Valerius Maximus Basilius
4th century Roman proconsul
Valerius Maximus signo Basilius (fl. 319–323) was a prominent Roman senator during the reign of the emperor Constantine I.
Life
A pagan, he must have had a successful political career, as he managed to be appointed urban prefect of Rome (praefectus urbi Romae), serving from 1 September 319 until 13 September 323. He held this post while Constantine was campaigning in the Balkans, and the emperor's son, the Caesar Crispus was at Augusta Treverorum. The abnormally long period of time he held this post, and the extended imperial absence, indicate that he was a trusted imperial subordinate.
Valerius Maximus was either the son of Lucius Valerius Messalla, consul in 280, or (more likely) another descendant of the first's father Lucius Valerius Poplicola Balbinus Maximus, consul in 253, thus paternal nephew of the first.
He was probably the father of Valerius Maximus and, by Melania the Elder, Valerius Publicola.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 27, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q3305547. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Valerius Maximus Basilius” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.