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Cornutus Tertullus and the Plancii of Perge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Shelagh Jameson
Shelagh Jameson
Affiliation:
Royal Holloway College, London.
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Extract

The origo of C. Iulius P. f. Hor…………‥ Cornutus Tertullus, friend and colleague of the younger Pliny, has always been a matter of speculation. B. Stech thought he might have come from Africa; Professor Syme, observing the name of the dedicator of the stone which records Cornutus' career, C. Iulius Pla[n]cius Varus Cornutus, suggests Perge in Pamphylia. Professor Syme further remarks on the existence of a C. Iulius Cornutus at Perge, who set up a bilingual dedication to Nero. These names are also borne by C. Iulius Cornutus Bryonianus, ἀγωνοθέτης at the Varian games at Perge.

Groag remarked that one would not normally expect to find the praenomen of Cornutus Tertullus' father, Publius, coupled with the nomen Iulius. Cornutus Tertullus might, then, have been adopted, possibly by the C. Iulius Cornutus who set up the dedication to Nero: the gap in his nomenclature, as it appears in the inscription set up by C. Iulius Pla[n]cius Varus Cornutus, could have contained his original nomen.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 55 , November 1965 , pp. 54 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © Shelagh Jameson 1965. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 As consul in A.D. 100 (Pliny, Pan. 90, 3), and also previously as praefectus aerario Saturni (ibid. 92, 1).

2 ‘Senatores Romani qui fuerint inde a Vespasiano usque ad Traiani exitum’, Klio Beiheft X (1912), 170 f.

3 Tacitus (1958), 82, n. 6. For the inscription recording Cornutus' career see ILS 1024, from the region of Tusculum (P–W X.1, 570).

4 IGR III, 789. The nomen Iulius suggests that the Iulii Cornuti of Perge were peregrini and not of Italian descent, a supposition strengthened, perhaps, by the fact that C. Iulius Cornutus fails to put the emperor's titulature in the right order, although this might, of course, be a mistake of the lapicide.

5 IGR III, 798. The Varian games were probably connected with Varus, son of Callicles, the philosopher mentioned by Philostratus (Vit. Soph. 576). C. Iulius Cornutus Bryonianus may be somehow related to the eques Bryonianus Lollianus (IGR III, 810 f.) from Side. Note also a Iulia Tertulla, honoured at Tlos in Lycia as the wife of L. Iulius Marinus Caecilius Simplex (IGR III, 562), governor of that province and consul suffectus in A.D. 101 or 102 (P–W X. 1, 671). She could have been a daughter of Cornutus Tertullus (p–w X.1, 575).

6 P–W X.I, 570.

7 Professor Syme, in Historia IX (1960), 363Google Scholar, suggests the supplement ‘C. Iulio P. f. Hor. [Plancio Varo] Cornuto Tertul[lo]’.

8 CIL XIV, 2925 (= ILS 1024), note ad loc.

9 The other consular from Pamphylia, L. Marcius Celer M. Calpurnius Longus (SEG XVII (1960), 570) cannot be accurately dated but would seem to belong to the second century A.D.

10 ILS 1024. For M. Plancius Varus, often cited as proconsul of Asia, see below.

11 Arch. Anzeiger LXXI (1956), 110 ff.

12 M. Plancius Plato Calpurnianus Proculus and M, Plancius Plato (Attaleia): IGR III, 782; M. Plancius Cornelianus Gaius (Andeda): ibid. 417; (?)Plancia Victorina (Andeda): Anat. Stud. X (1960), 66, no. 116; M. Plancius Lelex (Zivint, identified as Sibidunda, Anat. Stud. X (1960), 69, and Andeda): JHS VIII (1887), 254, nos. 35 f., AJA IV (1888), 14, nos. 5 f.; Planci(u)s Piso (Phazemonitis in Pontus): SEG XIII (1956), 526. Note also Ti. Flavius Plancianus, Ῥόδιος (Ephesus): SEG XIII (1956), 506. Some, at least, of these could have derived the nomen from the Plancii at Perge. For other Plancii see CIL II, 2483 (Spain); VIII, 769; 23204 (Africa); VI, 24248 ff.; 26556 (Rome); X, 5075; 5119 (Atina), and also the persons listed in p–w XX.2, 2012 ff., where it is stated that the gens came originally from Latium.

13 See ‘Crepereius Gallus and his Gens’, JRS LIV (1964), 98 ff.

14 E.g. the Gavii, Aelianus and Clarus, from Attaleia, SEG XVII (1960), 584, and Cornelius Fronto, ad Verum Imp. II, 7 (Loeb ed., 11, 150 ff.), and perhaps L. Crepereius Fronto, PIR 2, C 1569: cf. the rise of colonial families like the Caristanii (JRS III (1913), 253 ff.), and the Flavonii (JRS XLVIII (1958), 74 ff.), both from Pisidian Antioch.

15 Pl. VII. It is not clear how many lines are missing from the head of this stone, but at least one, and possibly two, has disappeared. The same inscription is illustrated in a slightly more complete state by Professor A. M. Mansel (Arch. Anzeiger LXXI (1956), 119, Abb. 69), where a fragment of the upper right hand portion of the stone (now missing) reveals an Ο flanked by two other letters above the Μ of ΜΑΓΝΑΝ in the first line of the text. Professor Mansel states that this inscription was set up by the βουλή and δῆμος. For similar dedications to the same lady, see BSA XVII (1910–11), 245, no. 31, where οί Περγ]αῖοι is restored in the first line; Arch. Anzeiger LXXI (1956), 120, note 87 (γεραῖοι); for a further instance of the title θυγάτηρ τῆς πόλεως applied to Plancia Magna, see IGR III, 794.

16 Pl. VIII, 1–3.

17 By ProfessorMansel, A. M. in Arch. Anzeiger LXXI (1956), 119.Google Scholar

18 Arch. Anzeiger LXXI (1956), 109 f. For a photograph of the stone relating to C. Plancius Varus see Türk Arkeoloji Dergisi VI (1956), Pl. VI, 20. These inscriptions, if not actually set up by Plancia Magna, show that she was considered to be the important member of the family, for the relationship with her is recorded in either case.

19 Hist. II, 63.

20 So Magie, D., Roman Rule in Asia Minor II (1950), App. 1, 1582Google Scholar; Rohden in PIR 1 III, P. 334; Hoffman in p–w XX.2, 2016. An unpublished inscription, apparently giving details of the career of M. Plancius Varus, has now been discovered at the site of Colonia Germa, near Babadat Köy, reported in Illustrated London News, 23rd November, 1963, 859. But, despite many efforts, I have not yet been able to see a copy of this.

21 IGR III, 4; 37.

22 Die kleinasiatischen Münzen der. röm. Kaiserzeit, Bithynien (1935), 87.

23 ibid.

24 Numismatische Zeitschrift XXIII (1891), 78.

25 Rohden, in PIR 1 III, P 334Google Scholar gives the date as 70. Cagnat, in the notes to IGR III, 4 and 37, dates Varus' governorship to the year 70/71.

26 Degrassi, A, I fasti consolari dell' impero romano (1952), 19 n.Google Scholar, ‘dopo il 69’.

27 BMC Phrygia, 95, no. 149 and Pl. XI, 8.

28 ibid., 95, nos. 150 and 151 (different dies). W. H. Waddington, Fastes des provinces asiatiques de l'empire romain (1872), 151, inferred Varus' governorship of Asia from a coin of this type.

29 o.c. (above, n. 22), 88, n. 83.

30 Cf. the ‘Apamean’ coin (BMC Phrygia 95, no. 149 and Pl. XI, 8) with the Nicaean type (Waddington, W. H., Recueil général des monnaies grecques d'Asie Mineure (1904–1912), 403, no. 46 and Pl. LXVII, 3).Google Scholar

31 Mr. G. K. Jenkins of the British Museum kindly examined the coin for me in the first instance and agrees that it is a coin of Nicaea.

32 For the omission of the word ΑΝΘΥΠΑΤΟΥ see BMC Lydia, 244, no. 67 (Sardis); 51, no. 69 (Blaundus); Mysia, 135, no. 222 (Pergamum). The only case where ΑΝΘΥΠΑΤΟΥ appears to be omitted on the Phrygian coinage is at Cotiaeum (BMC Phrygia, 163 nos. 26 and 27, where the legend reads ΕΠΙΜΑΡΚΟΥ ΛΕΠΙΔΟΥ—governor under Tiberius, JRS XLV (1955). 29). On coins of Cibyra the names ΟΥΗΡΑΝΙΟΣ and ΜΑΡΚΕΛΛΟΣ are found (Imhoof-Blumer, F., Kleinasiatische Münzen I (1901), 256Google Scholar, no. 26; 257, no. 27). Head, B. (Historia Numorum2 (1911), 670Google Scholar) thought that these referred to local celebrities. They might, alternatively, relate to Q. Veranius and T. Clodius Eprius Marcellus, governors of Lycia under Claudius and Nero respectively, in which province Cibyra appears to have been incorporated at an early date: for Q. Veranius, honoured by the δῆμος of Cibyra as legatus pro praetore of Claudius, see IGR IV, 902. If ΟΥΗΡΑΝΙΟΣ and ΜΑΡΚΕΛΛΟΣ were provincials, they will have been enfranchised by these governors.

33 BMC Phrygia 166, no. 40.

34 ibid. 94, nos. 143 and 147.

35 In general governors' names appear but rarely on ΚΟΙΝΟΝ types of Asia. For Asinius Pollio, governor in A.D. 38–9, see BMC Lydia 252, no. 106 (Sardis). Elsewhere reference is to local magistrates, e.g. BMC Ionia 283, no. 368; 295, no. 443 (Smyrna).

36 If magistrates, they could have been actual or honorary; cf. ILS 9502/3 where P. Sulpicius Quirinius is mentioned as honorary duovir at Pisidian Antioch. There is no reason why Varus should not have had such a connection with another province even if domiciled in Pamphylia; note the reference to a Varus on Claudian coins of Cotiaeum, BMC Phrygia 163, nos. 28 and 29 (ΕΠΙ ΟΥΑΡΟΥ ΥΙΟΥ ΠΟΛΕΩΣ) and ibid. 164, no. 31 (ΕΠΙ ΟΥΑΡΟΥ ΥΙΟΥ ΚΟΤΙΑΕΩΝ): cf. also L. Cosinius Primus (AÉ 1916, 34) who had connections with both Cuicul and Carthage in Africa.

37 I owe this suggestion to Professor Syme. Such a situation would not be impossible in a year like 69; cf., perhaps, the position of T. Aurelius Fulvus who may have governed Tarraconensis for a brief period in the year 70 (JRS XLVIII (1958), 7 f.).

38 For Eprius Marcellus see PIR 2 E 84 and Magie, o.c. II, 1427, n. 8. For M. Ulpius Traianus, PIR 1 III, U 574 and Magie, o.c. II, 1442, n. 33.

39 For C. Caristanius Fronto see PIR 2 C 423. For his consulship in A.D. 90 see AÉ, 1949, 23.

40 Tacitus, Ann. XVI, 18.