Publius Glitius Gallus 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 active in the late 1st century AD. He was suffect consul at some yet undetermined ''

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 ...

'' in the first century. According to

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

, a Glitius was the first husband of

Vistilia Vistilia was a Roman matron of the gens Vistilia known by her contemporaries for having seven children by six different husbands; Pliny the Elder was more impressed by the fact most of her pregnancies were remarkably brief. Five of her sons became ...

, famous for having seven children by six husbands; she had a son by him, but Pliny does not provide the child's name.

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 ...

identifies this son (born c. 15 BC) as the father of Glitius Gallus. His tombstone was erected by his wife, Maximila Agnata, at Faleria Nova in Etruria.

Career

A fragmentary inscription from

Faleria Faleria is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Viterbo in the Italian region Latium, located about north of Rome and about southeast of Viterbo. Faleria borders the following municipalities: Calcata, Castel Sant'Elia, Civita Castella ...

provides us with details of the earlier portion 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 '' ...

''. Gallus began in his teens as one of the '' tresviri monetalis'', the most prestigious of the four boards that form 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 ...

''; assignment to this board was usually allocated to

patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

s or favored individuals. Soon after he became a '' salius Palatinus'', a member of a priesthood that was reserved to patricians. These two facts led

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 ...

to speculate that Gallus was adlected into the patrician order; however, other experts, such as Hermann Dessau, Syme, and

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 ...

, argue that Gallus was a patrician by birth.Syme asserts that it was his father who was adlected into the patrician order. As Maxfield points out, if he was a patrician by birth, it would explain the absence of a military tribunate from this inscription. Maxfield, V (1972
''The Dona Militaria of the Roman Army''
(Durham theses, Durham University, 1972), vol. 1 p. 25 The inscription continues its list with the mention that Gallus was quaestor in attendance to the emperor at the time; the omission of a name suggests the emperor was one under

damnatio memoriae is a modern Latin phrase meaning "condemnation of memory", indicating that a person is to be excluded from official accounts. Depending on the extent, it can be a case of historical negationism. There are and have been many routes to , includi ...

, leading Syme to identify this unnamed emperor with "one of the ephemeral emperors of 69."Sym
"P. Calvisius Ruso. One Person or Two?"
''

Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik The ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'' (commonly abbreviated ZPE; "Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy") is a peer-reviewed academic journal which contains articles that pertain to papyrology and epigraphy. It has been described as " ...

'', 56 (1984), p. 175 This was followed by the republican magistracy of

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 ...

, omitting mention 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 o ...

aedile ''Aedile'' ( ; la, aedīlis , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to ...

; patricians were excused from needing to hold either office in order to advance to the praetorship. After this office he was admitted to the '' flamines Augustales''. Then, for unknown reasons, Gallus received ''

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 � ...

'' in the form of a single ''

hasta pura The ''hasta pura'' or ''hasta donatica'' was a decoration for merit, awarded in Ancient Rome. The Roman sources do not concur about the precise character of the decoration. Some call it a decoration for valour, others mention that it had been awa ...

'' (or headless spear) from the emperors

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 ...

during their censorship in the years 73–74. "No military posts are recorded in the career of Glitius Gallus so the fact that the decoration was awarded by Vespasian and Titus suggests that it was a reward, not for military service, but for adherence to the Flavian cause in A.D. 69," Maxfield writes. "This would explain why there was only one ''hasta'' and none of the ''coronae'' and ''vexilla'' normally awarded to a senator." The surviving portion ends with mention of his consulship. The date of his consulship is disputed. One interpretation is based on the fact that the second inscription from Faleria refers to Vespasian without the adjective ''divus'' ("divine", attesting to his posthumous promotion to a god) -- which would point to a date before Vespasian's death in the year 79. On the other hand, Syme argues that there are examples of Vespasian being referred to after his death without the word ''divus''; thus its omission does not necessarily mean the inscription was made before Vespasian's death. This allowed Syme to identify Glitius Gallus with an otherwise unknown Gallus who was suffect consul of the year 84.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glitius Gallus, Publius 1st-century Romans Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome