Lucius Nonius Asprenas (consul 36 BC)

Lucius Nonius Asprenas was a Roman politician and general who fought with Julius Caesar and was elected consul suffectus in 36 BC.

Biography

A Novus homo of the late republic, and originally hailing from Picenum,^[1] Asprenas was elected to the office of praetor by 47 BC.^[2] Although having no obvious connections or political ties to Julius Caesar^[3] he held a proconsular command under Caesar in Africa during the civil war, holding the town of Thapsus with two legions in 46 BC.^[4] The following year he followed Caesar to Hispania, where he was given a command over the cavalry, possibly as a legate.^[5]

During the early years of the Second Triumvirate Asprenas was largely overlooked for military command, but eventually he was given a role in Caesar Octavianus’s war against Sextus Pompeius.^[6] He was rewarded for his services with his election as suffect consul in 36 BC.^[7] In 31 BC, Asprenas was elected as one of the Septemviri Epulones.^[8]

He had at least one son, Lucius Nonius Asprenas, who was the father of the consul suffectus of AD 6. He also had a daughter, Nonia Polla, who married Lucius Volusius Saturninus.^[9]

Sources

• T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, Vol II (1952).
• Syme, Ronald, The Roman Revolution (1939)

Notes

1. Syme, pg. 92
2. Broughton, pg. 286
3. Syme, pgs. 63-64
4. Broughton, pg. 297; Caesar, Bell. Afr., 80:4
5. Broughton, pg. 312
6. Syme, pg. 111
7. Broughton, pg. 398; Syme, pg. 199
8. Broughton, pg. 427
9. Syme, Ronald, "The Augustan Aristocracy" (1986). Clarendon Press. Page 56. Retrieved 2012-10-30  – via Questia (subscription required)