Marcus Junius D. f. M. n. Silanus was a Roman senator and consul in 25 BC as the colleague of Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, the emperor Augustus.Attilio Degrassi, I fasti consolari dell'Impero Romano dal 30 avanti Cristo al 613 dopo Cristo (Rome, 1952), p. 3

Biography Silanus was a descendant of the noble Roman house of the Junii Silani. He was probably the son of Decimus Junius Silanus, consul in 62 BC, (thus the grandson of Marcus Junius Silanus, consul in 109 BC.) and Servilia, mistress of Julius Caesar, (thus the half brother of Brutus the Younger, full brother of Junia Prima, Junia Secunda and Junia Tertia and the brother-in-law of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, the triumvir, through Secunda.Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2nd Ed. (1970).Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft.

Silanus was possibly the same man who served as one of Julius Caesar's legates in 53 BC.Anthon & Smith, pg. 812

He supported his brother-in-law Lepidus in 44 BC after Caesar's murder, accompanying Lepidus over the Alps. The following year, Lepidus sent him with a detachment of troops to join Marcus Antonius at Mutina,Anthon & Smith, pg. 812; Syme, pg. 178 but refused to accept responsibility for the help which Silanus gave.Broughton, pg. 352 After falling out of favor with the triumvirs, in 39 he fled to Sextus Pompeius.Syme, pg. 189 He was able to return to Antonius's service under the terms of the Pact of Misenum.Broughton, Vol III, pg. 114

A Silanus later served under Antonius in Achaea and MacedoniaBroughton, pg. 415 from 34 to 32, with the title of Quaestor pro consule or perhaps Proquaestor.Broughton, pgs. 359 & 411 Although the inscription in Achaea names a Silanus whose parents were named Marcus and Sempronia. Around this time he was also elected as an Augur.Broughton, pg. 412

Before the Battle of Actium, Silanus went over to Octavianus.Syme, pg. 296 The future emperor raised him to the Patriciate in 30 BC,Syme, pg. 382 and they held the consulship together in 25.T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic (1952).Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2nd Ed. (1970).

Marcus may have married a woman named Manlia from the Manlii Torquati, based on his descendants names. Silanus' grandson, Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus, was consul in AD 19, and married a great-granddaughter of Augustus.Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2nd Ed. (1970).

See also Junia gens

Notes

References

Sources T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, Vol II (1952). Syme, Ronald, The Roman Revolution, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1939. Anthon, Charles & Smith, William, A New Classical Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, Mythology and Geography (1860).