L. Petronius Taurus Volusianus

Vir Consularis Ordinarius Lucius Petronius Taurus Volusianus
Born	Etruria (?)
Died	268 AD (?) Rome?
Cause of death	Murdered (?)
Nationality	Etruscan (?)
Citizenship	Roman
Occupation	Soldier and Imperial functionary
Employer	Emperor Gallienus
Title	Prefect of Vigiles, 259 (?), Praetorian Prefect, 260-6 (?), Consul Ordinarius (with Gallienus), 261, Praefectus Urbi, 267-8
Predecessor	(As Praefectus Urbi) Aspasius Paternus
Successor	(As Praefectus Urbi) Flavius Antiochianus
Children	Lucius Publius Petronius Volusianus (?)

Volusianus was a Roman citizen, apparently of equestrian origins, whose career in the Imperial Service in the mid-Third Century AD carried him from a relatively modest station in life to the highest public offices and senatorial status in a very few years. He may have secured his first appointments before the Licinian Dynasty - (Valerian and his son Gallienus) - acceded to the Empire in 253 AD, but it was in the course of their reign that his upward progress achieved an almost unprecedented momentum and the second factor seems to have been a consequence of the first. The nature of his relationship to the Licinii is uncertain, but it seems likely that a common origin in the Etruscan region of central Italy predisposed Gallienus at least in his favour and he seems to have been that prince's most trusted servant and adviser during the period of his sole reign - 260(?)-268 AD.

Almost all that is known of Volusianus is derived from an epigraphic inscription dedicated to him by the Town Council of the municipium of Arretium (Arezzo, Italy) of which he was a patronus. However, as a Consul and Praefectus Urbi he also appears in the Fasti Romani, i.e. the record of Roman office-holders.

Volusianus was the son of a Roman citizen also with the praenomen 'Lucius' of the Petronii clan. His Roman voting Tribe was the Sabatinae. Sabatina was a district in Etruria; thus it is likely that the family was of Etruscan origin. Volusianus’s patronage of Arezzo in later life does not necessarily mean that he was born there, but it does indicate some strong regional connection.

It is possible that, as an Etruscan of equestrian rank - see below - Volusianus had social connections with powerful senatorial families of Etruscan provenance two of which achieved Imperial status in the mid-Third Century AD. This would go some way to explain the extraordinary momentum of his career from the early 250s AD onward. The Treboniani (the family of the Emperor Trebonianus Gallus) and the Licinii (the family of the Emperors Valerian and Gallienus) have both been suggested in this connection. It seems agreed that a connection between these families and the Petronii Volusiani based on a common regional origin is not impossible, but that a blood-relationship is unlikely.

...
Wikipedia