Paullus Fabius Maximus

The patrician Fabii were one of the most ancient and illustrious families of Rome, but by the Late Republic their status had begun to wane. Ronald Syme notes that the Fabii had "missed a generation in the consulate."Syme, The Roman Revolution (Oxford: University Press, 1939), p. 18

Fabius was the elder son of Quintus Fabius Maximus, one of Caesar's legates during the Civil War, whom Caesar appointed consul suffectus on October 1, 45 BC.Syme, Augustan Aristocracy (1989), p. 403. He was named after his ancestor, Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus.Syme, Augustan Aristocracy, pp. 75, 419, 420. The elder Fabius died on the last day of his consulship, December 31, leaving Paullus, his younger brother, Africanus Fabius Maximus, and a sister, Fabia Paullina.

Fabius' first known post was that of quaestor, in which capacity he served under Augustus during the emperor's travels through the eastern provinces from 22 to 19 BC.IG II². 4130; Athens [http://epigraphy.packhum.org/inscriptions/main?url=oi%3Fikey%3D302081%26bookid%3D746%26region%3D8] After his consulship, Fabius served as proconsul of Asia; the exact period of his administration is uncertain, with some sources favouring 10 to 8 BC,Syme, Augustan Aristocracy, p. 405.K. M. T. Atkinson, [http://www.jstor.org/stable/4434578 "The Governors of the Province Asia in the Reign of Augustus"], Historia 7 (1958), pp. 300–330. and others as 6 to 5.B. A. Buxton & R. Hannah, "OGIS 458, the Augustan Calendar, and the Succession", in C. Deroux (ed.), Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History XII (Brussels, 2005), pp. 290–306. During this time, he minted a number of coins bearing his image.Jocelyn Toynbee, Roman Historical Portraits (1978), pp. 74 ff. In 3 BC, Fabius was legatus Augusti pro praetore or governor of Hispania Tarraconensis.ILS 8895; Bracara{{AE|1974|392}}; Bracara{{AE|1993|1030}}; Lucus Augusti{{CIL|2|2581}}; Lucus AugustiSyme, Augustan Aristocracy, pp. 407, 408. While there, Paullus captured a Celtic city and named it Lucus Augusti, the modern city of Lugo.{{cite web|publisher=Mythical Ireland|url=http://www.mythicalireland.com/mythology/tuathade/lugus.html|author=Alexei Kondratiev|author-link=Alexei Kondratiev|title=Lugus: The Many-Gifted Lord|access-date=June 7, 2010|year=2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126092115/http://mythicalireland.com/mythology/tuathade/lugus.html|archive-date=November 26, 2010}}noted as {{lang|grc|Λοῦκος Αὐγούστον}} by Ptolemy, ii. 6. § 24

During Fabius' administration of Asia, the provincial council decreed a competition to find a unique honour for the emperor. The winner was to receive a crown from the province. The proconsul himself submitted the winning proposal: a new calendar for the province, wherein the new year would start on September 23, Augustus' birthday.Steven J. Friesen, Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John (2001), pp. 32-5

He was honored with a monument built by some grateful colonists in his memory on the top of the sacred hill of Monte Giove, in the territory of Hatria Picena, where there was a sanctuary.{{Cite book|last=Luigi Sorricchio|url=https://archive.org/details/luigi-sorricchio-hatria-atri-1911|title=Luigi Sorricchio, 'Hatria = Atri'|date=1911|publisher=Tipografia Del Senato|location=Roma|pages=208}}

At some time between 20 and 10 BC, Fabius married Marcia, daughter of Lucius Marcius Philippus, consul suffectus in 38 BC. Her mother, Atia, was an aunt of Augustus, making Marcia the emperor's cousin.Syme, Augustan Aristocracy (1989), pp. 153, 403.ILS 8811; Paphos They had at least one son, Paullus Fabius Persicus, who was probably born in 2 or 1 BC. The younger Fabius was consul in AD 34, with Lucius Vitellius, father of the emperor Aulus Vitellius.Syme, Augustan Aristocracy, p. 416. The elder Fabius and Marcia may also have been the parents of Fabia Numantina, although she may have been the daughter of Paullus' brother, Africanus.Syme, Augustan Aristocracy, pp. 417, 418.

Fabius was a member of the Arval Brethren, an ancient college of priests that had dwindled into obscurity before Augustus chose to revive its importance as a means of demonstrating his piety and devotion to Roman traditions.{{CIL|6|2023}} = ILS 5026; Rome Fabius was later succeeded in this priestly office by his son.{{AE|1947|52}}; Rome

The poet Juvenal described Fabius as a generous patron of poetry.Juvenal, Satires vii. 95. He was named in one of Horace's poems, written in 13 BC, and one of Horace's odes hints at him.Horace, Odes iv. 1. Fabius was also the recipient of a wedding song composed by Ovid.Ovid, Epistulae ex Ponto i. 2. § 131. While in exile Ovid wrote to Paullus, soliciting his help in allowing Ovid to return.Ovid, Epistulae ex Ponto i. 2; iii. 1.

Writing many years later, the historian Tacitus reported that Fabius had accompanied the emperor on a secret visit to the emperor's last surviving grandson, Agrippa Postumus, in AD 13. Postumus had been exiled in AD 9, perhaps at the instigation of his stepmother, the empress Livia Drusilla. According to Tacitus, Augustus and his grandson were reconciled, although the latter was not recalled from exile before the emperor's death in AD 14. Supposedly, Fabius discussed the visit with his wife, who informed the empress. Tacitus reported that Fabius' death in the summer of AD 14 was said to be either directly or indirectly the result of Augustus' anger at this betrayal of trust.Tacitus, Annals i. 5. Ovid, too, suspected that his death might have been the result of Augustus' anger.Ovid, Epistulae ex Ponto iv. 6. However, both the truth and accuracy of this story have been questioned by modern historians.Syme, Augustan Aristocracy (1989), p. 414.

• Fabia gens

{{Reflist}}

• Syme, Ronald; Augustan Aristocracy (Oxford University Press, 1989)
• Toynbee, Jocelyn M.C; Roman Historical Portraits (Cornell University Press, 1978)
• Friesen, Steven J.; Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John (Oxford University Press US, 2001)
• Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
• Inscriptiones Graecae (IG)
• Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae (ILS), (Berlin 1892–1916)
• L'Année Epigraphique (AE)

• Tacitus, Annals, Book 1, Chapter 5, English translation
• [http://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?search=Fabius+AND+Maximus+AND+Phrygia&s=0&results=100 Coins of Paullus Fabius Maximus]

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{{s-bef|before=Gaius Caninius Rebilus,
and Lucius Volusius Saturninus |as=suffect consuls}}

{{s-ttl|title=Consul of the Roman Empire|years = 11 BC|regent1=Quintus Aelius Tubero}}

{{s-aft|after=Africanus Fabius Maximus,
and Iullus Antonius |as=ordinary consuls}}

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Category:40s BC births

Category:14 deaths

Category:Julio-Claudian dynasty

Category:Fabii Maximi

Category:1st-century BC births

Category:1st-century BC Romans

Category:1st-century Romans

Category:1st-century BC clergy

Category:1st-century clergy

Category:Imperial Roman consuls

Category:Roman governors of Asia

Category:Roman governors of Hispania Tarraconensis