Marcus Annius Afrinus


Marcus Annius Afrinus was a Roman senator, who held a number of offices in the emperor's service. He was suffect consul in July-August 66 with Gaius Paccius Africanus as his colleague. He is known primarily from inscriptions.
Bernard Remy notes that nothing is known of his origins, but admits C. Castillo suggests Afrinus may have come from Hispania Baetica. The cursus honorum of Afrinus is imperfectly known. His first attested office was governor of the imperial province of Galatia from around the year 49 to 54; he is surmised to have been a popular governor, for his name and portrait appear on the coinage of Claudiconium. For reasons unknown, his advancement to the consulate was much delayed; according to the Lex annales, for non-Patricians the gap between praetor and consul was 12 years, while it took Afrinus at least 17 years to enter to consulate.
We know of only one office from the consular portion of his cursus. Afrinus was governor of the imperial province of Pannonia from late 69, immediately succeeding Lucius Tampius Flavianus, to the year 73. His life afterwards is a blank.