Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus

Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus (flourished second half of 1st century BC and first half of 1st century AD) was a Roman Senator who was a friend of the first two Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius.

Family background Maximus was born and raised in Rome. His birth date is unknown; however, it is not earlier than 24 BC, and possibly in 14 BC. His father was the literary patron Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, suffect consul in 31 BC. Maximus was the son born to Corvinus’ second marriage to his unknown wife. The last poem of the poet Ovid (Ex Ponto IV.16) reveals that his mother was a Roman noblewoman called Aurelia Cotta. Further evidence that Aurelia Cotta was his mother was that, although he was born into the gens Valeria, he was later adopted into the Aurelii Cottae.

His birth name is unknown, and so he is only known by his adopted name. From his father's previous marriage, Maximus had an older paternal half-sibling: Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus, who served as a consul in 3 BC. who was the third wife of Caligula and a relation to Statilia Messalina, the third wife of Nero. Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, consul in 58, may have been his son.

Ovid Maximus was a friend and patron of the poet Ovid. Maximus was with Ovid in the year 8, when news arrived of Ovid's banishment. Maximus afterwards provided material, psychological, and possibly financial support to his friend. This proposal was politically significant, as the history of this particular punishment shows that Maximus held Drusus to be an enemy of the Roman people - . During his consulship, Maximus would ask the Roman Senate to speak first, for, when the emperor presided, it was custom to include officials among those called upon for their views.

According to a Greek inscription found at Ephesus, sometime after his consulship, Maximus became the Proconsul of Asia. The Greek inscription reads:

Μάρκον Αὐρήλιον Κότταν Μάξιμον Μεσσαλεῖνον τον γενόμενον ἀνθύ- πατον Ἀλέξαν- δρος Μέμνονος τὸν ἑαυτοῦ φίλον καὶ εὐ- εργέτην

In 32, Tiberius successfully defended Maximus when prosecuted for accusing Caligula of homosexuality, ridiculing a banquet held to Tiberius’ late mother as a funeral feast, and boasting of Tiberius’ protection when he went to law. Pliny the Elder describes him as an extravagant gourmet. Juvenal represents him as a patron of the arts.

One of Maximus' freedmen, Marcus Aurelius Zosimus, was buried on the Appian Way outside of Rome with his wife, Aurelia Saturnia. His epitaph is one of the few Roman funeral inscriptions that expresses patron-freedman relations in poetic terms. Below is a copy of the Latin inscription and an English translation:

M. Aurelius Cottae Maximi Zosimus, accensus patroni. Libertinus eram, fateor: sed facta legetur patrono Cotta nobilis umbra mea. Qui mihi saepe libens census donavit equestris qui iussit natos tollere quos aleret quique suas commisit opes mihi semper, et idem dotavit natas ut pater ipse meas, Cottanumque meum produxit honore tribuni quem fortis castris Caesaris emeruit. Quid non Cotta dedit? qui nune et carmina tristis haec dedit in tumulo conspicienda meo. Aurelia Saturnia, Zosimi.

I admit that I was a freedman; but now my shadow has been ennobled by my patron Cotta. Several times he was willing to grant me an equestrian fortune, he ordered me to let my children live so that he could provide for their upkeep. He was always ready to grant me his own wealth. He also gave my daughters the dowries a father provides. He promoted my son Cottanus to the rank of tribune in which he bravely served in Caesar’s army. What did Cotta not give us? Now, sadly, he provided these verses which can be read on my tomb. Aurelia Saturnia, Zosimus’s [wife].