Petronius Probinus (consul 341)

Petronius Probinus (floruit 341-346) was an aristocrat and statesman of the Roman Empire, Roman consul and praefectus urbi of Rome.

Biography

Probinus belonged to the gens Petronia, an influential patrician family that provided several high-ranking officers for the imperial administration between the 4th and the 5th century.

He was the son of Petronius Probianus, Consul of the Roman Empire in 322 and praefectus urbi of Rome from 329 to 331.

His sister was Faltonia Betitia Proba a Roman Christian poet, the most important and influential poet in Latin language of the Late Antiquity, who was married to Clodius Celsinus Adelphius praefectus urbi of Rome in 351.^[1]

Petronius Probinus himself was Consul of the Roman Empire in 341 and praefectus urbi of Rome from July 5, 345, to December 26, 346.

Family

His wife was according to a historical study by Drinkwater and Elton.,^[2] "Claudia"/"Clodia", a sister of Clodius Celsinus Adelphus, who in turn was married to the sister of Petronius Probinus. ^[3]

Their son was Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus Consul of 371 and four times Praetorian prefect.

Among his grandchildren were the consuls of 395, Anicius Probinus and Anicius Hermogenianus Olybrius and the consul of 406 Anicius Probus. The aristocrat Anicia Faltonia Proba was his grand-niece - and his daughter in law.^[3]

Notes

1. Anthony Wagner, "Pedigree and Progress - Essays in the genealogical interpretation of history, Phillimore, London, (1975) Pedigree 22, page 180
2. John Drinkwater and Hugh Elton, Fifth-century Gaul: A Crisis of Identity? (1992), page 112.
3. Anthony Wagner, op. cit. Pedigree 22, page 180

Sources

• Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin, John Robert Martindale, John Morris, "Petronius Probinus 2", Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-521-07233-6, p. 735.