Lucius Antistius Burrus Adventus (died 188

188

Year 188 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Fuscianus and Silanus...

) was a Roman Senator that lived in the 2nd century. He was one of the son-in-laws of Roman 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...

 Marcus Aurelius and Roman Empress Faustina the Younger

Faustina the Younger

Annia Galeria Faustina Minor , Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger was a daughter of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and Roman Empress Faustina the Elder. She was a Roman Empress and wife to her maternal cousin Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius...

.

Burrus originally came from an African Roman Senatorial family

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

 from Thibilis, a town near Hippo Regius

Hippo Regius

Hippo Regius is the ancient name of the modern city of Annaba, in Algeria. Under this name, it was a major city in Roman Africa, hosting several early Christian councils, and was the home of the philosopher and theologian Augustine of Hippo...

 in the Africa Province

Africa Province

The Roman province of Africa was established after the Romans defeated Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day northern Tunisia, and the small Mediterranean coast of modern-day western Libya along the Syrtis Minor...

. Although Burrus was born and raised in Thibilis, his family was not of very ancient lineage. He was the son of Quintus Antistius Adventus Aquilinus Postumus and Novia Crispina. Novia Crispina is known from an honorific inscription dedicated to her, when her husband served between 165-167 as Roman Governor in Arabia Petraea

Arabia Petraea

Arabia Petraea, also called Provincia Arabia or simply Arabia, was a frontier province of the Roman Empire beginning in the 2nd century; it consisted of the former Nabataean kingdom in modern Jordan, southern modern Syria, the Sinai Peninsula and northwestern Saudi Arabia. Its capital was Petra...

.

Quintus Antistius Adventus Aquilinus Postumus (born around mid-120s), during the rule of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, he served and became a successful Military Tribune

Tribune

Tribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...

, Legatus

Legatus

A legatus was a general in the Roman army, equivalent to a modern general officer. Being of senatorial rank, his immediate superior was the dux, and he outranked all military tribunes...

, Quaestor

Quaestor

A Quaestor was a type of public official in the "Cursus honorum" system who supervised financial affairs. In the Roman Republic a quaestor was an elected official whereas, with the autocratic government of the Roman Empire, quaestors were simply appointed....

, Public Construction Official and Governor in various provinces throughout the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

.

Sometime before the death of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius in 180, Burrus was betrothed and later married the Emperor’s youngest daughter Vibia Aurelia Sabina

Vibia Aurelia Sabina

Vibia Aurelia Sabina was a Roman Princess, she was the youngest daughter and child born to Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Roman Empress Faustina the Younger. She was a sister to Roman Empress Lucilla and Roman Emperor Commodus...

. After Burrus married Aurelia Sabina, they returned and settled in Thibilis. When Marcus Aurelius died in 180, Aurelia Sabina’s brother Commodus succeeded her father as Roman Emperor. In 181, Burrus served as an ordinary consul.

In 188, Antistius Burrus was involved in a conspiracy against Commodus, he was one of various Roman Senators in this conspiracy. When this conspiracy was uncovered, Antistius Burrus was put to death. After his death, Aurelia Sabina later remarried and it appears they had no children.

Sources

• Lucius Antistius Burrus & Quintus Antistius Adventus Aquilinus Postumus articles from German version of Wikipedia
• From Tiberius to the Antonines: a history of the Roman Empire AD 14-192, by Albino Garzetti, 1974
• The Roman Government of Britain, by Anthony R. Birley, Oxford University Press, 2005
• Marcus Aurelius, by Anthony Richard Birley, Routledge, 2000
• https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/4969/latin_literature.pdf?sequence=1
• http://thecorner.wordpress.com/2006/06/21/chapter-two-septimius-and-the-cursus-honorum/