Ovinius Paternus was a member of the Paterni, a prominent third century senatorial family. He was appointed consul prior in AD 267 alongside Arcesilaus.^[1] He exercised his duties in Rome while the emperor Gallienus was campaigning along the Danube against the Goths. In AD 281, Paternus was assigned by lot to a Proconsular province, either Africa or Asia, but in an unusual move he refused to accept the offered post. Instead, he took up the position of Praefectus urbi of Rome.^[2]

• Christol, Michel, Essai sur l'évolution des carrières sénatoriales dans la seconde moitié du IIIe siècle ap. J.C. (1986)
• Martindale, J. R.; Jones, A. H. M, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. I AD 260–395, Cambridge University Press (1971)