Gaius Julius Avitus Alexianus[1] (died 217[1]) was a Roman nobleman of Syria who had an impressive military and political career.
Although Alexianus was a Roman citizen who was born and raised in Emesa (modern Homs, Syria), little is known on his origins. It has been assumed that Alexianus was born in c. 155.[2] What is known about him is from surviving inscriptional and Roman historical evidence. Through marriage he was a relation to the Royal family of Emesa and the ruling Severan dynasty of the Roman Empire.
He was an Equestrian officer[3] [1] serving as a praefectus and tribune in the Roman military, and then as a procurator of the food supply in Rome, being stationed in Ostia.[2]
Later he was promoted to the Senate by the Emperor Septimius Severus, his brother-in-law.[1] Having entered the Senate with the rank of Praetor in 194,[2] Alexianus was made Legatus in the Legio IV Flavia Felix[3] and later served as governor of Raetia,[1] which may be dated to 196/197.[2] During his proconsulship of Raetia, he dedicated an altar to the Emesene God Elagabalus.[3] The altar and its inscription, still intact, mentions him as a priest of the deified Emperor Titus.[2]
Alexianus served as consul in 200,[3] even perhaps as early as 198 or 199.[2] After his consulship, Alexianus was not appointed to further military or political positions, probably due to the enmity of the Praetorian prefect Gaius Fulvius Plautianus.[3] After the death of Plautianus in 205, Alexianus took part in Septimius Severus’ expedition in Britain where he acted as a Comes (Companion) to the emperor[1] from 208 until 211.[3]
Under Septimius Severus’ successor Caracalla, for two years Alexianus served as a Prefect of the Italian orphanages.[2] He served as a Legatus in Dalmatia in c. 214[3] and later as a Proconsul in Asia[1] and in Mesopotamia.[4] In 216–217, Alexianus became a comes to Caracalla on his campaign against the Parthian Empire.[3] He died from old age on his way to Cyprus, sent there by Caracalla in early 217 to act as an advisor to the Governor.[2]
Alexianus married the powerful, influential and rich Syrian noblewoman Julia Maesa,[3] the first daughter of Julius Bassianus, a high priest of the Temple of the Sun. The temple was dedicated to the Syrian Aramaic Sun God El-Gebal (counterpart to the Phoenician Baal) in Emesa. The younger sister of Maesa was Septimius Severus' empress Julia Domna,[1] who was the mother of the emperors Caracalla and Geta.
Maesa bore two distinguished daughters[1] to Alexianus who were born and raised in Syria:
Among his grandchildren were the emperors Elagabalus and Severus Alexander.[4]