Publius Petronius Turpilianus was a Roman politician and general.
He was consul in AD 61, but in the second half of that year he laid down that office and was appointed governor of 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.
He was the (adopted?) son of Publius Petronius and Plautia, sister of Aulus Plautius who was the conqueror and first governor of Britain.
| Preceded by Nero and Cossus Cornelius Lentulus |
Consul of the Roman Empire with Lucius Caesennius Paetus 61 |
Succeeded by Publius Marius and L. Afinius Gallus |
| Preceded by Gaius Suetonius Paulinus |
Governor of Britain 61 - 63 |
Succeeded by Marcus Trebellius Maximus |
Famous quotes containing the word petronius:
“It is evident, from their method of propagation, that a couple of cats, in fifty years, would stock a whole kingdom; and if that religious veneration were still paid them, it would, in twenty more, not only be easier in Egypt to find a god than a man, which Petronius says was the case in some parts of Italy; but the gods must at last entirely starve the men, and leave themselves neither priests nor votaries remaining.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)