Gaius Caristanius Fronto

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Gaius Caristanius Fronto was a

Year of Four Emperors (AD 69).[1] He was appointed suffect consul in AD 90 as the colleague of Quintus Accaeus Rufus.[2]

Antioch in Pisidia

In the words of G.L. Cheesman, Caristanius Fronto came of a family "of Italian origin, but had never risen into prominence there. One of its members was presumably enrolled in the army during the civil wars, and included among the veterans settled in the '

Ikonion, a war that Quirinius brought to a successful conclusion. Cheesman dates Quirinius' role in this conflict to between 8 and 6 BC, which gives an approximate date for Caseianus Julius.[5]

Life

An inscription found

ala I Bosporanorum, an auxiliary unit raised from natives of the Bosporus.[7] There are two known alae, one stationed in Dacia, the other which had been transferred to Syria some point between the reigns of Tiberius and Nero,[8] and it is unknown which Fronto commanded; Bernard Rémy believes Fronto commanded the one stationed in Syria.[9]

Fronto's promotion to the Senate was in two steps: first he was

sesterces for them, and praetors were expected to match or exceed this amount with their contributions.[10] Promoting Fronto to the Senate in two steps was an unusual approach; all but one other man Vespasian is known to have adlected to the Senate were directly adlected inter praetorios.[11] George W. Houston's study of Vespasian's adlection of men into the Senate shows that the emperor followed the leges annorum for the traditional magistracies, and suggests that at the time Vespasian promoted Fronto to the Senate (either in 74 or 75) Fronto was not yet 30 the age required by law to be praetor. Once Fronto reached that age, however, the emperor promoted him to the rank of having held that magistracy.[12]

After this followed an appointment as

Sextus Julius Frontinus and Agricola.[13] Afterwards, Caristanius served as governor of Lycia et Pamphylia from 81 to 84 according to Werner Eck,[14] dates that Rémy concurs with.[9] There is a gap of 6 years between the date Fronto stepped down as governor of Lycia et Pamphylia and when he was suffect consul; Rémy notes that typically the former governors of this province immediately advanced to the consulate, or within two or three years, and explains this abnormality by noting that under Domitian a long interval between praetorship and consulate was the rule in Senatorial careers.[15]

A fragmentary inscription found near Synnada led Cheesman to suggest Caristanius might have been Proconsul of Asia.[7] However, Rémy argues that it only proves he owned property near that town, and concludes "Under Nerva and Trajan, he may have lost Imperial favor."[16]

Family

An inscription in Greek found at Antioch in Pisidia provides us the name of his wife.[17] her name was formerly read as Sergia L. f. Paulla, a possible daughter of Lucius Sergius Paullus, curatores riparum et alvei Tiberis during the reign of Claudius.[18] However, in a re-examination of the evidence Michel Christol and Thomas Drew-Bear found an unpublished inscription which attests that her name was Calpurnia Paulla Calpurni Longi filia, the daughter of a Calpurnis Longus also mentioned in the Greek Antiochan text.[19]

Fronto is known to have two sons, Fronto and Paulinus. Gaius Caristanius Julianus, proconsul of

Achaea around 101, was either Fronto's younger brother or a cousin.[20]

References

  1. ^ So Anthony Birley believes. Birley, The Fasti of Roman Britain, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981), p. 234
  2. Classical Quarterly
    , 31 (1981), pp. 191, 217
  3. Journal of Roman Studies
    , 3 (1913), p. 266
  4. ^ AE 1913, 235 = ILS 9502; AE 1914, 260 = ILS 9503; AE 2001, 1918
  5. ^ Cheesman, "The Family of the Caristanii", pp. 256f
  6. ^ AE 1914, 262 = ILS 9485. English translation in Robert K. Sherk, The Roman Empire: Augustus to Hadrian (Cambridge: University Press, 1988), p. 209
  7. ^ a b Cheesman, "The Family of the Caristanii", pp. 260f
  8. ^ D. J. Knight, "The Movements of the Auxilia from Augustus to Hadrian", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 85 (1991), p. 193
  9. ^ a b c d Rémy, Les carrières sénatoriales dans les provinces romaines d'Anatolie au Haut-Empire (31 av. J.-C. - 284 ap. J.-C.), (Istanbul: Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes-Georges Dumézil, 1989), p. 63
  10. ^ Richard Talbert, The Senate of Imperial Rome (Princeton: University Press, 1984), pp. 59-62
  11. ^ Houston, "Vespasian's Adlection of Men in Senatum", American Journal of Philology, 98 (1977), p. 46 n. 68. The other individual who is known to have been admitted to the Senate then afterwards adlected inter praetorios was Gaius Salvius Liberalis.
  12. ^ Houston, "Vespasian's Adlection", pp. 47ff
  13. ^ Birley, Fasti, p. 234
  14. ^ Eck, "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69/70 bis 138/139", Chiron, 12 (1982), pp. 307-309
  15. ^ Rémy, Les carrières sénatoriales, p. 63f
  16. ^ "Sous Nerva et Trajan, il avait peut-être perdu la faveur impériale." Rémy, Les carrières sénatoriales, p. 64
  17. ^ IGR III.300
  18. ^ CIL VI, 31545 = ILS 5926
  19. ^ Christol and Drew-Bear, Actes du Ier congres international sur Antioche de Pisidie, T. Drew-Bear, M. Taşlialan, C. M. Thomas (eds.), (Paris, 2002) (Coli. Archeologie et histoire de PAntiquite, 5), pp. 177-191
  20. ^ Birley, Fasti, p. 234; Cheesman, "Family of the Caristanii", pp. 253-266
Political offices
Preceded by
Servius Julius Servianus
as suffect consuls
Suffect consul of the Roman Empire
90
with Quintus Accaeus Rufus
 Succeeded by
Publius Baebius Italicus,
and Gaius Aquillius Proculus
as suffect consuls
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