Tiberius Claudius Subatianus Aquila was a Roman eques who flourished during the reign of the emperor Septimius Severus and his sons. He was appointed to a series of imperial offices, including praefectus or governor of Roman Mesopotamia and Roman Egypt.
Aquila was born in the North African town of Cuicul.Anthony R. Birley, Septimius Severus, the African Emperor, (London: Routledge, 1999), p. 132 He is known to have been the brother of Tiberius Claudius Subatianus Proculus, suffect consul in either 210 or 211;D.L. Kennedy, "Ti. Claudius Subatianus Aquila, 'First Prefect of Mesopotamia'", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 36 (1979), p. 259 their father may have been the epistrategos Sabatianus Aquila mentioned in P. Oxy. 2708Kennedy, pp. 257-260
Little is known about his career beyond the two prefectures he held for the emperor. It can be assumed that during the latest civil war Aquila sided with Septimius Severus: as Kennedy writes, "After a protracted civil war the first tasks of the victor must always have been to reward his partisans."Kennedy, p. 258 He was appointed prefect of Mesopotamia; Kennedy argues he was the first prefect of that province and dates this appointment to c. 195.Kennedy, p. 262 Anthony Birley notes that both Aquila and Proculus were two of a number of men from North Africa that Septimus Severus promoted to powerful positions during his reign.Birley, Septimus Severus, pp. 177, 195
His next imperial appointment was prefect of Roman Egypt: his tenure has been dated to have started after November 204 and extended as late as January/February 211.Guido Bastianini, "Lista dei prefetti d'Egitto dal 30a al 299p", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 17 (1975), pp. 350f Eusebius mentions that Aquila, while governor of Roman Egypt, persecuted Christians, executing several of them. These included students of the theologian Origen.Historia Ecclesiastica vi.3, 4
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