Junius Blaesus

Quintus Junius Blaesus (? – 31) was a Roman novus homo ("new man," that is, the first member of his family to gain entrance to the Roman nobility) who lived during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. He was the maternal uncle of Lucius Aelius Sejanus, the Praetorian Prefect of the Emperor, Tiberius.

Nothing is known of the career of Quintus Junius Blaesus prior to 10, when he served as suffect consul with Servius Cornelius Lentulus Maluginensis.

Blaesus subsequently appears as commander of the armies stationed in Pannonia when a mutiny broke out after the death of Augustus in 14. According to Tacitus, after military service in the Great Illyrian Revolt, soldiers were unhappy with their payment of swampy and mountainous Pannonian lands and demanded restitution. To ease tensions, Blaesus offered to commit suicide, but his request was ignored. According to the Roman historian Cassius Dio, the soldiers arrested and tortured his slaves, and then attempted to kill Blaesus. However, he managed to temporarily restore order by convincing them to send envoys to the Roman Senate. In response, Tiberius sent his son Drusus to put down the rebellion, accompanied by Sejanus and two Praetorian cohorts.

Blaesus next post was that of proconsul of Africa from 21 to 23. It seems that this station was achieved at least partially through the influence of his nephew, Sejanus, in so far as the fact that Blaesus was Sejanus' uncle convinced the other possible choice, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus to withdraw from contention.

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