DiscussionFragmentary base statue, probably of Petronius Maximus, consul and praetorian prefect. Rome, Forum. 425-455. INSCRIPTION:In 8 partially surviving lines. Letter height 2.3-2.5 cm. ------ / [---] notar[io] / [---]m, praefecto / [---] Italiae / [--- pra]eceptori /(5) [---P]ḷ̣̣acidi / [---]p̣̣̣̅(---)Au̅g̅(usti) / [---]ị ṣẹṇatụ[s] / ------ 'To... notary, ... prefect... of Italy ... tutor … of Placidus …Augustus… the senate…' The inscription records a dedication of an important official who was praeceptor of the emperor Valentinian III. The analysis of the career described allowed Panciera to identify the honorand as Petronius Maximus, and to suggest (also based on comparison with other similar, late antique and early imperial, honours) the following reconstruction: [Petronio Maximo, v(iro) c(larissimo), tribuno et] notar[io,] / [comiti sacrarum largitionu]m, praefecto / [urbi iterum, praef(ecto) praet(orio)] Italiae / [et Africae, co(n)s(uli) ord(inario), pra]eceptori /(5) [domini nostri P]ḷ̣̣acidi / [Valentiniani p̣̣̣̅(er)] p̣̣̣̅(etui) Au̅g̅ (usti), / [ob merita eius petitu amplissim] ị ṣẹṇatụ[us] / [dd(omini) nn(ostri) Theodosius et Placidus] / [Valentinianus semper Augg(usti)] /(10) [statuam sub auro fulgentem] / [erigi conlocarique iusserunt.] 'To Petronius Maximus, of clarissimus rank, tribune and notary, count of the imperial treasury, prefect of the City on two occasions, praetorian prefect of Italy and Africa, consul (ordinasius), tutor of our lord Placidus Valentinian perpetual Augustus. On account of his services, with a request of the most distinguished Senate, our lords Theodosius (II) and Placidus Valentinianus forever Augusti commanded (this) statue covered with shining gold to be placed and set up.' DESCRIPTION (CIL) Fragment of marble base, 45 x 27 x 27 cm. The piece is broken on all sides. Only part of the right side survives. The epigraphic field was framed by moulding. It is rough, indicating erasure of earlier inscription. PROVENANCE AND LOCATION: The base was discovered during unspecified works in the Curia, the senate-house in the Roman Forum. This was an unusual location, extremely prestigious, and a great honour to both honorand and awarder. This justifies Panciera's suggestion for the last five lines of the inscription, mentioning a gilded statue set up by the emperors at the request of the Senate (see the roughly contemporary LSA-1434, to Aetius, in the atrium Libertatis by the Curia, for example). The base is now in the Lapidario Forense (CIL, seen in 1995). HONORAND, AWARDER AND DATE: As Panciera showed, the inscription refers to a praeceptor of Placidus Valentinianus (III), and the career it describes (albeit in a very fragmentary state) only fits the known cursus honorum of Petronius Maximus (the other possibility, Iunius Quartus Palladius, is not recorded as active during the reign of Valentinian III: PLRE II, 822-824 Palladius 19). Maximus occupied all the important official positions mentioned in the inscription (PLRE II, 749-751 Maximus 22), and he was old enough to have been tutor of Valentinian III (Panciera 1996, 291). Valentinian III was born in 419, and he was made Augustus in 425. The dedication must be later than this date, as it refers to him as Augustus. Valentinian died in 455, which should be our terminus ante quem, but Panciera plausibly suggests that it was set up between 433 (when Maximus ooccupied the praetorian prefecture for the first time) and 437, when Valentinian reached adulthood and a statue honouring his tutor would have been politically more unlikely. Main ReferenceCorpus Inscriptionum Latinarum; , VI, 41398Panciera, S., "Il precettore di Valentiniano III", in C. Stella and A. Valvo (eds), Studi in onore di Albino Garzetti, Brescia 1996, 277-297 Discussion ReferencesMartindale, J. R., The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Vol. II A.D. 395-527, Cambridge 1980, pp. 749-751 (Maximus 22) and 822-824 (Palladius 19) |
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