Overview
Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus (also spelled as Messalinus, c. 36 BC – after AD 21) was a Roman senator who was elected consul for 3 BC.
Early life
Messallinus was born and raised in Rome. He was the oldest son of the senator, orator and literary patron Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus (whom he resembled in character) and his wife Calpurnia. Messallinus is known to have had at least one sister, Valeria, who married the senator Titus Statilius Taurus. From his father's second marriage, his younger paternal half-brother was the senator Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus. Messallinus was the great-uncle of Lollia Paulina, the third wife of Caligula, and a relation to Statilia Messalina, the third wife of Nero.
Career
The poet Albius Tibullus mentions that Messallinus was admitted into the , the in charge of the Sibylline Books. Syme notes that the date of Messallinus' admission was before the poet's death in 19 BC, and argues the admission was in 21 BC. He served as a consul in 3 BC.
In AD 6, Messallinus served as a governor in Illyricum. During his time in Illyricum, he served with Tiberius with distinction in a campaign against the Pannonians and Dalmatians in the uprising of the Great Illyrian Revolt with the half-strength Legio XX Valeria Victrix. Messallinus defeated the Pannonii, led by Bato the Daesitiate, and prevented the spreading of the uprising. For his defeat over Bato, Messallinus was rewarded with a triumphal decoration (ornamenta triumphalia) and a place in the procession during Tiberius’ Pannonian triumph in AD 12, four years after the death of his father.
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