Marcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus

Who is Marcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus?

Marcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus was a wealthy Roman Politician and the nephew of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Quadratus was the son of Marcus Aurelius’ sister, Annia Cornificia Faustina and the Roman Senator who served as a suffect consul in 146, Gaius Ummidius Quadratus Annianus Verus. Quadratus had descended from one of the leading families in Rome. He was born and raised in Rome. Through his mother, he was a member and a relative to the ruling Nerva–Antonine dynasty of the Roman Empire. His sister was Ummidia Cornificia Faustina.

The mother of Quadratus had died in 152-158. When his mother had died, Quadratus and Cornificia Faustina divided their mother’s property that they inherited. Through the inheritances of their parents, Quadratus and Cornificia Faustina had become very wealthy heirs.

After his mother’s death, Quadratus assumed a mistress and lover, a Greek Freedwoman called Marcia. Marcia later became a mistress to the Roman emperor Commodus. Marcia was the wife of Quadratus’ servant Eclectus.

In 167, during the reign of the co-Roman emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, Quadratus served as an ordinary consul. After his consulship, Quadratus adopted the first son of the Ponian Greek Roman Senator and Philosopher Gnaeus Claudius Severus, as his son and heir. His adopted son assumed the name Marcus Claudius Ummidius Quadratus. The reason why Quadratus adopted Gnaeus Claudius Severus’ first son is unknown.