Flavius Avienus Iunior was a Roman politician during the reign of Theodoric the Great

Theodoric the Great

Theodoric the Great was king of the Ostrogoths , ruler of Italy , regent of the Visigoths , and a viceroy of the Eastern Roman Empire...

. He held the consulship with Pompeius

Pompeius (consul 501)

Pompeius was a politician of the Eastern Roman Empire and relative of the Emperor Anastasius I .- Family :He was a son of Secundinus and Caesaria. His mother was a sister of Anastasius I. His father served as Eparch of Constantinople and Roman consul in 511. Secundinus also held the rank of...

 as colleague in 501.

He probably belonged to the gens Decia

Decius (gens)

Decius is an ancient Roman nomen; notable individuals of the gens Decia include:**Publius Decius Mus , son of Quintus, consul in 340 BC, fought the Battle of Vesuvius...

; he was son of Caecina Decius Maximus Basilius

Caecina Decius Maximus Basilius

Caecina Decius Maximus Basilius , was a Roman politician. He was the first consul appointed under Odoacer's rule , and afterwards was Praetorian prefect of Italy. He is best known for presiding over the papal election of Pope Felix III....

 (consul in 480), and brother of Albinus

Albinus (consul 493)

Albinus, or Caecina Decius Faustus Albinus, was a Roman politician during the reign of Theodoric the Great. He held the consulship with Flavius Eusebius in 493...

 iunior (consul in 493), Theodorus

Theodorus (consul 505)

Theodorus was a Roman politician during the reign of Theodoric the Great. He held the consulship with Flavius Sabinianus as his colleague in 505....

 (consul in 505) and Inportunus

Inportunus

Inportunus was a Roman politician during the reign of Theodoric the Great. He held the consulship without colleague in 509....

 (consul in 509). John Moorhead argues that the brothers were on different sides of the Laurentian schism, with Albinus and Avienus supporting Symmachus

Pope Symmachus

Saint Symmachus was pope from 498 to 514. His tenure was marked by a serious schism over who was legitimately elected pope by the citizens of Rome....

 and Theodore and Inportunus supporting Laurentius

Antipope Laurentius

Laurentius was an antipope of the Roman Catholic Church, from 498 to 506.-Biography:Archpriest of Santa Prassede, Laurentius was elected pope on 22 November 498, in opposition to Symmachus, by a dissenting faction...

.

He was a correspondent of Magnus Felix Ennodius

Magnus Felix Ennodius

Magnus Felix Ennodius was Bishop of Pavia in 514, and a Latin rhetorician and poet.He was one of four fifth to sixth-century Gallo-Roman aristocrats whose letters survive in quantity: the others are Sidonius Apollinaris, prefect of Rome in 468 and bishop of Clermont , Ruricius bishop of Limoges ...

; one letter by Ennodius to Avienus has been preserved.

By 507/509, Avienus and his brother Albinus had already become patricii; around this time, but after the death of their father, they were asked to become patrons of the Greens

Chariot racing

Chariot racing was one of the most popular ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine sports. Chariot racing was often dangerous to both driver and horse as they frequently suffered serious injury and even death, but generated strong spectator enthusiasm...

 and to appoint a pantomime

Pantomime

Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...

.

Further reading

• Martindale, John R., "Fl. Avienus iunior 3", Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire
  Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire
  Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire is a set of three volumes collectively describing every person attested or claimed to have lived in the Roman world from AD 260, the date of the beginning of Gallienus' sole rule, to 641, the date of the death of Heraclius, which is commonly held to mark the...
  
  , Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 1980, pp. 577–581.