Titus Pomponius Proculus Vitrasius Pollio

Titus Pomponius Proculus Vitrasius Pollio (died before 180) was a suffect consul of the Roman Empire, holding several magistracies and honors.

Pollio was born into a family of Patrician rank. The name of his mother is unknown, however his father Titus Vitrasius Pollio, served as a Legatus in Lugdunum and became consul in 137 in the reign of Hadrian (117-138). His paternal ancestry can be traceable to the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberius (14-37). His paternal grandfather Titus Vitrasius Pollio served as a Procurator of Egypt under the Roman Emperor Claudius (41-54) and his paternal great, grandfather of the same name served as Governor of Egypt in the reign of Tiberius.

Pollio started his political career under Hadrian as a Triumvir Monetalis. Later Pollio served as a Quaestor, Praetor and as some type of Prefect in Rome. Pollio became one of the suffect consuls in 151. Pollio served as a Legatus of Moesia Inferior between 157-159, then a Legatus again in Hispania Citerior between 164-167 and became a Proconsul of the Asia Province in 167. From 168 to about 175, with the emperor Lucius Verus, Pollio participated as a Comes in the military campaigns against the Germans and Sarmatians.

Due to his outstanding military service, Pollio was awarded two statues in his honor. One statue of him, he was dressed in military clothing and was erected at Trajan's Forum. The second statue he was dressed in civilian clothing and was erected at the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. In 176, he served as a consul for the second time. Pollio was deputy to Lucius Verus’ co-Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius in the Marcomannic Wars, where he died during the conflict.

Pollio married a noblewoman called Annia Fundania Faustina, a relative of to the ruling Nerva–Antonine dynasty of the Roman Empire, whose paternal aunt was the Roman Empress Faustina the Elder and her paternal cousins was the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and the Roman Empress Faustina the Younger. Fundania Faustina bore him two children: Titus Fundanius Vitrasius Pollio, whom Commodus had executed in 182 because of his involvement in a conspiracy against the Emperor; and a daughter, Vitrasia Faustina.

Sources

• Anthony Richard Birley, Septimius Severus: the African emperor, Second ed., 1999
• Albino Garzetti, From Tiberius to the Antonines: a history of the Roman Empire AD 14-192, 1974
• Eric R. Varner, Mutilation and transformation: damnatio memoriae and Roman imperial portraiture, 2004
• John Hazel, Who’s who in the Roman world, 2001
• http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2773.html