Quintus Aurelius Pactumeius Fronto 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 ...

active during the first century AD. He was suffect consul 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 80 as the colleague of

Lucius Aelius Lamia Plautius Aelianus Lucius Aelius Lamia Plautius Aelianus (c. 4581/96) was a Roman senator. Life He was described by Brian W. Jones as "the most eminent of the consular victims" of Domitian.Jones, ''The Emperor Domitian'' (London: Routledge, 1993), p. 184 Juvena ...

. Fronto is the earliest documented person from North Africa to accede to the Roman consulate, although his brother Quintus Aurelius Pactumeius Clemens, the date of whose consulship is not known but is around the same time, could be earlier; a stamp on an

amphora An amphora (; grc, ἀμφορεύς, ''amphoreús''; English plural: amphorae or amphoras) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storag ...

found in

Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...

dates the ceramic to the consulate of "Marcellus and Pactumeius". The mystery lies in an inscription from

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 ...

set up by Pactumeia, daughter of one of these brothers, but the name of her father is damaged, and the traces could fit either man. Both Fronto and his brother Clemens are known solely from inscriptions. Both brothers were born into the

equestrian class 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 ...

, and thus '' homines novi''.

Mireille Corbier Mireille Corbier (born 24 May 1943) is a French historian of Classical history. Currently Research Director emerita at Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), she has published a number of books and articles, and since 1992 has been ed ...

, in her monograph on financial administrators of the Roman Empire, explains their '' gentilica'' as the result of a

testamentary adoption A testator () is a person who has written and executed a last will and testament that is in effect at the time of their death. It is any "person who makes a will."Gordon Brown, ''Administration of Wills, Trusts, and Estates'', 3d ed. (2003), p. 556 ...

by a Quintus Aurelius.Corbie
''L'aerarium saturni et l'aerarium militare. Administration et prosopographie sénatoriale''
Publications de l'École française de Rome, 24 (Rome: École Française de Rome, 1974), p. 371 Both were adlected into the Senate as

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 ...

ians by

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 ...

and

Titus Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September 81 AD) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death. Before becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a mili ...

in 73–74. Fronto was appointed curator of the ''

aerarium militare The ''aerarium militare'' was the military treasury of Imperial Rome. It was instituted by Augustus, the first Roman emperor, as a "permanent revenue source" for pensions ''(praemia)'' for veterans of the Imperial Roman army. The treasury derive ...

'' presumably for three years between the years 75 and 79. Corbier remarks on the remarkable speed of Fronto's advancement: he needed only six years to achieve consular rank after being admitted to the Senate. The lives of both brothers lack documentation after their consulates. Corbier believes Pactumeia was the daughter of Pactumeius Fronto, while his brother Clemens is the grandfather of

Publius Pactumeius Clemens Publius Pactumeius Clemens was a Roman senator and jurisconsult active during the first century AD. He was suffect consul for the '' nundinium'' April-June 138 as the colleague of Marcus Vindius Verus; according to Ronald Syme, Clemens is the earl ...

, consul in 138.Corbier, ''L'aerarium saturni et l'aerarium militare'', p. 372

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aurelius Pactumeius Fronto, Quintus 1st-century Romans Romans from Africa Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Pactumeius Pactumeii Ancient Roman adoptees