Quick Facts
Biography
Flavius Afranius Syagrius (floruit 345-382) was a Roman politician and administrator. He is claimed to be an ancestor of Saint Arnulf of Metz, being a rare case for descent from antiquity.
Life
Afranius was a member of the Gallo-Roman aristocratic family of the Syagrii, which originated in Lyon. In the same years in which Afranius lived, another Syagrius is attested (he was consul in 381), but it is not always possible to distinguish the career of the two Syagrii.
In 369 he is attested as notarius; in that year the Roman Emperor Valentinian I removed him from his office after a failed military operation, and Afranius dedicated himself to private life.
He continued his career under Emperor Gratian, possibly because of his friendship with the poet Ausonius. Afranius was magister memoriae in 379, when some Theodorus succeeded him. However, that same year he became Proconsul of Africa. Between June 18, 380, and the Spring of 382 he is attested as Praetorian prefect of Italy. In 381 he was also praefectus urbi of Rome and Consul in 382.