Inportunus ( 509–523) was a Roman aristocrat who lived during the reign of
Theodoric the Great
Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal ( got, , *Þiudareiks; Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ), was king of the Ostrogoths (471–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy ...
. He held the
consulship
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 ...
without colleague in 509.
Inportunus was the son of
Caecina Decius Maximus Basilius (consul in 480), and brother of
Albinus (consul in 493),
Avienus (consul in 501), and
Theodorus (consul in 505). John Moorhead argues that the brothers were on different sides of the
Laurentian schism
Laurentius (possibly Caelius) was the Archpriest of Santa Prassede and later antipope of the See of Rome. Elected in 498 at the Basilica Saint Mariae (presumably Saint Maria Maggiore) with the support of a dissenting faction with Byzantine sympat ...
, with Albinus and Avienus supporting
Symmachus and Theodore and Inportunus supporting
Laurentius
Laurentius is a Latin given name and surname that means "''From Laurentum''" (a city near Rome).
It is possible that the place name ''Laurentum'' is derived from the Latin ''laurus'' ("laurel").
People with the name include:
In Early Christian ...
. Moorhead also suggests that king Theodoric appointed Inportunus consul for 509 "as a sop to the adherents of the vanquished Laurentius."
While organizing the games to celebrate his consulate, Inportunus and his brother Theodorus were accused by the
Greens of attacking them and killing one of their members. A surviving letter of Theodoric commands both of them to provide answers to these allegations before the tribunal of the ''inlustrius'' Caelianus and Agapitus.
In 523, he was part of the entourage of
Pope John I
Pope John I ( la, Ioannes I; died 18 May 526) was the bishop of Rome from 13 August 523 to his death. He was a native of Siena (or the "Castello di Serena", near Chiusdino), in Italy. He was sent on a diplomatic mission to Constantinople by the ...
, who had been ordered by king Theodoric to proceed to
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
and obtain a moderation of
Emperor Justin's decree of 523 against the
Arians
Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God t ...
. Theodoric threatened that if John should fail in his mission, there would be reprisals against the orthodox Catholics in the West. Other
Senators accompanying Pope John included his brother Theodorus, the ex-consul
Agapitus, and the patrician Agapitus.
[Raymond Davis (translator), ''The Book of Pontiffs (Liber Pontificalis)'', first edition (Liverpool: University Press, 1989), p. 49]
References
{{end
6th-century Italo-Roman people
6th-century Roman consuls
Decii
Imperial Roman consuls
Patricii