Annius Vinicianus

He was a leading figure in the plots against the imperial house during the reigns of Gaius Caligula (37–41 C.E.) and Claudius (41–54 C.E.). In 32 C.E., he was listed as a member of a treasonous group of politicians but escaped trial and condemnation when Tiberius set aside certain cases for personal review.

Nine years later he became one of the organizers in a plot to kill Caligula. After the emperor’s death, Vinicianus called for Valerius Asiaticus to withdraw from seeking the throne, hoping to avert a massacre of the senate by the praetorian guard, which had just proclaimed Claudius emperor.

Immediately unhappy with Claudius, Vinicianus joined a conspiracy to elevate Scribonianus Camillus, governor of Illyricum, to the throne in 42. When the attempt failed utterly , he was one of those who followed Scribonianus’s example—and killed himself.

There was another Annius Vinicianus, said by the historian Tacitus (1) to be 26 years old in 63. He served with Domitius Corbulo in Armenia and was married to Corbulo’s daughter. In 66, he died as a result of a failed plot to replace Nero with his father-in-law. His exact relationship to the first Annius Vinicianus is curious, although he may have been his son.