Publius Silius Nerva was a Roman senator and general, who flourished under the reign of Augustus.
[1] Nerva was the son of a senator who had achieved the rank of propraetor.
[2] A partisan of the emperor Augustus,[3] Nerva was rewarded with a number of important postings throughout his career.
Having risen through the ranks of the cursus honorum, he was awarded the consulate in 20 BC, becoming one of the many homines novi ennobled during Augustus's Principate.
[4] After his consulate he was posted to Hispania Citerior in 19 BC as legatus, where he was involved in the ongoing Cantabrian Wars, helping Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa finally end the long and bloody campaign.