Gaius Julius Plancius Varus Cornutus was a man of Roman Senatorial rank who lived in the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

in the 2nd century. Cornutus was the son of

Gaius Julius Cornutus Tertullus Gaius Julius Cornutus Tertullus was a Roman senator who was active during the late 1st and early 2nd centuries. He is best known as the older friend of Pliny the Younger, with whom Cornutus was suffect consul for the ''nundinium'' of September to ...

and

Plancia Magna Plancia Magna ( el, Πλανκία Μαγνά) was a prominent woman of Perga in the Roman province of Lycia et Pamphylia who lived in the 1st and 2nd centuries. During her life she was not only a high priestess, but a member of the decurio and a ...

. His paternal grandparents were 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 ' ...

and

Suffect 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 ...

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 throug ...

and possibly Tertulla. While his maternal grandparents were the Roman Senator and Proconsul

Marcus Plancius Varus Marcus Plancius Varus was an Anatolian Roman noble who lived in the 1st century in the Roman Empire. His paternal ancestors were originally from Latium in Central Italy. They had immigrated to Anatolia in the time of the late Roman Republic. Varus ...

and Herodian Princess

Julia Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Julia'' had been in use throughout Late Antiquity (e.g. ...

. His family were prominent citizens and patrons in

Perga Perga or Perge ( Hittite: ''Parha'', el, Πέργη ''Perge'', tr, Perge) was originally an ancient Lycian settlement that later became a Greek city in Pamphylia. It was the capital of the Roman province of Pamphylia Secunda, now located in ...

. Cornutus was of Roman,

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Nabataean The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; Arabic: , , singular , ; compare grc, Ναβαταῖος, translit=Nabataîos; la, Nabataeus) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Lev ...

Edom Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east.N ...

ite,

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

and Persian ancestry. Through his maternal grandmother, Cornutus' ancestors were King

Archelaus of Cappadocia Archelaus ( el, Ἀρχέλαος; fl. 1st century BC and 1st century, died 17 AD) was a Roman client prince and the last king of Cappadocia. Family and early life Archelaus was a Cappadocian Greek nobleman. His full name was ''Archelaus Sisin ...

, King of Judea

Herod the Great Herod I (; ; grc-gre, ; c. 72 – 4 or 1 BCE), also known as Herod the Great, was a Roman Jewish client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renov ...

and his wife

Mariamne Mariamne is a name frequently used in the Herodian royal house. In Greek it is spelled Μαριάμη (Mariame) by Josephus; in some editions of his work the second ''m'' is doubled (Mariamme). In later copies of those editions the spelling was ...

. Cornutus along with his mother, maternal uncle

Gaius Plancius Varus Gaius Plancius Varus was a Roman who lived between the 1st century and 2nd century in the Roman Empire. Varus was the son of the Roman Senator and Proconsul Marcus Plancius Varus, and the Herodian Princess Julia. His sister was Plancia Magna; he ...

and his maternal relatives were among the last known descendants of the

Herodian Dynasty The Herodian dynasty was a royal dynasty of Idumaean (Edomite) descent, ruling the Herodian Kingdom of Judea and later the Herodian Tetrarchy as a vassal state of the Roman Empire. The Herodian dynasty began with Herod the Great, who assumed the ...

. He appeared to be an

apostate Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that ...

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

. It is unlikely that Cornutus attempted to exert influence on Judean Politics. He was born and raised in

, the capital of the

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

Pamphylia Pamphylia (; grc, Παμφυλία, ''Pamphylía'') was a region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the north by ...

. In the

Agora The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order of t ...

in Perga, the local government in Perga had dedicated and honored Cornutus with an inscription on a statue base. This inscription honors Cornutus and his family. Cornutus and his ancestors are highly praised as the benefactors of Perga and the inscription states how lawful, considerable and rewarding citizens they were. This inscriptions reveals how prominent he and his family were and shows the respect that the citizens of Perga had for Cornutus and his family.

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Julius Plancius Varus Cornutus, Gaius 2nd-century Romans Senators of the Roman Empire Herodian dynasty Plancius Varus Cornutus, Gaius People from Roman Anatolia Plancii