Publius Pactumeius Clemens 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
jurisconsult
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...
active during the first century AD. He was
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 ...
'' April-June 138 as the colleague of
Marcus Vindius Verus; according to
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 ...
, Clemens is the earliest known consul to hold the fasces ''in absentia''. Although he is known mostly through inscriptions, his life provides examples of how
patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
operated during contemporary Rome.
The origins of the family of Clemens was in
Cirta
Cirta, also known by various other names in antiquity, was the ancient Berber and Roman settlement which later became Constantine, Algeria.
Cirta was the capital city of the Berber kingdom of Numidia; its strategically important port city w ...
, located in modern
Algeria
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, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
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, capital = Algiers
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, relig ...
. Olli Salomies, in his monograph on the naming practices of the Early Roman empire, provides Clemens' full name and filiation -- "P. Pactumeius P. f. Quir. Clemens"; this indicates his father's ''
praenomen
The ''praenomen'' (; plural: ''praenomina'') was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the bi ...
'' was also Publius. His paternal grandfather was
Quintus Aurelius Pactumeius Clemens
Quintus Aurelius Pactumeius Fronto was a Roman empire, Roman Roman senate, senator active during the first century AD. He was Roman consul, suffect consul for the ''nundinium'' September-October 80 as the colleague of Lucius Aelius Lamia Plautius A ...
, suffect consul around the year 80.
Life
His ''
cursus honorum
The ''cursus honorum'' (; , or more colloquially 'ladder of offices') was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The '' ...
'' as far as his consulship has been preserved in an inscription found in Cirta, honoring his agreement to become patron of that city. It is notable for consisting only of civil positions, and excluding military ones, such as
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 ...
or command of a legion, which his contemporary from Cirta,
Publius Julius Geminius Marcianus
Publius Julius Geminius Marcianus was a Roman empire, Roman Roman senate, senator and general. He participated in the Roman–Parthian War of 161–166. Marcianus was appointed Roman consul, suffect consul in either 165 or 166.
Life
Marcianus wa ...
, held. Clemens began his public career in the ''
decemviri stlitibus judicandis The ''decemviri stlitibus judicandis'' was a civil court of ancient origin, traditionally attributed to Servius Tullius, which originally dealt with cases concerning whether an individual was free.
History
Originally these decemvirs were a jury of ...
'', one of the four boards that comprise the ''
vigintiviri
__NOTOC__The ''vigintisexviri'' ( ''vigintisexvir''; ) were a college ( ''collegium'') of minor magistrates (''magistratus minores'') in the Roman Republic. The college consisted of six boards:
* the ''decemviri stlitibus judicandis'' – 1 ...
''; this board of ten was tasked with maintaining the city roads of Rome. His next documented office was as
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 ...
. This inscription then records that Clemens was ''
legatus
A ''legatus'' (; anglicised as legate) was a high-ranking Roman military officer in the Roman Army, equivalent to a modern high-ranking general officer. Initially used to delegate power, the term became formalised under Augustus as the officer ...
'' or assistant to his father-in-law
Titus Prifernius Geminus Titus Prifernius Geminus (full name Titus Prifernius Paetus Rosianus Geminus) was a Roman senator who lived in the second century. He is best known as a friend and correspondent of Pliny the Younger, who addresses him as ''Geminus''; he served as qu ...
during the latter's year governing the public province of
Achaea
Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaïa'' ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. The ...
(122/123); after his consulate, he was ''legatus'' for his father-in-law a second time, this time when Geminus was governor of
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 ...
.
Clemens returned to Rome, where he held the Republican office of
plebeian tribune
Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune ( la, tribunus plebis) was the first office of the Roman state that was open to the plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power of ...
; following this he was assigned as ''curator'' to the Greek cities of Athens, Thespis, Plataea; then at a later date for the cities of
Thessaly
Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thes ...
. The finances of many cities during this period had fallen into disarray, and the emperors
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 ...
and
Hadrian
Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania B ...
were forced to appoint special magistrates to reorganize them. Once again in Rome, he was
urban 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 ...
around the year 127. These responsibilities had accrued to Clemens a degree of prominence in the "Cirtan community at Rome"
Edward Champlin
Edward Champlin is a Professor of Classics, Cotsen Professor of Humanities, and former Master of Butler College at Princeton University. He teaches Roman history, Roman law, and Latin literature and has written several books regarding these subje ...
infers existed there; other members of this community included
Quintus Lollius Urbicus
Quintus Lollius Urbicus was a Numidian Berber governor of Roman Britain between the years 139 and 142, during the reign of the Emperor Antoninus Pius. He is named in the ''Historia Augusta'', although it is not entirely historical, and his name ...
, consul in either 135 or 136;
Gaius Arrius Antoninus
Gaius Arrius Antoninus was a Roman senator and jurist active in the last half of the second century AD, who held a number of offices in the emperor's service. The date when he was suffect consul is not attested, but has been estimated to be aro ...
, consul around the year 170; and the rhetorician
Fronto. Champlin notes that Lollius Urbicus and Pactumeius Clemens themselves "could provide powerful support for Cirtan interests, and such support is attested by strong circumstantial evidence."
Following this he was appointed by Hadrian ''ad rationes civitatium putandas'' in
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 ...
; Champlin suggests he gained this appointment through the intervention of
Marcus Claudius Restitutus, the first known
procurator
Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to:
* Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency
* ''Procurator'' (Ancient Rome), the title of ...
from Cirta. This was followed by a similar appointment to the imperial province of
Cilicia
Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coa ...
, then becoming governor of that province;
Werner Eck
Werner Eck (born 17 December 1939) is Professor of Ancient History at Cologne University, Germany, and a noted expert on the history and epigraphy of imperial Rome.Eck, W. (2007) ''The Age of Augustus''. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, cover notes. His ...
dates the period of this governorship from around 136 to around 139.
[Eck, "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten", pp. 179-184] While governor, Clemens was appointed suffect consul.
Information about Clemens' life ends with his consulship; the date of his death is unknown. His relationship to
Titus Pactumeius Magnus, suffect consul in 183, is unknown.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pactumeius Clemens, Publius
2nd-century Romans
Romans from Africa
Roman governors of Cilicia
Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome
Clemens, Publius Pactumeius