Lucius Aurelius Avianius Symmachus

Lucius Aurelius Avianius Symmachus signo Phosphorius (died 376) was an aristocrat of the Roman Empire, and father of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus.

A member of the aristocratic family of the Symmachi, he was the son of Marcus Aurelius Valerius Tullianus Symmachus, consul for 330. He had one daughter and four sons, among whom were Celsinus Titianus and the most influential of the Symmachi, the orator Quintus Aurelius Symmachus. Avianius was a pagan senator, and was member of several priestly collegia, including the Pontefices Vestae and the quindecimviri sacris faciundi (from 351 to 375).

By January 350 he held the office of prefect to the annona; later that decade he was vicarius urbis Romae. In 361, he went to Antioch (in Syria), where he probably met Libanius, to meet Emperor Constantius II: it is probable that the Roman Senate wanted to assure its loyalty to the ruling emperor after receiving a letter from Julian, cousin and caesar of Constantius, who had been just proclaimed emperor by his troops. On their way back, Symmachus and his colleague Valerius Maximus travelled through Nassus, where they were received by Julian with all the honours.

From April 364 to March 365 he held the office of praefectus urbi of Rome, under the rule of Valentinian I. As praefect, he restored the ancient pons Agrippae on the Tiber (on the place of the modern Ponte Sisto), which took the name of pons Valentiniani; Symmachus even paid for a lavish public celebration for the inauguration of this bridge. Ammianus Marcellinus has a flattering opinion of his mandate.

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