Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus
Gnaeus Claudius Severus Arabianus was a Senator and philosopher who lived in the Roman Empire.
Severus was the son of the consul and first Roman Governor of Arabia Petraea, Gaius Claudius Severus, by an unnamed mother. Severus was of Pontian Greek descent. He was born and raised in Pompeiopolis, a city in the Roman province of Galatia.
When Severus had come to Rome during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, he had become a philosophical mentor and a teacher to Roman noble students. Among his students was the future Emperor Marcus Aurelius, with whom he had become friends.
In Rome, Severus assumed a reputation as a man of spirit and as a great philosophical mentor. He was a follower of Peripatetic philosophy and later served as an ordinary consul in 146 in the reign of Antoninus Pius.
He married an unnamed woman, by whom he had a son called Gnaeus Claudius Severus. Severus was evidently a politician with a deep interest in political philosophy, as evidenced by Marcus Aurelius’ opinion of him in Meditations :
