Gaius Catellius Celer (also known as Lucius Pompeius Vopiscus Gaius Catellius Celer) 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 letter ...

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

who flourished during the

Flavian dynasty The Flavian dynasty ruled the Roman Empire between AD 69 and 96, encompassing the reigns of Vespasian (69–79), and his two sons Titus (79–81) and Domitian (81–96). The Flavians rose to power during the civil war of 69, known as ...

. He served as

suffect consul A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...

for the ''

nundinium Nundinium was a Latin word derived from the word '' nundinum'', which referred to the cycle of days observed by the Romans. During the Roman Empire, ''nundinium'' came to mean the duration of a single consulship among several in a calendar year. S ...

'' September-October 77 with Marcus Arruntius Aquila as his colleague.

Name

The nomen "Catellius" is rare. Ronald Syme could only find it represented in three cities: Aesernia (modern

Isernia Isernia () or, in Pliny and later writers, ''Eserninus'', or in the Antonine Itinerary, ''Serni''. is a town and ''comune'' in the southern Italian region of Molise, and the capital of province of Isernia. Geography Situated on a rocky crest ri ...

), Forum Sempronii (modern Fossombrone), and

Volsinii Volsinii or Vulsinii (Etruscan: Velzna or Velusna; Greek: Ouolsinioi, ; ), is the name of two ancient cities of Etruria, one situated on the shore of Lacus Volsiniensis (modern Lago di Bolsena), and the other on the Via Clodia, between Clusium (C ...

, where four

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), abolitionism, emancipation (gra ...

of a Lucius Catellius are attested. Syme has narrowed the choice between these: a fragmentary name "Q. Pompeius ..Cat .. attested at Volsinii, points to Volsinii as his home town. At times Celer also included the nomen "Arruntius" in his name, indicating either that his mother belonged to that family, or he received a legacy from someone of that family in return for adopting that person's name, a practice referred to by scholars as " testamentary adoption". Further, no later than AD 80 Celer adopted the longer version of his name -- Lucius Pompeius Vopiscus Catellius Celer -- suggesting he accepted another testamentary adoption around that time, in this case from one Lucius Pompeius Vopiscus. This Pompeius Vopiscus might be the suffect consul of 69.

Career

Details of Celer's life are lacking before 20 May 75, when he first appears in the records of the

Arval Brethren In ancient Roman religion, the Arval Brethren ( la, Fratres Arvales, "Brothers of the Fields") or Arval Brothers were a body of priests who offered annual sacrifices to the Lares and gods to guarantee good harvests. Inscriptions provide eviden ...

as a member of that college. Syme argues that between that date and October 77, when he is mentioned again, he was away from Rome, serving as governor of

Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and a portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lusita ...

. He returned to Rome to serve as suffect consul in 77, and attended all the known ceremonies of the Arval Brethren until 86, and does not appear again until 27 May 90. Syme explains his absence by dating Celer's term as '' juridicus'' of Tarraconensis to these years. Prior to serving as ''juridicus'', Celer is known to have served as ''

curator operum publicorum A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

'', succeeding Marcus Hirrius Fronto Neratius Pansa. In AD 91, when he was eligible to participate in the

sortition In governance, sortition (also known as selection by lottery, selection by lot, allotment, demarchy, stochocracy, aleatoric democracy, democratic lottery, and lottocracy) is the selection of political officials as a random sample from a larger ...

for the

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...

ate of either

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, he failed to obtain either one.

Family

Some authorities raise the possibility that Pompeia Celerina, the mother of

Pliny the Younger Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo (61 – c. 113), better known as Pliny the Younger (), was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate ...

's second wife, was Celer's daughter. In his monograph on Imperial Roman nomenclature, Olli Salomies points out that if this were the case, she had to be born after Celer accepted the testamentary adoption -- after 80 -- but "a lady born at the earliest in c. 80 cannot have been the mother of Pliny's second wife."Salomies, ''Adoptive and Polyonymous Nomenclature'', p. 119

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catellius Celer, Gaius 1st-century Romans Senators of the Roman Empire Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Roman governors of Lusitania Vopiscus Gaius Arruntius Catellius Celer Ancient Roman adoptees