Lucius Vitellius (consul 34 ce, consul for the second time in 43, and for the third in 47), son of P. Vitellius (a Roman knight from *Luceria (not Nuceria: RE Suppl. 9. 1741), *procurator of *Augustus), father of the emperor *Vitellius (see previous entry), was a friend of the emperor *Claudius and the most successful politician of the age: he received a public funeral and a statue in the Forum commemorating ‘unswerving devotion to the Princeps’ (Suet. Vit.3): it was indeed to the source of patronage and power that he attached himself, linking the history of three reigns; his position was strengthened by a nexus between Vitellii, Plautii, and Petronii. He was a vigorous legate (see legati) of *Syria (ce 35–7), inducing the Parthian *Artabanus II to pay homage and conciliating the Jews: ‘he acted with the integrity of ancient times’.
