Frontinus, Sextus Julius

born AD 35

died 103

Roman governor of Britain and author of a work on the waters of the city of Rome.

He was praetor in Rome in 70; later made governor of Britain, he subdued the Silures in southeastern Wales (75) and held other tribes in check. In 97 he took charge of the aqueducts at Rome and compiled a history full of technical details and regulations governing their use and other matters of importance in the history of civil engineering.

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▪ Roman governor and author

born AD 35

died c. 103

      Roman soldier, governor of Britain, and author of De aquis urbis Romae (“Concerning the Waters of the City of Rome”), a history and description of the water supply of Rome, including the laws relating to its use and maintenance and other matters of importance in the history of architecture.

      Frontinus was urban praetor (a high-ranking magistrate) in Rome in AD 70. He assisted Quintus Petillius Cerialis in suppressing the Gallic revolt of Gaius Julius Civilis, receiving the surrender of 70,000 Lingones, a Gallic tribe. After serving as consul in 72 or 73, he succeeded Cerialis as governor of Britain (73/74–77). While Frontinus was governor, he subdued the Silures, a tribe in southeast Wales; built a fort for Legio II Augusta in Caerleon; and attacked more tribes, including the Ordovices. He was proconsul of Asia in 86. In 97 the new emperor Nerva appointed him superintendent of the aqueducts (curator aquarum) in Rome. He remained influential under Trajan (ruled 98–117), who appointed him suffect consul (i.e., to complete another's term as chief magistrate) in 98 and regular consul in 100 (when Trajan was the other consul). Pliny the Younger called him one of the two most respected men of his day. Frontinus's De aquis provides complete technical details on the aqueducts of Rome, along with their history and the regulations governing their use. His treatise De re militari (“On Military Matters”) is lost. His Strategematicon libri iii is a collection of examples of military stratagems from Greek and Roman history; a fourth book, the plan and style of which is different from the rest (more stress is laid on the moral aspects of war, such as discipline), was probably written by him, although not all modern scholars agree. A treatise on land surveying has also been ascribed to Frontinus.

Additional Reading

Deane R. Blackman and A. Trevor Hodge (eds.), Frontinus' Legacy: Essays on Frontinus' De aquis urbis Romae (2001); Harry B. Evans, Water Distribution in Ancient Rome: The Evidence of Frontinus (1997); Michael Peachin, Frontinus and the Curae of the Curator aquarum (2004).

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