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L. Domitius Alexander (308-309 A.D.)
Michael DiMaio, Jr.
Salve Regina University
L. Domitius Alexander, either of Phrygian or Pannonian extraction, was vicarius of Africa. Probably in the spring or autumn of 308 Maxentius, when he was uncertain whether or not he could depend on the loyalty of troops in Africa, demanded that the vicarius send his son as a hostage to him. Alexander disobeyed the order and was acclaimed Augustus by his troops, even though he was an old man. The revolt was of short duration; probably by late 309, the praefectus praetorio Rufius Volusianus and Zenas, paucissimis cohortibus (Aur. Vict., Caesar., 40.18), succeeded in overthrowing the usurper and in executing him. Alexander has been identified with Valerius Alexander who was vicarius of Africa between 303 and 306.
Bibliography
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________. New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine, (Cambridge, 1982), 14ff.
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Groag, E. "Maxentius." RE 14: 2440ff.
Jones, A.H.M., J.R. Martindale, and J. Morris. "L. Domitius Alexander 17." The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Cambridge, 1971, 1.43.
Kienast, Dietmar, Römische Kaisertabelle: Grundzüge einer römischen Kaiserchronologie, (Darmstadt, 1990), 289.
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Seeck, O. "L. Domitius Alexander (71)." RE 1.2: col. 1445.
Copyright (C) 1996, Michael DiMaio, Jr. This file may be copied on the condition that the entire contents, including the header and this copyright notice, remain intact.
Comments to: Michael DiMaio, Jr.
Updated: 26 October 1996
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