Lucius Domitius Apollinaris 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 lette ...

senator of the late first century. He is best known for his literary activities, as an acquaintance of Pliny the Younger and a patron of the poet Martial. He was appointed suffect consul in the '' nundinium'' of July to August 97 with Sextus Hermentidius Campanus as his colleague. Martial dedicated three of the books of his epigrams to Apollinaris: the fourth, seventh, and eleventh.

Life

The family origins of Apollinaris lie in

Vercellae Vercelli (; pms, Vërsèj ), is a city and ''comune'' of 46,552 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, a ...

in Northwestern Italy. Thanks to the ingenuous identification of Apollinaris with the subject of a headless inscription found in Asia Minor by

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. Hi ...

, we know most of the earliest steps of 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 '' ...

''. Apollinaris' first recorded republican magistracy was quaestor, which was followed by

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 o ...

, 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 vari ...

. Then he was appointed one of the nine ''curatores viarum'', or curator of the public roads, in Italy. This was followed by two terms of service 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 office ...

'' or commander, first of the

Legio XVI Flavia Firma Legio XVI Flavia firma ("Steadfast Flavian Sixteenth Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. The legion was created by Emperor Vespasian in 70 from the remains of the XVI ''Gallica'' (which had surrendered in the Batavian rebellion). Th ...

, then of Legio VI Ferrata which was stationed in Syria. Eck suspects his command of Legio VI was during the governorship of

Publius Valerius Patruinus Publius Valerius Patruinus (died AD 91) was a Roman senator, who flourished under the reign of Domitian. He was suffect consul in the '' nundinium'' of July–August 82 with Lucius Antonius Saturninus as his colleague. He is known entirely from in ...

(AD 87–91), for Patruinus was the father of Apollinaris' wife, Valeria Vetilla. After concluding his command of Legio VI Ferrata, Apollinaris returned to Rome to serve as prefect 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 ...

'' for three years. At this point we know of his career from other sources. It has been long known that Apollinaris was governor of

Lycia et Pamphylia Lycia et Pamphylia was the name of a province of the Roman empire, located in southern Anatolia. It was created by the emperor Vespasian (69–79), who merged Lycia and Pamphylia into a single administrative unit. In 43 AD, the emperor Claudius ...

from 93 to 96. An inscription recovered from

Xanthos Xanthos ( Lycian: 𐊀𐊕𐊑𐊏𐊀 ''Arñna'', el, Ξάνθος, Latin: ''Xanthus'', Turkish: ''Ksantos'') was an ancient major city near present-day Kınık, Antalya Province, Turkey. The remains of Xanthos lie on a hill on the left b ...

by A. Ballard records his name and the other members of his family, who are assumed to have been living in Lycia with him.Balland, ''Fouilles de Xanthos, VII: Inscriptions d'époque impériale du Létôon'', (Paris, 1981), p. 103; cited in ''

L'Année épigraphique ''L'Année épigraphique'' (''The Epigraphic Year'', standard abbreviation ''AE'') is a French publication on epigraphy (i.e the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing). It was set up by René Cagnat, as holder of the chair of 'Epigraphy an ...

''
1981, 826
/ref> After his return from Lycia, Apollinaris returned to Rome. It is at this time that we have one of our earliest glimpses of him. In a letter to Quadratus ('' Epistulae'', IX.13), Pliny recalls his prosecution after the assassination 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 Fl ...

of the ''

delator Delator (plural: ''delatores'', feminine: ''delatrix'') is Latin for a denouncer, one who indicates to a court another as having committed a punishable deed. Secular Roman law In Roman history, it was properly one who gave notice (''deferre'') t ...

'' or informer Publicius Certus. One of the five senators who had spoken against this prosecution was Apollinaris; Pliny's description of him as "consul designate" firmly places it in this period. Despite Apollinaris' speech, Pliny was able to convince the senate to approve the prosecution. Although the emperor Nerva failed to act on the motion to prosecute, Certus was passed over in consideration for a consulship, and in any event fell ill and died soon afterwards. Our next glimpse of Apollinaris is from one of Martial's poems (10.12), addressed to him after stepping down as consul. Apparently the disagreement over Publicius Certus was not sharp enough to poison the friendship between Apollinaris and Pliny, for around the time of his consulate Pliny wrote to him in support of Sextius Erucius' candidacy for plebeian tribune. Unfortunately, this is the last time we can assign a date to any mention of his activities. Pliny addressed one more letter to Apollinaris. Apparently Pliny wrote to him about taking a vacation on his estate in

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

, and Apollinaris replied to this news with alarm for Pliny's health. The existing letter is a reply to explain his estate is located in a desirable region of Etruria, and includes an extensive description of Pliny's villa at Tifernum (the modern

Città di Castello Città di Castello (); "Castle Town") is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Perugia, in the northern part of Umbria. It is situated on a slope of the Apennines, on the flood plain along the upper part of the river Tiber. The city is north of ...

). In this letter, Pliny makes a pointed allusion to the location of his three rural estates, since we know through one of Martial's poems Apollinaris owned villas in several more fashionable locations that include

Tusculum Tusculum is a ruined Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable distance from Rome ( ...

Algidus ''Algidus'' is a genus of spiders in the family Lycosidae Wolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae (). They are robust and agile hunters with excellent eyesight. They live mostly in solitude, hunt alone, and do not spin webs. Some are ...

Praeneste Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; grc, Πραίνεστος, ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Pre ...

, and

Antium Antium was an ancient coastal town in Latium, south of Rome. An oppidum was founded by people of Latial culture (11th century BC or the beginning of the 1st millennium BC), then it was the main stronghold of the Volsci people until it was conqu ...

Family

Apollinaris' family is better documented than those of most of his contemporaries. We know the name of his wife, Valeria Vetilla, the daughter of

, suffect consul in the year 82. Two of their children are attested by inscriptions on a series of statues found in

; a third is surmised by

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 ...

: Together they had at least three children: * Domitius Patruinus, whose daughter Domitia Vetilla married Lucius Roscius Paculus, suffect consul around 136. * Domitius Seneca, who married Claudia Decmina; their son Domitius Seneca was governor of

c. 136 * Domitia Vettilla, a daughter or possibly granddaughter;Syme
"People in Pliny"
''

Journal of Roman Studies The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies (The Roman Society) was founded in 1910 as the sister society to the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. The Society is the leading organisation in the United Kingdom for those interest ...

'', 58 (1968), p. 147 she was the second wife of

Lucius Neratius Marcellus Lucius Neratius Marcellus (''fl''. 1st century – 2nd century AD) was an imperial Roman military officer and senator who held a number of posts in the Emperor's service. Marcellus was elected consul twice, first under Domitian in 95AD and ag ...

, suffect consul in 95 and ordinary consul in 129. Their marriage allied the family with the more powerful gens Neratia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Domitius Apollinaris, Lucius 1st-century Romans Roman governors of Lycia et Pamphylia Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Apollinaris, Lucius Domitius