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Roman cognomen; Antistius [II 4], Fabius [II 19], Iunius [II 27-28]. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] Theologian from Rome, from 547 in Constantinople and Egypt Deacon of the city of Rome, resided at Constantinople with his uncle Pope Vigilius from AD 547. Became a ferocious defender of the 'Three Chapters' (Synodos), for which reason Vigilius excommunicated him in 550. Banished after the 5th Ecumenical Synod (553), initially to Egyptian Thebes, he wrote Contra Acephalos against the Monophysites (Monophysitism). Subsequently in exile in the …

[German version] Aristocratic Roman Christian woman (347-404),  to Iulius Toxotius; her children: Blaesilla († 384/5), Eustochium (†419), Rufina, Paulina ( to the Senator Pammachius), Toxotius ( to Laeta). P. belonged to the circle of women around Marcella [1], left Rome in August 385 together with Hieronymus [8] and Eustochium, settled with them in Bethlehem and founded monastic communities for women and men. Hieronymus wrote the letters 30, 33, 39 to her, dedicated numerous commentaries to he…

[German version] [1] Daughter of the emperor Theodosius I and Flacilla Daughter of the emperor Theodosius I and Flacilla, born AD 377/8, died 385/6. Her funeral oration by  Gregorius [2] of Nyssa survives (Greg. Nyss. Or. 9,1,459-472). PLRE 1, 755. Leppin, Hartmut (Hannover) [German version] [2] Augusta in 414 Daughter of the emperor  Arcadius and his wife E…

[German version] Sister of Ambrosius, bishop of Milan; lived with her widowed mother in her parents' home in Rome even after she was consecrated as a nun by pope Liberius [1] (352-66) on the sixth of January in an unknown year. Ambrose dedicated his treatise De Virginibus…

[German version] [1] The Elder, founder of a monastery M. the Elder, Roman Christian aristocrat, widow and ascetic; left Rome in the autumn of 373 AD, and together with Rufinus [6] founded a monastic community on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. She was also on intimate terms with Evagrius [1] Ponticus. In 400 she returned to Rome. Letsch-Brunner, Silvia (Zürich) [German version] [2] The Younger, Christian benefactress c. AD 400 M. the Younger (born in Rome in 383), granddaughter of M. [1], related to Marcella [1], used her wealth for charity. She married Pinianus…

[German version] [1] Late-Roman senator, c. AD 527, praefectus urbis Romae Late-Roman senator, brother of Pope Vigilius, c. AD 527 praefectus urbis Romae under the Gothic king Athalaric. In 536, he was interned by the Goths in Ravenna. He fled to Liguria, and in 538, Belisarius appointed him …

[German version] Bishop of Rome (31 January 314-31 December 335; the anniversary of his death is still named after him), probably a confessor in the persecution under Diocletianus. He received written communication of the resolutions of the first synod of Constantine (Constantinus [1] I) in Arles (1 August 314; Synodos II.); in it a Roman bishop is addressed for the first time as papa. Under S. the churches of Saint John Lateran and of Saint Peter came into being. He sent to the Synod of Nicaea [5] (325) only two priests (Vito/Victor and Vincentius). S. gained historical significance in legends: in the first half of the 5th century the Actus Silvestri (with a later appendix) appeared in Rome, their author claiming for S. the conversion and baptism of Constantine. The Actus Silvestri are also the basis for the Constitutum Constanti…

[German version] Bishop of Rome 198(9)-217, founder of the coemeteria (modern San Callisto) under a piece of land he owned on the Via Appia. Z. was helplessly at the mercy of conflicts relating to Monarchianism in Rome, had a book written opposing the heretics and himself wrote a short Christological formula against the emerging Logos Christology (cited by Hippolytus [2]). He was buried in an overground memorial chapel (above the San Callisto catacombs). Catacombs; Logos (I.G.) Letsch-Brunner, Silvia (Zürich) Bibliography E. Schwar…

[German version] [1] Q. Cornelius V. Author of an antiquarian compilation, 1st cent. Roman equestrian of the 1st cent. AD (probably c.45 praef. vexillariorum in Thracia). Author of an antiquarian compilation mentioned by Plinius [1] (Pliny the Elder) as source of books 3 (?), 8, 10, 14 and 15 of his Naturalis historia, and quoted at 3,108 (?), 10,5 and 14,11. Schmidt, Pet…

[German version] The very cultured bishop V. of Iunca (Byzacena in Tunisia) was the author of exegeses of biblical texts (9 books Commentarii super cantica ecclesiastica), poems ( De satisfactione) and excerpts from the proceedings of the Council of Calchedon. During the Three-Chapter Controversy (Synodos II D), in 551 he was summoned by the emperor Iustinianus [1] to Constantinople, where he sided with pope Vigilius, fled with him to the church of St. Euphemia in Calchedon, and died in asylum there in 552. Letsch-Brunner, Silvia …

Roman cognomen, extension of Salvius. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] S. of Massilia Christian theologian at Massilia, died after 465 (modern Marseille), probably born after AD 400 at Trier, evidence of his presence on the Lérins Islands, married, later ascetic, wrote the treatise Ad Ecclesiam (‘To the Church’; Pseudepigraphy [II]) after 435, exhortating all Christians to donate all inherit…

[German version] [1] Rival emperor to Gallienus, 3rd cent. AD As proconsul of Achaia, V. had himself proclaimed rival emperor to Gallienus in AD 261 in Macedonia. Although he defeated Piso, who was sent there against him (PIR2 C 298), he was soon murdered by his own troops (Aur. Vict. Epit. Caes. 32,4; Amm. Marc. 21,16,10; SHA Tyr. Trig. 19; 21; SHA Gall. 2,2 f.). Franke, Th…

[German version] U., a Christian deacon in the city of Rome, was elected a bishop at the end of September 366 in the Basilica Iulii (modern Santa Maria in Trastevere), probably at the same time as Damasus, and this led to riots. U. was expelled from the city but recalled from exile on 15 September 367 and after renewed unrest banished to Gaul on 16 November 367. Between 370/1 and shortly before 378, U. may have stayed with friends in Italy again, but outside Rome. U., who met Valens [4] of Poetovi…

[German version] [1] Founder of monastic community in Rome, 335-410 Roman aristocrat, Christian, c. 335 to 410/1. As a young widow she founded a monastic women's community on the Aventine and brought in Hieronymus as a teacher from 383 to 385; he wrote letters 23-29, 32, 34, 37, 38, 40-44, 46 (in the name of Paula and Eustochium) and 59, 97 (to M. and Pammachius) to her; important Roman participant in the controversy about Origen (cf. Jer. Ep. 97, Rufin. Apologia contra Hieronymum 2,20f., Jer. Apologia contr…

[German version] [1] Pupil of Libanius, 4th cent. AD Pupil of Libanius, then lawyer, entered service at the Imperial court (AD 363?), was comes rerum privatarum to Theodosius I (AD 388-390), comes sacrarum largitionum in 391 and finally praef. urbi Constantinopolitanae in 398-399. Groß-Albenhausen, Kirsten (Frankfurt/Main) …

[German version] Deacon of pope Bonifatius II (530-532), was in Constantinople with the latter's successor Agapetus [2], where he came into contact with Theodora [2]. He took the body of Agapetus (died 22 April 536) to Rome. In March 537, his intrigues succeeded in deposing the already elected Silverius and he had himself elected pope by Belisarius. Under V. building works were undertaken in Rome after the Gothic siege (Vigilius inscriptions in a number of catacombs). He conducted a correspondence…