legionary commander.Maxfield, pg. 42 This was followed by another special appointment, as Legatus Aug. Rationibus putandis trium Galliarum or legate in control of the urban finances of the three Gallic provinces, again reporting directly to the Emperor.Birley (2000a), pg. 160 This appointment may reflect a growing debt problem in the province, triggered by the demands of the Marcomannic Wars.Grant, pg. 154 His next appointment was legatus legionis of another legion, XIV Gemina, together with military and civil jurisdiction over Pannonia Superior, following a Roman defeat in the province in about 170 and the death of the governor.Kovács, pg. 196; Birley, pg. 176 After a brief period in Rome as praefect of the aerarium Saturni (state treasury), he was again posted to the frontier, this time as legatus Augusti pro praetore, imperial governor, of Pannonia Superior, where he served from around 170 to 175. Here he fought in the First Marcomannic War, taking part in several battles against Germanic tribes. For his services Marcus Aurelius rewarded him with a large share of the booty from the campaign.

File:Marcus Aurelius Louvre MR561 n02.jpg, whom Vettius Sabinianus loyally supported during the rebellion of Avidius Cassius.]]

During the usurpation of Avidius Cassius in AD 175, Vettius Sabinianus was sent by Marcus Aurelius to take charge of the vexillations (detachments) from Illyricum and defend Rome against a possible advance by Cassius.Birley (2000a), pg. 187 Positioning himself in Rome, Sabinianus also had to ensure that those within the city opposed to the continued war against the Germans, headed by the family of Lucius Verus, did not take advantage of Cassius' rebellion to undermine imperial authority.McLynn, pg. 370 As a reward for his loyalty during the crisis, Vettius Sabinianus was appointed consul by the emperor around AD 175.Alföldy, p. 190 Becoming a consul was the highest honour of the Roman state, and as such candidates were chosen carefully by the emperor. He was then appointed proconsular curator of Puteoli, followed by a tenure as curator aedium sacrarum, curator of the temples, a senior religious position. Next he was appointed legatus Augusti pro praetore (imperial legate) of Dalmatia in AD 177, with instructions to deal with the bandits which infested the areas around modern Albania and Montenegro, which the previous governor Didius Julianus had been unable to eradicate.Birley (2000a), pg. 198

From 179 to 182 Vettius Sabinianus held the post of imperial governor of Tres Daciae, during which he subdued some 12,000 Free Dacians on the border of the province and settled them inside the provincial border.Dumitrascu, pg. 179 He was probably the governor who fought in a victorious but brutal war against the Buri until 182, which saw the creation of a five-mile wide security zone along the borders of the province.Kovács, pg. 260 This was followed by his posting as imperial legate of the province of Pannonia Superior. The last position Sabinianus is recorded to have held, in around AD 191, was proconsular governor of Africa which, because of the reliance of the city of Rome on its grain, was considered the most important Roman governorship.

Vettius Sabinianus was awarded the civic crown, the second highest military decoration to which a Roman citizen could aspire, three times.Only the grass crown was held in higher regard. A chaplet of common oak leaves woven to form a crown, it was reserved for Roman citizens who saved the lives of fellow citizens by slaying an enemy.{{cite book|author=Pliny|authorlink=Pliny the Elder |others=H. Rackham (trans.) |title=Natural History|language=Latin, English|series=The Loeb Classical Library|volume=4|chapter=Book 16, Section 5|year=1986}} He was also awarded the Hasta pura, a decoration for military valour and the Vexilla twice each. He was married to the daughter of Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus, proconsular governor of Africa in AD 163/164. His grandson was Gaius Vettius Gratus Sabinianus, who was consul in AD 221.

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• Arnheim, Michael, The senatorial aristocracy in the later Roman empire (1972) Oxford: Clarendon. Press. {{OCLC|848446152}}
• Birley, Anthony, Marcus Aurelius (2000a) London: Routledge. {{ISBN|978-0-415-17125-0}}
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• Buraselis, Kostas, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. Vol. 90, pt. 4: Kos between Hellenism and Rome: Studies on the Political, Institutional and Social History of Kos from ca. the Middle Second Century B.C. until Late Antiquity (2000) Philadelphia American Philosophical Society. {{ISBN|978-0-87169-904-6}}
• Dumitrascu, Sever, "Research and Discovery in Northwest Rumania" in Rumanian Studies: An International Annual of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol III 1973 – 1975 (1976)
• Grant, Michael, The Antonines: The Roman Empire in Transition (1996) London: Routledge. {{ISBN|978-0-415-13814-7}}
• Kovács, Péter, Marcus Aurelius' Rain Miracle and the Marcomannic Wars (2009) Leiden: Brill. {{ISBN|978-90-474-4326-1}}
• Maxfield, Valerie, A., The Military Decorations of the Roman Army (1981) Berkeley (Calif.) University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-0-520-04499-9}}
• McLynn, Frank, Marcus Aurelius: Warrior, Philosopher, Emperor (2011) London: Vintage Digital, 2011. {{ISBN|978-1-4464-4933-2}}
• Mennen, Inge, Power and Status in the Roman Empire, AD 193–284 (2011) Leiden: Brill. {{ISBN|978-90-04-20359-4}}
• Potter, David S., The Roman Empire at Bay: AD 180–395 (2004) London: Routledge. {{ISBN|978-0-415-10058-8}}

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Category:2nd-century Romans

Category:Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome

Category:Roman governors of Dalmatia

Category:Roman governors of Dacia

Category:Roman governors of Pannonia Superior

Category:Roman governors of Africa

Sabinianus Julius Hospes

Category:Year of birth unknown

Category:Year of death unknown

Category:Generals of Marcus Aurelius

Category:Generals of Commodus