Flavius Antiochianus

Who is Flavius Antiochianus?

Flavius Antiochianus was a prominent Roman politician during the reigns of the Roman emperors Gallienus, Claudius Gothicus, Quintillus and Aurelian, in the period referred to as the Crisis of the Third Century in the Roman Empire.

Flavius Antiochianus was from a family of Greek descent from Antioch, Syria. The identity of his mother is unknown; however, his father was the Flavius Antiochianus who served as a Prefect and a leader of a Cohort in Germania Superior in 211, and subsequently in Mauretania Caesariensis, returning to Rome to serve as a Praetorian prefect in 221 under the Roman emperor Elagabalus.

The younger Antiochianus married a prominent and wealthy noblewoman, Pomponia Ummidia, sister of Roman Senator Pomponius Bassus. She was of Italian Roman, Pontian Greek ancestry and a descendant of the former ruling Nerva–Antonine dynasty of the Roman Empire.

Following their marriage, they lived at her large estate in Pisidia. Inscriptions have been found there with Antiochianus and Pomponia Ummidia named as the owners. It is unknown whether they had any children.

Sometime in 267-270, in the reign of Claudius Gothicus, Antiochianus served as a suffect consul and as a Praefectus urbi. In 270 under Aurelian, he served a second ordinary consulship with the Emperor, and as a Praefectus urbi between 271-272 and then again 274. There is a possibility that during his second consulship, Antiochianus may have been responsible for the construction of the Balineum Antiochiani, one of the ancient baths in Rome.