Nerazio Cereale - base di statua nel Foro Romano

Neratius (or Naeratius) Cerealis ( 328–358) was a Roman senator and politician, ''

Praefectus urbi The ''praefectus urbanus'', also called ''praefectus urbi'' or urban prefect in English, was prefect of the city of Rome, and later also of Constantinople. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, an ...

'' and Consul.

Biography

He was the brother of Galla, wife of

Julius Constantius Julius Constantius (died September 337 AD) was a politician of the Roman Empire and a member of the Constantinian dynasty, being a son of Emperor Constantius Chlorus and his second wife Flavia Maximiana Theodora, a younger half-brother of Emperor ...

, and half-brother of

Vulcacius Rufinus Vulcacius Rufinus (died 368) was a Roman politician, related to the Constantinian dynasty. Biography A pagan, Rufinus was the brother of Neratius Cerealis, Galla (the mother of Constantius Gallus), and the mother of Maximus. He was '' pontifex ...

, and probably had a son named Neratius Scopius. He owned some ''balnea'' on the

Esquiline Hill The Esquiline Hill (; la, Collis Esquilinus; it, Esquilino ) is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. Its southernmost cusp is the ''Oppius'' (Oppian Hill). Etymology The origin of the name ''Esquiline'' is still under much debate. One view is ...

in Rome, the ''balnea Neratii Cerealis'', located between the church built by Pope Liberius (the modern Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore) and the

Basilica of Junius Bassus The Basilica of Junius Bassus (''basilica Iunii Bassi'') was a civil basilica on the Esquiline Hill in Rome, on a site now occupied by the Seminario Pontificio di Studi Orientali, in via Napoleone III, 3. It is best known for its examples of ''o ...

; maybe it was the ''domus Neratiorum'', owned by an aristocratic family of the 2nd century, to which he added the balnea around 360. In 328 he was '' praefectus annonae'' of Rome. In late summer 351 he was in

Sirmium Sirmium was a city in the Roman province of Pannonia, located on the Sava river, on the site of modern Sremska Mitrovica in the Vojvodina autonomous provice of Serbia. First mentioned in the 4th century BC and originally inhabited by Illyrian ...

, a member of the tribunal processing

Photinus Photinus (Greek Φωτεινός; died 376), was a Christian bishop of Sirmium in Pannonia Secunda (today the town Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia), best known for denying the incarnation of Christ, thus being considered a heresiarch by the Catholic C ...

; the city was under the control of Emperor

Constantius II Constantius II (Latin: ''Flavius Julius Constantius''; grc-gre, Κωνστάντιος; 7 August 317 – 3 November 361) was Roman emperor from 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic ...

, while Rome was occupied by the usurper

Magnentius Magnus Magnentius ( 303 – 11 August 353) was a Roman general and usurper against Constantius II from 350 to 353. Of Germanic descent, Magnentius served with distinction in Gaul under the Western emperor Constans. On 18 January 350 Magnentius ...

. It is probable that Neratius remained with Constantius until he was appointed ''

'' of Rome, on September 26, 352, a little time after the usurper had left the city. As ''Praefectus'' he asked to divert the grain for

Capua Capua ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, situated north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. History Ancient era The name of Capua comes from the Etrus ...

Puteoli Pozzuoli (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean Peninsula. History Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of ''Dicaearchia'' ( el, Δικα ...

, and other cities of

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

to Rome. His office ended on December 8, 353. On the right of the

Arch of Septimius Severus The Arch of Septimius Severus ( it, Arco di Settimio Severo) at the northwestern end of the Roman Forum is a white marble triumphal arch dedicated in 203 A.D. to commemorate the Parthian victories of Emperor Septimius Severus and his two sons, ...

in the Roman Forum, between the arch and the

Curia Curia (Latin plural curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally likely had wider powers, they came ...

, the base of a statue erected by Neratius in honour of

is still extant; the Emperor is celebrated in the epigraph () as ''restitutor urbis et orbis, extinctor pestiferae tyrannidis'', a reference to his victory over

. Neratius was

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

in 358.

Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is co ...

records the answer that a young widow, Marcella, gave to Neratius when he proposed to marry her, late in his life: she said that if she wanted to marry again, she would choose a husband, not an inheritance.Jerome, ''Letters'', 127.2.

Notes

Bibliography

* Martindale, John Robert,

Arnold Hugh Martin Jones Arnold Hugh Martin Jones FBA (9 March 1904 – 9 April 1970) (known as A. H. M. Jones or Hugo Jones) was a prominent 20th-century British historian of classical antiquity, particularly of the later Roman Empire. Biography Jones's best-known wor ...

, John Morris, "Cerealis 2", ''

The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...

'', Cambridge University Press, 1971, , p. 197-199. {{end 4th-century Romans Imperial Roman consuls

Cerealis Cerealis is a Portuguese food producer and the biggest milling company in Portugal, headquartered in Maia, and founded in 1919 as a cereal processing company. Cerealis Group has two divisions, food producer Cerealis Produtos Alimentares and mi ...

Praefecti annonae Urban prefects of Rome