Cossus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus (died 25 AD) was a Roman politician and general who was consul

Roman consul

A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...

 in 1 BC

1 BC

Year 1 BC was a common year starting on Friday or Saturday of the Julian calendar and a leap year starting on Thursday of the Proleptic Julian calendar...

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Biography

Originally born Cossus Cornelius Lentulus, Gaetulicus was a member of the patrician  Lentulus branch of the Cornelii clan.

Despite giving the appearance of laziness, he was given a number of important commands. After serving as consul in 1 BC alongside Lucius Calpurnius Piso, he was elected proconsul

Proconsul

A proconsul was a governor of a province in the Roman Republic appointed for one year by the senate. In modern usage, the title has been used for a person from one country ruling another country or bluntly interfering in another country's internal affairs.-Ancient Rome:In the Roman Republic, a...

 of Africa in 6 AD  Whilst there, he fought a successful campaign against the Gaetuli

Gaetuli

Gaetuli was the Romanised name of an ancient Berber tribe inhabiting Getulia, covering the desert region south of the Atlas Mountains, bordering the Sahara. Other sources place Getulia in pre-Roman times along the Mediterranean coasts of what is now Algeria and Tunisia, and north of the Atlas...

, which earned him the agnomen

Agnomen

An agnomen , in the Roman naming convention, was a nickname, just as the cognomen was initially. However, the cognomina eventually became family names, so agnomina were needed to distinguish between similarly named persons...

Gaetulicus. One of the few individuals trusted by the emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

 Tiberius

Tiberius

Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...

, he was sent to Pannonia

Pannonia

Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....

 in 14 AD to accompany Tiberius’s son Drusus in putting down a mutiny of the legions there. Later, he was given the post of praefectus urbi

Praefectus urbi

The praefectus urbanus or praefectus urbi, in English the urban prefect, was prefect of the city of Rome, and later also of Constantinople. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, and held high importance in late Antiquity...

, holding it for a number of years prior to his death in 25 AD.

Gaetulicus had at least one son, Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus

Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus

Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus was a Roman general and politician. He was involved in a plot against the emperor Caligula and was executed after its discovery.-Biography:...

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Sources

• Syme, Ronald, The Roman Revolution, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1939.
• Smith, William, A New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1860)