Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus


Publius Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus, also known as Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus or Aelius Marullinus was a Roman Senator of Praetorian rank from Hispania that lived during the Roman Empire in the 1st century.

Family

Marullinus came from a well-established, wealthy and aristocratic family of Praetorian rank in the gens Aelia. His mother is unknown and his father was a Roman senator called Publius Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus, also the name of his paternal grandfather and great paternal grandfather.
The paternal ancestors of Marullinus had descended from Picenum. They were originally Centurions who participated in the Punic Wars possibly under the general Scipio Africanus. About 205 BC, at the end of the Second Punic War, the paternal ancestors of Marullinus left Picenum and settled in Italica in the Roman Province of Hispania Baetica.
The paternal great-grandfather of Marullinus, Publius Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus, was admitted into the Roman Senate by Octavian when he served as a member of the Second Triumvirate between 43 BC–33 BC. He was the first person in his family to become a senator, however the circumstances leading him to be admitted into the senate are unknown. Nevertheless, Marullinus was one of the few Romans that came from the provinces that Octavian had ever admitted into the Senate.

History

Marullinus was born and raised in Italica, but spent various amount of time in Rome. He married a noblewoman from Italica called Ulpia, who was a sister to the Roman general and senator Marcus Ulpius Traianus, the father of Emperor Trajan.
Ulpia and Marullinus had at least one child, a son called Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer, who would become a distinct soldier and politician. Hadrianus Afer would marry Domitia Paulina and would have two children: Aelia Domitia Paulina and Publius Aelius Hadrianus. Hadrianus was adopted by Trajan as his heir and eventually succeeded him as Emperor Hadrian.
Marullinus had a reputation in practising astrology and had predicted by the stars, that his grandson would rule as Roman Emperor.
When Hadrian ruled as Roman Emperor, as a tribute to his birthplace and ancestry he created Hispania Baetica into a colony. Hadrian's second adoptive son and successor Antoninus Pius, assumed the name Aelius Hadrianus, as a part of his name when he ruled as Emperor and sixth child born to Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Roman Empress Faustina the Younger was named Hadrianus. The prince Hadrianus was named in honor of his grandson Hadrian and is a tribute to his family.