Quintus Fuficius Cornutus 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 in the first half of the second century AD, who held a number of offices in the emperor's service. 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 AD 147 with Aulus Claudius Charax as his colleague. Cornutus is known only from inscriptions.

Career

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 '' ...

'' can be reconstructed from an incomplete inscription found at Casalbordino, near

Vasto Vasto ( Abruzzese: '; grc, Ἱστόνιον, Histonion}, la, Histonium) is a ''comune'' on the Adriatic coast of the Province of Chieti, in southern Abruzzo, Italy. During the Middle Ages it was called d''Guastaymonis'', '' Vasto d'Aimone'' or ...

in Italy. The location of this monument led

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 ...

to surmise that Cornutus' home was at this village, or neighboring Frentanum where Cornutus was known to own estates. Restoration of the inscription assumes it recorded which of the four boards of 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 ...

'' Cornutus held, namely the ''quattuorviri viarum curandarum'', which oversaw the maintenance of the roads of the city of Rome. More certain is that he was 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 ...

, and that while holding that commission Cornutus saw combat where his achievements led to him being awarded ''

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. However, where he saw combat, and with which unit, is not known; the part of the inscription containing that information is missing.

Valerie Maxfield Valerie Maxfield FSA is a Roman archaeologist and emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of Exeter. She is a specialist in the archaeology of the Roman army and frontiers, and edited the ''Proceedings of the Devon Archaeological Socie ...

lists two possible occasions on which this could have happened: "the '' bellum Iudaicum'' of A.D. 132-5 in which C. Popilius Carus Pedo, consul the same year as Cornutus, was decorated"; or the ''expeditio Britannica'' during the governorship of

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 ...

. Maxfield, V.br>"The Dona Militaria of the Roman Army"
(Durham theses, Durham University, 1972), vol. 2 p. 23

Anthony Birley Anthony Richard Birley (8 October 1937 – 19 December 2020) was a British ancient historian, archaeologist and academic. He was the son of Margaret Isabel (Goodlet) and historian and archaeologist Eric Birley. Early life and education Anthony ...

is rather doubtful that Cornutus participated in the Jewish War, noting that Hadrian "was notably ungenerous with ''dona'' for the Jewish war." Enough of the inscription survives to attest that Cornutus was the imperial candidate for the Republican magistracies 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 ...

and

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 ...

; Alföldy dates the last office to no later than 138,Alföldy, ''Konsulat und Senatorenstand'', pp. 351-353 while Maxfield dates it to around 137. Being the candidate of the emperor was an important honor. Once he stepped down from the praetorship, Cornutus was appointed '' juridicus'' for

Asturia Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in nor ...

and Callaecia. Alföldy notes he was one of three men who held this position in a narrow period: Alföldy arranges the three putting Lucius Novius Crispinus (later suffect consul around 150) first, who was replaced by

Lucius Coelius Festus Lucius Coelius Festus was a Roman senator, who was appointed to several praetorian offives during the reign of Antoninus Pius. He was suffect consul in the '' nundinium'' of July-September 148 with Publius Orfidius Senecio as his colleague. Mire ...

, and who was in turn replaced by Cornutus around the year 140; Cornutus is surmised to have remained in this appointment for three years. Cornutus received a commission as ''

legatus legionis 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 commander of a

legion Legion may refer to: Military * Roman legion, the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army * Spanish Legion, an elite military unit within the Spanish Army * Legion of the United States, a reorganization of the United States Army from 179 ...

whose name is lost, but appears to have been stationed in one of the two

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 ...

n provinces; Alföldy dates his commission from about 142 to 144, while Maxfield offers the dates of about 141 to 143. This was followed by his governorship of the imperial province of

Pannonia Inferior Pannonia Inferior, lit. Lower Pannonia, was a province of the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sirmium. It was one of the border provinces on the Danube. It was formed in the year 103 AD by Emperor Trajan who divided the former province of Pannonia ...

, which he held from the year 144 to 147. Upon returning to Rome, Cornutus acceded to the consulate. The only office Cornutus is known to have held after his consulate was governor of

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 ...

, which he held from c. 151 to c. 153/154.Alföldy, ''Konsulat und Senatorenstand'', p. 231

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuficius Cornutus, Quintus 2nd-century Romans Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Roman governors of Pannonia Inferior Roman governors of Lower Moesia