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[German version] [1] Father-in-law and military commander of the emperor Iovianus, 4th cent. AD Father-in-law of the emperor Iovianus (Amm. Marc. 25,8,9). In AD 350 L., probably as comes rei militaris, was successful against the Persians in the third siege of Nisibis (Zos. 2,45,2; 3,8,2). In 354 he was comes domesticorum of Constantius [5] Gallus (Amm. Marc. 14,11,14). In 361, as magister equitum, he unsuccessfully fought back Iulianus' advance [11] to Constantinople in Illyria (Amm. Marc. 21,9,5-10). Iovianus elevated him to the rank of magister equitum et peditum in 363 (Amm. Ma…

[German version] [1] M. Aurelius N. Author of bucolic writings, before AD 284? As the name Carthagin(i)ensis appended in some MSS indicates, N. came from Africa. He wrote four bucolic poems ( Bucolica, Buc.) and a didactic poem about hunting ( Cynegetica, Cyn.), of which verses 1-325 are extant. The dedication of the Cyn. to the emperors Carinus and Numerianus [2] enables dating to shortly before AD 284. Whether N. also wrote Halieutica and Nautica, as maintained by SHA Car. 11,2, is doubtful, as is the authenticity of two fragments of a didactic poem on catching birds ( De aucipio) [11. 313f…

[German version] [1] Proclaimed emperor in AD 240 by the Carthaginians Was proclaimed emperor in AD 240 by the inhabitants of Carthage, but was shortly after defeated by the governor of Mauretania and delivered to Gordianus [3] III by his own followers (Zos. 1,17,1; SHA Gord. 23,4). Franke, Thomas (Bochum) Bibliography Kienast 1, 197. [German version] [2] see Vettius Sabinianus See Vettius Sabinianus. Portmann, Werner (Berlin) [German version] [3] Magister equitum per Orientem, 359-360 AD At a great age m agister equitum per Orientem in AD 359-360 under Constantius [2] II. Ac…

(Ἀβλάβιος; Ablábios). [German version] [1] Flavius A., 4th cent. AD Flavius A. was one of the most influential officials under  Constantinus the Great. He came from Crete (Lib. Or. 42,23); the child of poor non-Christians (Eun. Vit. Soph. 6,3,1-7); later converted to Christianity (Athan. Epist. Fest. 5). In AD 324/326 he was vicarius of Asia (CIL III 352), 329-337 praef. praet. Orientis, 331 cos. ord. It is said to have been on his instigation that the pagan philosopher  Sopater was executed by Constantine (Eun. Vit. Soph. 6,2,12; 3,7,13; Zos. 2,40,3). He was possibly still in office as pra…

[German version] [1] One of the 30 tyrants Character invented by the author of   Historia Augusta ; one of the so-called 30 tyrants, supposedly usurper under Claudius Gothicus, he was killed after seven days. For vita, SHA Tyr. Trig. 31,12; 32,8-33,6. PIR2 C 656. Birley, A. R. (Düsseldorf) Bibliography K.-P. Johne, Kaiserbiographie und Senatsaristokratie, 1976, 122-28. [German version] [2] Caelius C., C. High official, 4th cent. AD High official of the time of  Constantinus the Great. He is known only from an inscription from Campania (ILS 1216), where the offi…

[German version] [1] Praefectus praetorio for Illyria, AD 356-360 Lawyer from Berytus. The recipient of many letters from  Libanius. From AD 356/7 until his death (360) he was praefectus praetorio for Illyria. Prior to that he was consularis Syriae (possibly 349), vicarius Asiae (352) and procos. urbis Constantinopolitanae (354). 355 he declined appointment to the position of praefectus urbi Romae (Lib. Ep. 391). He is perhaps identical with the agrarian writer Vindonius Anatolius. Portmann, Werner (Berlin) [German version] [2] Mag. utriusque mil. praesentalis, after AD 447 AD 433…

(Εὐάγριος; Euágrios) [German version] [1] Ponticus Christian writer and monastic leader Religious writer and monastic spiritual leader (AD 345-399). Born in the Pontic Ibora, he was a pupil of  Gregorius of Nazianzus; after periods spent in Constantinople (ordination to deacon) and Jerusalem, he stayed in the Egyptian anchorite community of Kellia (Nitrian desert) from 383 as a much sought-after spiritual advisor. Posthumously condemned as an Origenist (553 Council of Constantinople), his few extant works …

[German version] [1] Roman cognomen Roman cognomen (“child desired by parents”), very widespread in the Imperial period; equally commonly a slave name. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) Bibliography 1 Kajanto, Cognomina, 75; 77; 296 2 H. Solin, Die stadtrömische Sklavennamen, vol. 1, 1994, 110-111. [German version] [2] Flavius O. Imperial grammar teacher, 4th cent. AD Grammar teacher of the son of the emperor Licinius [II 4]. Allegedly, because of his wife's beauty he had great influence under Constantine [1] the Great and was appointed consul b…

[German version] [1] Official, 4th cent. AD Hailing from Cilicia, C. was educated in Antioch (Lib. Ep. 1399). He was a brother of  Alypius (Jul. Ep. 9-10). In AD 362-363, he was possibly vicarius Asiae (Lib. Ep. 764; 1384). After the death of  Iulianus, he became comes rerum privatarum (Cod. Theod. 10,1,8) and gained great influence at the court of Valens (Lib. Ep. 1449; 1456). As praef. urbis Constantinopolitanae, C. was taken prisoner by the usurper Procopius in 365 (Amm. Marc. 26,7,4; Zos. 4,6,2) and possibly executed (Them. Or.7,92c). He was the recipient of…

[German version] [1] Senior officer, 2nd half of the 4th cent. A senior officer during the 2nd half of the 4th cent. AD. From 356 to 358 as dux Aegypti he was ordered to proceed against the followers of Athanasius (Athan. Hist. Ar. 59-63; 72; cf. Lib. Ep. 318; 520). On 24 December358 he drove them from the churches (Historia acephala 2,4). From 363 to 378 he was comes rei militaris, in 363 took part in the Persian campaign of Iulianus [11] Apostata (Amm. Marc. 23,3,5), and in 368 in the operation of Valentinianus I against the Alamanni (Amm. Marc. 27,10,6). After …

[German version] [1] C. Commodus, L. Cos. ord. 78 AD A native of Etruria; senator from the time of Nero; cos. ord. 78; governor of Syria from AD 78/79; married to Appia Severa (PIR2 C 603) [1. I 308; 2. 45 A. 22]. Eck, Werner (Cologne) [German version] [2] C. Commodus, L. Cos. ord. 106 AD Son of [1]. Cos. ord. AD 106 (PIR2 C 604). Married to one Plautia, their son being C. [3]. Eck, Werner (Cologne) [German version] [3] C. Commodus, L. = Aelius Caesar, L. Cos. ord. 136 AD Son of [2]. His maternal half-brother was M. Vettulenus Civica Barbarus [3. 845]. Born on 13 January in about AD 1…

Roman family name, probably related to Gabii (Schulze 532f.), widespread in Latium, and documented from the 3rd cent. BC; during the 2nd cent. BC, the family gained senatorial rank. I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] G., A. People's tribune 139 BC Allegedly the grandson of a slave (Liv. Per. Oxyrhynch. 54; cf. Cic. Leg. 3,35), in 146 BC envoy to the Achaeans; as people's tribune he introduced the secret ballot with voting tablets ( tabellae) for the election of officials in 139 (1. lex tabellaria, Cic. loc. cit.; Lael. 41). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) Bibliography M. Jehne, Ge…

[German version] [1] Trajan, Roman Emperor, AD 98-117 Roman emperor, AD 98-117. Eck, Werner (Cologne) [German version] I. Career up to accession T. was probably born in 53, the son of the consular (of the same name), M. Ulpius [12] Traianus, and probably a certain Marcia, perhaps a daughter of Marcius [II 3] Barea. The family came from Italica in Hispania Baetica. Little is known of T.' senatorial career. He served as a tribunus [4] militum under his father in Syria (but certainly not for ten stipendia ('campaigns'), as alleged in Plin. Pan. 15,3). After his praetorship (before 84…

[German version] [1] Uncle of emperor Theodosius I Flavius E. was an uncle of emperor Theodosius I (Them. Or. 16,203d). He is possibly identical with the comes sacrarum largitionum of AD 377-379 (Cod. Theod. 1,32,3; 10,20,9). In 381 he was consul (Them. ibid.). He was still alive in 395 (Zos. 5,2,3). PLRE 1, 288 E. (2). Portmann, Werner (Berlin) [German version] [2] Son of Stilicho, about AD 390 Flavius E., the son of  Stilicho and Serena, born AD 389 in Rome. He first lived in Constantinople, then at the court of  Honorius, where he became tribunus et notarius. In 400 he became engaged wi…

(Φερένικος; Pherénikos). [German version] [1] Theban politician Theban, son of Cephisodotus, who had taken in Athenians who had fled from the Thirty Tyrants ( Triákonta ) into Thebes (Lys. fr. 78). After the occupation of the Cadmeia in 382 BC P., a follower of Ismenias' [1] faction, had to escape to Athens (Plut. Pelopidas 5,3). During the emigrant's attack on Thebes in December 379 P. waited with his people in the Thriasian Plain until a group led by Pelopidas had eliminated the polemarchs in Thebes (Plut. Pelopidas 8,1; see also Plut. Mor. 576c; 577a). Beck, Hans (Cologne) Bibliography R.…

[German version] [1] First wife of Julius Constantinus [4] 1st half 4th cent. AD First wife of Julius Constantius [4], a son of emperor Constantius [5] I. She was mother of Constantius Gallus, Caesar from AD 351-354 (Amm. Marc. 14,11,27). PLRE 1, 382 (G. 1). Portmann, Werner (Berlin) [German version] [2] Youngest daughter of Valentinianus I Youngest daughter of  Valentinianus I, sister of Valentinianus II. In AD 387 she fled, together with him and her mother Iustina, from the usurper Maximus to Constantinople, where she married Theodosius I (their da…

[German version] [1] Originally the cognomen of  Caracalla Originally the cognomen of  Caracalla. Birley, A. R. (Düsseldorf) [German version] [2] Originally the cognomen of the future emperor M. Aurelius  Severus Alexander Originally the cognomen of the future emperor M. Aurelius  Severus Alexander. Birley, A. R. (Düsseldorf) [German version] [3] Caesar for Italy around 316 AD Married to  Anastasia [1], named Caesar for Italy by  Constantinus the Great shortly before the war against Licinus (AD 316), but was then spurred on by his brother Senecio to…

[German version] [1] Praefectus praetorio AD 222 or 223 Praefectus praetorio with (Geminius) Chrestus in AD 222 or 223. When upon the insistence of Julia Mamaea, Domitius  Ulpianus was put in charge by Severus Alexander as praetorian prefect, the guard mutinied, so Ulpianus had F. and Chrestus killed (Cass. Dio 80,2,2; Zos. 1,11,2). PIR2 F 180. Fuhrer, Therese (Zürich) [German version] [2] Virius Nicomachus F. Pagan, aristorcrat in Rome; friend of Symmachus Dominant figure of the non-Christian aristocracy in Rome in the last quarter of the 4th cent. AD. He had a clo…

(Προκόπιος/ Prokópios). [German version] [1] Usurper, AD 365-366 Usurper, AD 365-366 Usurper in AD 365-366. He was born in 326 in Corycus (Them. Or. 7,86c; cf. Amm. Marc. 26,9,11) and was a relative of the emperor Iulianus [11] (Amm. Marc. 23,3,2). In 358 he was a delegate to Persia with the rank of a tribunus (Amm. Marc. 17,14,3), later he held a high position at the schola notariorum (Amm. Marc. 26,6,1). During Julian’s Persian campaign, he commanded a division as a comes (Amm. Marc. 23,3,5). After Julian's death (363) he retired to private life (Zos.…

[German version] [1] C. M. Rufus Stoic philosopher, c. AD 30-100 Stoic philosopher, who influenced Epictetus [2]. Born into the equestrian class in Etruria before AD 30. He taught in Greek. Exiled by Nero for his links to Stoic senators, he was recalled after Nero's death, but exiled and recalled again under the Flavians. By his death (c. AD 100), he had become a symbol of the philosophical life. He wrote nothing, but accounts of his lectures were published after his death, probably by Lucius [2]; Twenty-one extracts of these are preserved by Stobaeus and one on papyrus. His works focuses on…