Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Junius Licinius Balbus

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was redirect‎ to Antonia Gordiana. Please feel free to retarget to the son if desired. Daniel (talk) 10:03, 12 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Junius Licinius Balbus[edit]

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Junius Licinius Balbus is claimed to be a father of Gordian III by notoriously unreliable Historia Augusta, and nothing else is known about him. This article also says that Balbus was a grandson of Q. Servilius Pudens and his wife Ceionia Plautia, a sister of emperor Lucius Verus, but I cannot find a source for this information (Historia Augusta indeed claims that the Gordiani and Nerva-Antonine dynasty were related, but via Gordian I's mother and wife rather than his son-in-law). I have Settipani's book, the only source in the article, and he simply says that Balbus is a fictitious person, just like all other relatives of the Gordiani given in the Historia Augusta. Симмах (talk) 19:05, 3 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Not every claim in the Historia Augusta should be regarded as fictitious—in many instances it's borne out by other sources, and for many matters it's the only surviving authority. I'm not aware of any reason why this particular name should be regarded as improbable. That said, the article consists entirely of the man's supposed connections to others—and that can easily be covered in the articles about those persons who are genuinely notable, presumably the Gordians.

As long as he's mentioned there—and it's fine to mention that modern scholars doubt the authenticity of his name, although obviously Gordian III had a father, even if we can't be certain of his name or relationship to anyone else (please avoid the absurd reference here to "an unnamed Roman senator"—all Roman senators had names, even if we don't know what they were), this article can probably be reduced to a redirect to Gordian III or his mother.

Technically that would be a merge rather than a deletion, but that's the appropriate solution, given that the name occurs in antiquity and in scholarship. Wikipedia can't resolve whether he existed under that name, or who else he was related to, but editors may make judgments as to his notability—and given that all we know of him is how he might have been related to other people, he doesn't appear to warrant his own article. P Aculeius (talk) 13:23, 4 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Automated comment: This AfD was not correctly transcluded to the log (step 3). I have transcluded it to Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/2023 November 4. —^{cyberbot I}_{Talk to my owner:Online} 19:20, 4 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Politicians and History. WCQuidditch ☎ ✎ 21:52, 4 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Comment: To the best of my research, I'm doubtful this person existed as stated by the article. While many men with the cognomen Balbus served as consul, there does not appear to have ever been a consul (ordinary nor suffect) by the name of Licinius Balbus. Curbon7 (talk) 22:31, 4 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Redirects/merge to his wife Antonia Gordiana or his son Gordian III, both of whom did exist, are valid WP:ATDs. A merge to Historia Augusta could also be considered. Curbon7 (talk) 22:34, 4 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.