Publius Memmius Regulus 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...

 suffectus in AD 31, during the reign of 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 entered office on the Kalends of October, and his magistracy saw the downfall of Sejanus

Sejanus

Lucius Aelius Seianus , commonly known as Sejanus, was an ambitious soldier, friend and confidant of the Roman Emperor Tiberius...

, whom Regulus personally conducted to prison.

After his consulship, Regulus was praefect

Prefect

Prefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....

 of Macedonia

Macedonia (Roman province)

The Roman province of Macedonia was officially established in 146 BC, after the Roman general Quintus Caecilius Metellus defeated Andriscus of Macedon, the last Ancient King of Macedon in 148 BC, and after the four client republics established by Rome in the region were dissolved...

 and Achaea

Achaea (Roman province)

Achaea, or Achaia, was a province of the Roman Empire, consisting of the Peloponnese, eastern Central Greece and parts of Thessaly. It bordered on the north by the provinces of Epirus vetus and Macedonia...

. While serving in this position, the emperor Caligula

Caligula

Caligula , also known as Gaius, was Roman Emperor from 37 AD to 41 AD. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula's father Germanicus, the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, was a very successful general and one of Rome's most...

 ordered him to remove the statue of Jupiter

Statue of Zeus at Olympia

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was made by the Greek sculptor Phidias, circa 432 BC on the site where it was erected in the Temple of Zeus, Olympia, Greece. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.-Description:...

 by Phidias

Phidias

Phidias or the great Pheidias , was a Greek sculptor, painter and architect, who lived in the 5th century BC, and is commonly regarded as one of the greatest of all sculptors of Classical Greece: Phidias' Statue of Zeus at Olympia was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World...

 at Olympia

Olympia, Greece

Olympia , a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. Both games were held every Olympiad , the Olympic Games dating back possibly further than 776 BC...

, and bring it to Rome. The emperor also compelled him to divorce his wife, Lollia Paullina

Lollia Paulina

Lollia Paulina was a noble Roman woman who lived in the 1st century, and for six months in AD 38 was a Roman Empress as the third wife of the Emperor Caligula.-Life:...

, a woman of great beauty and considerable wealth. She became Caligula's third wife in AD 38, but he divorced her and sent her into exile after six months.

Regulus died in AD 63. He was probably the father of Gaius Memmius Regulus

Gaius Memmius Regulus

Gaius Memmius Regulus was consul with Lucius Verginius Rufus in AD 63, during the reign of the emperor Nero. He was probably the son of Publius Memmius Regulus, consul suffectus in AD 31, and Lollia Paullina, whom the Emperor Caligula had compelled the elder Regulus to divorce, so that he could...

, consul in that year.

Footnotes