Marcellinus (consul 275)
Vir Clarissimus Aurelius/Iulius Marcellinus | |
---|---|
Citizenship | Roman |
Occupation(s) | Soldier, imperial official |
Years active | Third quarter of the 3rd century AD |
Employer(s) | Roman Emperors Gallienus and Aurelian, Zenobia of Palmyra? |
Notable work | Fortifications of Verona |
Title | Dux Exercitus (Verona)(?); Vice Praefecti Aegypti; Praefectus Mesopotamiae Rectorque Orientis; Consul Posterior (with Aurelian |
Aurelius/Iulius Marcellinus (his
His promotion was unusual in that he had not achieved the rank of
Obviously a man of considerable capabilities who had attracted the Imperial patronage of Emperor Gallienus and whose services continued to be much valued by Aurelian, the paucity of the surviving records means that even the identity of Marcellinus is uncertain while nothing else is known of his life beyond the bare outlines recounted here.
Early life
There is no record of Marcellinus's origins or early life.
Career
Service in Verona
Scholarly opinion is in agreement that the first reference to Marcellinus is from an inscription that places him in
The first Marcellinus referred to in this inscription by order of seniority had the nomen Aurelius. He is described as a Vir Perfectissimus[b] and a dux[c] - in other words, a senior officer carrying out a specific commission for the ruling Emperor (Gallienus). His task in Verona was to fortify the city.
The second Marcellinus referred to in the Verona inscription had the nomen Iulius, and his status was Vir Egregius.
The fortification of Verona formed part of an extensive series of defensive works around and within Italy undertaken by Gallienus in the wake of the barbarian assaults of the later-250s.
Service in Alpes Cottiae
Iulius Marcellinus is identified with a man of the same name recorded in an epigraphic inscription from
Service in Egypt
A Iulius Marcellinus is recorded in a papyrological source as Praefectus of Egypt in 271 AD.[9] How he came to this office is uncertain. He may have been the deputy of Tenagino Probus who agreed to serve the Palmyrene regime after his chief's death, vice praefecti, according to the Roman practice when an official died in office, until the appointment of Statilius Ammianus in the spring of 271. On the other hand, he may have tried to continue the fight against the Palmyrene takeover of Egypt after the defeat of Tenagino Probus, although this notion is now generally scouted in academe.[10] It was also conjectured that it was he, not Probus, the future emperor, who undertook the recovery of Egypt when Aurelian launched his war on Zenobia.[11]
It is generally assumed that he is to be identified with the Iulius Marcellinus of the Verona inscription although there is no specific evidence supporting this.[e]
Imperial viceroy in the East
Following the restoration of the authority of the central government over the eastern provinces after his defeat of Zenobia in 272 AD Aurelian appointed a Marcellinus as his deputy in those regions[f] possibly with the title Praefectus Mesopotamiae rectorque Orientis.[12][g] Unfortunately the source of this information, Zosimus, does not indicate this Marcellinus's nomen. Academic opinion seems agreed that he was one of the two men of that name mentioned on the Verona Inscription, but divided as to whether he was 'Aurelius' or 'Iulius'.[h]
Like the Emperors
His loyalty to Aurelian was put to the test in the spring of 273 after Aurelian had returned to the Balkans. According to Zosimus he was approached by a representative of a revanchiste faction in Palmyra, Apsaeus, who offered him his support if Marcellinus rebelled against Aurelian and sought to usurp the Imperial authority.[12] Marcellinus temporized, pretending to consider this offer, while secretly sending word to Aurelian notifying him of the dangers of the situation. Despairing of attracting Marcellinus to their cause, the Palmyrenes raised a pretender to the throne, one Septimius Antiochus, and massacred the garrison that Aurelian had left in the city.[21] Obviously deciding not to move against the rebels with his own forces, Marcellinus waited for Aurelian to return and crush them.
It is thought that Marcellinus remained en poste after this episode[22] which suggests that Aurelian considered that he had handled the crisis occasioned by the Palmyrene uprising correctly. However, it was Aurelian rather than his viceroy who then went on to Egypt to suppress the separatist rebellion that took place in that province under Firmus: Marcellinus is not recorded as having had any part in that affair even though Egypt might have been expected to fall within his area of responsibility.[23]
Consul Posterior
In 275 AD a Marcellinus is named as Consul Posterior with Aurelian as Prior[1]. It is usually assumed that this must have been the Marcellinus who had been Aurelian's viceroy of the Oriens in 273 and was a reward for his steadiness in the face of the Palmyrene rebels.
It is possible that Marcellinus accompanied Aurelian on his last journey to the East and was present when the Emperor was murdered by his officers in Thracia. it is also suggested that it was he who persuaded the grieving army to offer the choice of the next Emperor to the Senate.[24] However, this proposition does not seem to be generally accepted by recent historians.
The promotion of high equestrian officials to the senatorial aristocracy via appointment to the consulate was still a comparatively recent phenomenon in the 270s. After the fall of
Notes
- ^ He was ranked Consul Posterior denoting that he was second in order of precedence of the two consuls who gave their names to the year 275 AD according to the Roman chronological practice. His consular colleague, Aurelian, as emperor, naturally ranked as Consul Prior.
- ^ Vir Perfectissimus is the honorific pertaining to officials of the second class of the Equestrian Order. It indicates a close connection with leading court-circles if not the Emperor himself.
- ^ Some confusion has arisen as to Marcellinus's exact status as the inscription hasVP duc duc which can be read as the ablative form of Vir Perfectissimus Dux Ducenarius - i.e., suggesting that, as well as being a Dux of prefectissimate rank, Marcellinus was a Ducenarius - a class of officials graded as in receipt of an annual stipend of 200,000 sesterces (although by the mid-Third Century this is unlikely to have represented their actual salary). Some historians accept that this was possible.[2] Others query the notion: for instance, the PIR editors suggest that the second duc in the inscription title may have been an erroneous repetition[3] while Christol asserts that duces were always members of the perfectissimate[4] whereas the Ducenarii are understood to have belonged to the third class of the equestrians who were distinguished by the honorific Egregius (lit., 'Outstanding Man').[5] By this reckoning Marcellinus could not have been at once a Dux and a Ducenarius.
- ^ See previous footnote.
- ^ However, the PLRE does not comment on the matter, either one way or the other.
- ^ The extent of the regions that came under Marcellinus's viceregal authority is not known. Zosimus may have assumed that his remit coincided with the Diocese of the Oriens of his own day which included Libya, Egypt, the Levant, including Arabia and Mesopotamia and the eastern parts of the Anatolian peninsula. However, it may be that in the Third Century AD the Oriens referred to the provinces of Anatolia, the Levant and Arabia/Mesopotamia. These seem to have been the parts of the empire ruled by Valerian while Egypt was the responsibility of Gallienus.
- ^ Zosimus merely calls him Prefect of Mesopotamia and the East. It is generally assumed that his actual title was Praefectus Mesopotamiae Rectorque Orientis,[13] but it may well have been Praefectus Totius Orientis.
- ^ The weight of opinion favours identification with Aurelius, i.e., PLRE,[14] Watson[15] and Southern.[16] Christol too seems to argue in favour of Aurelius even though he actually suggests Iulius.[17] Saunders comes down in favour of Iulius while admitting that the incomplete and fragmentary nature of the evidence makes certainty of identification impossible.[18] Inge Mennen favours Iulius.[19]
- ^ The Emperor Valerian too had divided the Empire in this way, but he had taken responsibility for the East himself and made his son, Gallienus, his co-Augustus in the West.
Citations
- ^ CIL V, 3329 Verona=AE 2008, 264
- ^ PLRE(1971:Aur. Marcellinus 17)
- ^ PIR(2) - Prosopographia imperii Romani; E. Groag et al. (eds.); Berlin; 1933-;
- ^ Christol(1978:535)
- ^ Pflaum(1960-61:950-1)
- ^ PLRE(Iul. Marcellinus 19)
- ^ Bray(1995:284)
- ^ PLRE Iul. Marcellinus 21.
- ^ PIR2 403
- ^ Southern(2008:116).
- ^ Southern(2001:117)
- ^ a b Zos(60:1)
- ^ PLRE1971:Marcellinus 1
- ^ PLRE (Marcellinus 1)
- ^ Watson(1999:167)
- ^ Southern(2008:150)
- ^ Christol(1986:114)
- ^ Saunders(1992:406-7)
- ^ Mennen(2011:181)
- ^ Watson(1999:79)
- ^ VDA(31.2)
- ^ Watson (1999)
- ^ VDA:32.2
- ^ Southern(2001:322)
- ^ Salway(2001
Works cited
Works of reference, Abbreviations
- PIR(2) - Prosopographia imperii Romani; E. Groag et al. (eds.); Berlin; 1933-;
- PLRE - The prosopography of the later Roman Empire; Jones, A.H.M., Martindale, J.R. and Morris, J. (eds.); Cambridge University Press; 1971–1992.
Primary sources
- The Augustan History: Life of the Deified Aurelian Vita Divi Aureliani (SHA DA) Aureliani*.htm;
- Mommsen, Theodor; Pearse, Roger, eds. (2006) [1892]. "Part 8: List (fasti) of the consuls to 354 AD". Chronography of 354. The Tertullian Project. (Chronography 354 AD)
- Zosimus: New History Book 1 (Zos).
Secondary sources
- Bray, J. (1995) "Gallienus". (Bray);
- Christol, Michel (1978) "Un duc dans une inscription de Termessos (Pisidie)". Chiron 8: 529–40 - (Christol (1978));
- Christol, Prof. M. (1986) Essai sur l'Ėvolution des Carrières Sénatoriales dans le 2e Moitié du 3e Siécle ap. J.C., Nouvelles Éditions Latines, Paris - (Christol (1986));
- Mennen, Inge (2011) "Power and Status in the Roman Empire, ad 193–284", Brill, Leiden & Boston - (Mennen (2011));
- Pflaum, H.-G. (1960–61) "Les carrières procuratoriennes sous le Haut Empire Romaine", Paris - (Pflaum (1960–61));
- Potter, D. (2004) "The Roman empire at Bay: AD 180-395", Routledge, London & New York - (Potter (2004));
- Salway, B. (2006) "Equestrian prefects and the award of senatorial honours from the Severans to Constantine", in: A. Kolb (ed.), "Herrschafsstrukturen und Herrschaftspraxis", Berlin, 115–135. (Salway (2006));
- Saunders, Randall Titus (1992). "A biography of the Emperor Aurelian". Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106-1346: UMI Dissertation Services - (Saunders (1992));
- Southern, Pat (2001) The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine, Routledge, London & New York (Southern (2001));
- Southern, Pat (2008) Empress Zenobia: Palmyra's Rebel Queen, Continuum, London & New York - (Southern (2008));
- Watson, Alaric. (1999) Aurelian and the Third Century - (Watson (1999)).