List of Famous people with last name Pollio

Publius Vedius Pollio was a Roman of equestrian rank, and a friend of the Roman emperor Augustus, who appointed him to a position of authority in the province of Asia. In later life he became infamous for his luxurious tastes and cruelty to his slaves – when they displeased him, he had them fed to "lampreys" that he maintained for that purpose, which was deemed to be an exceedingly cruel act. When Vedius tried to apply this method of execution to a slave who broke a crystal cup, Emperor Augustus was so appalled that he not only intervened to prevent the execution but had all of Pollio's valuable drinking vessels deliberately broken. This incident, and Augustus's demolition of Vedius's mansion in Rome he inherited in his will, were frequently referred to in antiquity in discussions of ethics and of the public role of Augustus.

Gaius Asinius Pollio was a Roman senator and orator active during the Principate. He was ordinary consul for 23 with Gaius Antistius Vetus as his colleague. He was the oldest son of Gaius Asinius Gallus; his brother was Marcus Asinius Agrippa, consul in 25. Pollio's mother was Vipsania Agrippina. Through her, he was the half-brother of the younger Drusus.

Gaius Asinius Pollio was a Roman soldier, politician, orator, poet, playwright, literary critic, and historian, whose lost contemporary history provided much of the material used by the historians Appian and Plutarch. Pollio was most famously a patron of Virgil and a friend of Horace and had poems dedicated to him by both men.