Publius Petronius Turpilianus

Publius Petronius Turpilianus was a Roman senator who held a number of offices in the middle of the 1st century AD, most notably governor of Britain. He was an ordinary consul in the year 61 with Lucius Junius Caesennius Paetus as his colleague.

He was the (adopted?) son of Publius Petronius and Plautia, sister of Aulus Plautius who was the conqueror and first governor of Britain.

Life

He was consul in 61, but in the second half of that year he laid down that office and was appointed governor of Roman Britain, replacing Gaius Suetonius Paulinus who had been removed from office in the wake of the rebellion of Boudica. In contrast to Suetonius's punitive measures, Petronius took a conciliatory approach, and conducted few military operations. In 63 he was replaced by Marcus Trebellius Maximus, and was appointed curator aquarum (superintendent of aqueducts) in Rome.

In 65 he was given a triumph, apparently for his loyalty to the emperor Nero. Following Nero's death in 68, Servius Sulpicius Galba, governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, was named Emperor by the Senate. During his march from Spain to Rome, Galba had Petronius summarily executed (or ordered him to take his own life) as a commander appointed by Nero.

References

Primary sources

• Tacitus, Agricola 16; Annals 14:29, 14:39, 15:72; Histories 1:6, 1:37
• Plutarch, Life of Galba 15
• Frontinus, On the Water Supply of Rome 2:102.10

Secondary sources

• William Smith (ed) (1870), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology Vol 3 p. 1192
• Kevin K Carroll (1979), "The Date of Boudicca's Revolt", Britannia 10, pp. 197-202
• Anthony R Birley (1981), The Fasti of Roman Britain