Flavius Optatus (died September AD 337) was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

senator who was appointed

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

in AD 334. He was possibly related to the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...

Biography

Optatus was originally a

rhetorician Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

(or as characterised by

Libanius Libanius ( grc-gre, Λιβάνιος, Libanios; ) was a teacher of rhetoric of the Sophist school in the Eastern Roman Empire. His prolific writings make him one of the best documented teachers of higher education in the ancient world and a criti ...

, a “teacher of letters”) who was the tutor to Licinius the Younger, the son of the

Licinius Valerius Licinianus Licinius (c. 265 – 325) was Roman emperor from 308 to 324. For most of his reign he was the colleague and rival of Constantine I, with whom he co-authored the Edict of Milan, AD 313, that granted official toleration to C ...

. Libanius alleged that after the fall of Licinius in AD 324, Optatus owed his continued favour at the imperial court to the influence of his wife, who was willing to bestow her favours in order to help Optatus advance his career. Optatus was one of the first who was granted the rejuvenated title of '' Patricius'' by the emperor

, perhaps a sign of the change in his social status at the court, or perhaps a recognition of his familial ties with the imperial family. He apparently managed to become quite wealthy through his career at the imperial court, and he was eventually appointed '' consul prior'' alongside Amnius Anicius Paulinus in AD 334. Optatus died in AD 337 in the purge of the imperial family and court by the sons of Constantine which saw the deaths of

Julius Constantius Julius Constantius (died September 337 AD) was a politician of the Roman Empire and a member of the Constantinian dynasty, being a son of Emperor Constantius Chlorus and his second wife Flavia Maximiana Theodora, a younger half-brother of Emperor ...

and

Dalmatius :''This article deals with the Caesar (335-337). For the censor Flavius Dalmatius, father of the caesar, see Flavius Dalmatius. For saints with this name, see Saint Dalmatius (disambiguation).'' Flavius Dalmatius Caesar (his name is often spell ...

. Optatus had a wife, who was the daughter of an innkeeper from

Paphlagonia Paphlagonia (; el, Παφλαγονία, Paphlagonía, modern translit. ''Paflagonía''; tr, Paflagonya) was an ancient region on the Black Sea coast of north-central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus (region), Pontus t ...

, and thus may have been a relative of Constantine's mother, Helena.Barnes, pg. 251 He also had two brothers-in-law, one of whom was the father of

Saint Optatus Saint Optatus, sometimes anglicized as St. Optate, was Bishop of Milevis, in Numidia, in the fourth century, remembered for his writings against Donatism. Biography and context Optatus was a convert, as we gather from St. Augustine: "Do we not s ...

Sources

* Barnes, Timothy David, ''Constantine and Eusebius'' (1981) * Kelly, Christopher, ''Bureaucracy and Government'' in ''The Cambridge Companion to The Age of Constantine'' (ed. Lenski, Noel) (2011) * Martindale, J. R.; Jones, A. H. M, ''The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'', Vol. I AD 260–395, Cambridge University Press (1971)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Optatus, Flavius 337 deaths 4th-century Romans Ancient Roman murder victims

Flavius The gens Flavia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Its members are first mentioned during the last three centuries of the Republic. The first of the Flavii to achieve prominence was Marcus Flavius, tribune of the plebs in 327 and 323 BC; ...

Imperial Roman consuls Patricii Flavii Year of birth unknown