Gaius Junius Silanus

Gaius Junius Silanus was a Roman Senator active during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. He acceded to the rank of Roman consul in 10 AD as the colleague of Publius Cornelius Dolabella.[1] For the term 20/21 the sortition selected him to be proconsul of Asia.[2] However, upon his return to Rome in 22 he was accused of malversation (misconduct).[3] To this alleged crime his accusers in the senate added the charges of treason (majestas) and sacrilege to the divinity of Augustus.[4]

Tacitus suggests that the charge of treason was added to his charges in order to dissuade Silanus' friends from defending him. Silanus, deserted by his friends and without experience in pleading, abandoned his defence.[5] It was proposed to outlaw and banish him to the island of Gyarus; but Tiberius changed the place of his exile to the less inhospitable island of Cynthus where his sister Torquata had begged might be his place of punishment.[6]

He was either the father or a brother of Appius Junius Silanus, consul in 28; Decimus Junius Silanus, who had an affair with Julia the Younger; and Marcus Junius Silanus, consul suffectus in 15.[7][8]

Notes
  1. Degrassi, Attilio (1952). I fasti consolari dell'Impero Romano dal 30 avanti Cristo al 613 dopo Cristo. Rome: Roma Edizioni di Storia e letteratura. p. 7.
  2. Syme, Ronald (1978). History in Ovid. Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press. pp. 160f. ISBN 0-19-814825-9.
  3. Smith, William (2005). A Dictionary Of Greek And Roman Biography And Mythology. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Library. p. 821.
  4. Tacitus, Annales 3.66
  5. Tacitus, Annales 3.67
  6. Tacitus, Annales 3.69
  7. Syme, Ronald (1989). The Augustan Aristocracy. Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-19-814731-2. The son of C. Silanus C.f., the criminal proconsul, is C. Appius Junius Silanus (cos. 28),... the second brother... Decimus who, involved in the disgrace of the younger Julia... the third brother M. Silanus C.f. He held the fasces in 15, as consul suffect,... (Limited Preview of this page in Google Books)
  8. Weidemann, Ursula (1963). "C. SILANUS, APPIA PARENTE GENITUS: A Note on Tac. Ann. 3, 68, 3". Acta Classica. 6: 138–145. JSTOR 24591188.
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