"[3] Anthony Birley notes this supports his earlier argument that Petronius had an African origin, and further argues that his postulated wife, Septimia, was a cousin of the future emperor Septimius Severus.
[6] His primary concern as governor of Egypt was to safeguard the harvest and delivery of grain to the populace of Rome, but surviving letters from his administration show his responsibilities extended further.
[7] A second surviving letter concerns his circuit court: that he had planned to go upriver beyond Koptos, but a lack of time forced him to follow his usual practice of only holding sessions in the Thebaid and the Heptanomia.
[9] A fourth relays a decision from Hadrian, acknowledging that for two consecutive years (134 and 135) the Nile failed to inundate the farmlands as needed, and granting a deference in paying the tax.
[10] Graffiti inscribed on the Colossi of Memnon records that Petronius was present at dawn of 10 March 134 to hear the statues sing.