Titus Prifernius Geminus (full name Titus Prifernius Paetus Rosianus Geminus) 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 ...

who lived in the second century. He is best known as a friend and correspondent of

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 ...

, who addresses him as ''Geminus''; he served 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 ...

to Pliny for the latter's consulship in AD 100, and five letters Pliny wrote to Geminus have survived. Although the letters convey a genuine friendship between the two (VII.1 mentions Geminus' illness), the first one appears only in the latter books of Pliny's collection;

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 ...

explains this may be due to the fact that he, like Quintus Corellius Rufus and Calestrius Tiro, were living in Rome at the same time. According to an inscription found at

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, the ''

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 ...

'' of Rosianus Geminus's father was "Sextus". Because Sextii Prifernii are not otherwise attested, Olli Salomies, in his monograph on the naming practices of the Early Roman empire, considers it "almost a certainty" that Geminus' name at birth was Rosius Sex.f. Geminus, and he was adopted by testament by a Titus Prifernius Paetus. This person has been identified with Titus Prifernius Paetus,

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 ...

in 96, as well as the

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

Titus Prifernius Paetus Memmius Apollinaris.

Career

military diploma A Roman military diploma was a document inscribed in bronze certifying that the holder was honourably discharged from the Roman armed forces and/or had received the grant of Roman citizenship from the emperor as reward for service. The diploma ...

, dated 16 June 123, attests that Geminus was suffect consul with

Publius Metilius Secundus Publius Metilius Secundus was a Roman senator, who was active during the reign of Hadrian. He was suffect consul in one of the earlier '' nundinia'' of 123 as the colleague of Titus Prifernius Geminus. He is known entirely from inscriptions. B ...

that year. Prior to the publication of this military diploma, Geminus was known to have been

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...

ar governor of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

in 140/141; inferences from that date had led experts to date his consulate earlier than 127, since all of the consuls for 127 and 128 were known. Other offices of his career are known. Geminus was propraetorian governor of 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 ...

in 122/123; an inscription found at

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 ...

attests that his son-in-law

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 ...

was his ''

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 during his year governing Achaea, which also attests Clemens served as his assistant much later when Geminus was governor of Africa. Later Geminus was appointed governor of the imperial province of

Cappadocia Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revo ...

. Geminus' name also appears in a number of inscriptions listing the names of the

patrons 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 ...

of Ostia, along with his son

Titus Prifernius Paetus Rosianus Geminus Titus Prifernius Paetus Rosianus Geminus was a Roman Empire, Roman Roman senate, senator of the second century who held a series of posts in the emperor's service. He was Roman consul, suffect consul for the ''nundinium'' of May-June AD 146 as the c ...

, the suffect consul of 146.

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 ...

, ''Konsulat und Senatorenstand unter den Antoninen'' (Bonn: Habelt Verlag, 1977), pp. 354-361

Career

References

Further reading