Pomponius Bassus (consul 211)

Pomponius Bassus (175–221) was a Roman Senator that lived in the Roman Empire.

The father of Pomponius Bassus was probably Gaius Pomponius Bassus Terentianus (ca 155-aft. 193), who served as a suffect consul around 193 and the name of his mother is unknown.

Bassus under the Roman Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus served as an ordinary consul. Between 212-217 Bassus served as a Legatus of Inferior or Superior Moesia and there is a possibility Bassus could have served as a Roman Governor of Mysia.

Bassus in 216-218, married the wealthy heiress and noblewoman Annia Aurelia Faustina, who was the great granddaughter of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Roman Empress Faustina the Younger. When Bassus married Faustina, they had settled and lived in Faustina’s large estate in Pisidia. The marriage of Bassus and Faustina was a happy one and they lived in domestic tranquility. There are inscriptions at the Pisidian Estate stating that Bassus as the husband of Faustina and the owner of the Pisidia Estate with Faustina. Faustina bore Bassus at least two known children: a daughter called Pomponia Ummidia (born 119) and a son, Pomponius Bassus (born 220).

Before June 221, Roman Emperor Elagabalus was attracted to the charm, beauty and imperial descent of Faustina. Elagabalus ordered the Roman Senate to put Bassus to death under some frivolous pretext in order to have her. When Bassus was executed, Elagabalus forbade Faustina to mourn the death of Bassus.

In July 221, Elagabalus married Faustina as his third wife. This marriage lasted briefly as Elagabalus ended his marriage to Faustina and divorced her by the end of 221.

Sources

• Descriptive catalogue of a cabinet of Roman imperial large-brass medals By William Henry Smyth 1834
• The Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia: Being an Essay of the Local History of Phrygia from the Earliest Times to the Turkish Conquest Volume One, Part One - By William M. Ramsay 2004
• http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0482.html
• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=bernd-jansen&id=I44008