Marcus Cornelius Nigrinus Curiatius Maternus 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 ...

and general during the reign of

Domitian Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavi ...

. He was suffect consul during 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 ...

'' of September to October AD 83 with Lucius Calventius Sextius Carminius Vetus. Although some experts consider him a rival with

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

as heir apparent 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), ...

Nerva Nerva (; originally Marcus Cocceius Nerva; 8 November 30 – 27 January 98) was Roman emperor from 96 to 98. Nerva became emperor when aged almost 66, after a lifetime of imperial service under Nero and the succeeding rulers of the Flavian dy ...

, he is primarily known from inscriptions. His polyonymous name has led to many interpretations. One, based on the form of his name used in consular dating ("M. Cornelius Nigrinus"), is that he was born Cornelius and adopted by a

Curiatius Maternus Curiatius Maternus () appears in the ''Dialogus de oratoribus'' (Dialogue on orators) of Tacitus. He was an author of tragedies in Latin, having composed a ''Domitius'', a ''Medea'', and a ''Cato'' by AD 74 or 75. He may be identified with the sop ...

(likely the orator of Tacitus' ''

Dialogus de oratoribus The ''Dialogus de oratoribus'' is a short work attributed to Tacitus, in dialogue form, on the art of rhetoric. Its date of composition is unknown, though its dedication to Lucius Fabius Justus places its publication around 102 AD. Summary The ...

''), but Olli Salomies notes "the order of the names makes this altogether unlikely".

Ronald Syme Sir Ronald Syme, (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Roman ...

suggested that "not perhaps a Cornelius adopting a Curiatius (still less the reverse, as some incautiously assumed), but rather the son of a Curatia. That is, a presumed sister of (C.?) Curiatius Maternus, orator, dramatist, and the central character in the Dialogus of Tacitus." Some authorities have suggested that this Curiatius is the same person as the orator in Tacitus' short work.

Life

Maternus was born to the

equestrian order The ''equites'' (; literally "horse-" or "cavalrymen", though sometimes referred to as "knights" in English) constituted the second of the property-based classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the senatorial class. A member of the equestrian o ...

; his hometown was Liria in

Hispania Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania ...

, where an inscription honoring him was found. While still an ''eques'', Maternus served as a

military tribune A military tribune (Latin ''tribunus militum'', "tribune of the soldiers") was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion. Young men of Equestrian rank often served as military tribune as a stepping stone to ...

Legio XIV Gemina Legio XIV Gemina ("The Twinned Fourteenth Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army, levied by Julius Caesar in 57 BC. The cognomen ''Gemina'' (Twinned) was added when the legion was combined with another understrength legion after the B ...

, which was stationed in

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered was ...

at the time. He was adlected into the Roman Senate as an ex-

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...

Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...

for his loyalty in the

Year of Four Emperors A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hour ...

. He served as governor of

Gallia Aquitania Gallia Aquitania ( , ), also known as Aquitaine or Aquitaine Gaul, was a province of the Roman Empire. It lies in present-day southwest France, where it gives its name to the modern region of Aquitaine. It was bordered by the provinces of Gallia ...

from AD 80 until at least as late as 83; we have no record of another governor for this province until 94, when

Senecio Memmius Afer Senecio Memmius Afer was a Roman senator active in the last quarter of the first century AD. He was suffect consul for the '' nundinium'' of June to July AD 99 as the colleague of Publius Sulpicius Lucretius Barba. Afer is known primarily from ins ...

is known to have held the position. He was later governor of

Moesia Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...

from 85 until its division into

Moesia Inferior Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...

and

Moesia Superior Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...

; subsequently he was governor of Moesia Inferior until 89. He apparently was involved in

Domitian's Dacian War Domitian's Dacian War was a conflict between the Roman Empire and the Dacian Kingdom, which had invaded the province of Moesia. The war occurred during the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian, in the years 86–88 AD. Dacian attack and def ...

, for during his governorship Maternus received a number of ''

dona militaria As with most other military forces the Roman military adopted an extensive list of decorations for military gallantry and likewise a range of punishments for military transgressions. Decorations, awards and victory titles Crowns *Grass crown � ...

'', or military decorations, including two

mural crown A mural crown ( la, corona muralis) is a crown or headpiece representing city walls, towers, or fortresses. In classical antiquity, it was an emblem of tutelary deities who watched over a city, and among the Romans a military decoration. Later th ...

s and two

camp crown In Ancient Rome, a camp crown ( la, corona castrensis, "crown of the castrum"), also known as a vallary crown, was a military award given to the first man who penetrated into an enemy camp or field during combat. It took the form of a gold crown s ...

s. A few years passed until Maternus was appointed to govern

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

in 95, which he held into the reign of

Maternus and Nerva

In a letter

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 ...

wrote to his friend Quadratus, while recounting an anecdote set during the short reign of the emperor Nerva, Pliny alludes to a man in charge of a massive army in the eastern part of the empire, about whom there was a lot of gossip, some causing apprehension. It is commonly presumed that this person was the governor of

; further, due to the date, this person is commonly assumed to be a rival to

for the position of successor to Nerva. It was thought that this unnamed person was

Gaius Octavius Tidius Tossianus Lucius Javolenus Priscus Gaius Octavius Tidius Tossianus Lucius Javolenus Priscus was a Roman senator and jurist who flourished during the Flavian dynasty. Many of his judgments are quoted in the ''Digest''. Priscus served as suffect consul for the '' nundinium'' (perio ...

, known to be governor of Syria in the 90s. However, Berriman, et al., believe it unlikely that Javolenus Priscus, "known as a jurist and member of Trajan's consilium rather than a military man, could have contemplated a challenge for the throne, much less that he would have remained in favour with Trajan thereafter".Berriman, ''et alia'', "Very Roman Coup", p. 319 More recently

Géza Alföldy Géza Alföldy (June 7, 1935 – November 6, 2011) was a Hungarian historian of ancient history. Life Géza Alföldy was born in Budapest. He studied at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Budapest from 1953 to 1958, where he in ...

and Helmut Halfmann have presented Maternus as the individual Pliny likely alluded to in his letter to Quadratus.Alföldy and Halfmann, "M. Cornelius Nigrinus Curiatius Maternus, General Domitians und Rivale", ''Chiron'', 3 (1973), pp. 331–373 An anomaly in the career of

Aulus Larcius Priscus Aulus Larcius Priscus was a Roman Senator and general who held several posts in the emperor's service. His career is unusual in that Priscus held a very senior post governor of Syria at an unusually early point in his life. He was suffect consul ...

, suffect consul in 110, supports Maternus' identification. At the time, Priscus, who had been

quaestor A ( , , ; "investigator") was a public official in Ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officials who ...

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 ...

, then military tribune of

Legio IV Scythica Legio was a Roman military camp south of Tel Megiddo in the Roman province of Galilee. History Following the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-136CE), Legio VI Ferrata was stationed at Legio near Caparcotna. The approximate location of the camp of the Le ...

based in Syria, was appointed to the governorship of Syria. Syria was an important province, and its administration was usually assigned to a senior senator who had previously held the consulate. An appointment like this would only be made in an emergency, when something had happened to the previous governor. Any rival to Trajan, upon the latter's ascension to the throne, at the least would have been removed from an imperial position, and at most would have been executed. Whatever his fate, we have no record of Maternus after AD 97.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornelius Nigrinus Curiatius Maternus, Marcus 1st-century Romans 1st-century Roman governors of Syria Ancient Roman equites Senators of the Roman Empire Roman governors of Gallia Aquitania Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Roman governors of Lower Moesia Roman governors of Syria Cornelii