Marcus Rutilius Lupus

Marcus Rutilius Lupus was a Roman eques who was active during the reign of emperor Trajan. He was appointed to a series of imperial offices, the most important of which was praefectus or governor of Roman Egypt. It was while he was governor of Egypt that a Jewish uprising known as the Kitos War began. Although Lupus successfully contained the initial revolt in Alexandria, he had to call for reinforcements from the central authorities for assistance, and the revolt was eventually crushed with enormous loss of life and property. Lupus also extended his protection to non-rebellious Jewish residents of Alexandria.^[1]

It is thought that Lupus came from Beneventum (modern Benevento), home of a number of Rutilii Lupi. One member of this family is named in the Tabula alimentaria Ligurum Baebianorum as an absentee landlord owning property in at least two pagi, where he was represented by a vilicus.^[2] Mommsen first suggested that the landowner was the same person as the eques, an identification that Arthur Stein first disagreed with, but came to accept.^[3]