L. Volusius Maecianus (ca 140 – 170 CE)
Important member of the “court society” of the 2nd c. CE, assigned to high imperial offices,
including the government of Egypt. As a legal expert, Maecianus wrote treatises on public
trials and on trusts. Because of his competence in law, he also became advisor of Antoninus
Pius and legal tutor to Marcus Aurelius (SHA, MA 3.6). A Caesar (deputy emperor), prob-
ably Marcus Aurelius, is the addressee of his Distributio (Division). Maecianus offers a didactic
and exhaustive work on units of minted coins and their reckoning, dealing with the basic
units of the Roman denominational system, both Republican and Imperial, their subdivi-
sions and exchange rates, according to a peculiar system of symbols, useful to indicate sums
of money. It ends with a short appendix on capacity measures both for grain and liquids,
and their equal (sub-)units.
Ed.: MSR 2.17–22, 61–71.
RE 9A.1 (1961) 904–906 (#7), T. Mayer-Maly; HLL 4.130–133; NP 12/2 (2002) 323 (#II.1), T. Giaro;
OCD3 1612, T. Honoré.
Mauro de Nardis
L. VOLUSIUS MAECIANUS