Gaius Cassius RegallianusThis name is written "Regallianus" on the external side of table I of the military diploma, while on the internal side of the table II it is written as "Regalianus". 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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

active around AD 200. He was appointed

consul suffectus The consuls were the highest elected public officials of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC). Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum''an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspire ...

in 202 as the colleague of Titus Murenius Severus. Both Regallianus and his colleague were unknown to historians until the publication in 2001 of a

military diploma A Roman military diploma was a document inscribed in bronze certifying that the holder was honourably discharged from the Roman armed forces and/or had received the grant of Roman citizenship from the emperor as reward for service. The diploma ...

. This discovery, and especially Regallianus' existence, attracted attention, for previously the only known occurrence of the ''cognomen'' "Regal(l)ianus" is that of a usurper,

Regalianus P. C. Regalianus (died 260/261), known in English as Regalian, was Roman usurper for a few months in 260 and/or 261, during the Crisis of the Third Century, a period of intense political instability in the Roman Empire. Regalian was acclaimed emp ...

, who in 260 revolted against the emperor

Gallienus Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (; – September 268) was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empire. He ...

, in the area of the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

. He is known only by the coins he had struck and a passage in the unreliable ''

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, Caesar (title), designated heirs and Roman usurper, usurpers from 117 to 284. S ...

''. The coins minted from the usurper bear his name as P C REGALIANVS, whose ''nomen'' is usually expanded as ''Cornelius'', although other possibilities are not excluded. The presence, in the early 3rd century, of a consul with the rare ''cognomen'' Regalianus and belonging to a family whose name begins with 'C' opens the way to some interesting possibilities. A Regalianus descended from this consul might have been appointed governor of

Moesia Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; ) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River. As a Roman domain Moesia was administered at first by the governor of Noricum as 'Civitates of Moesia and Triballi ...

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, on the west by Noricum and upper Roman Italy, Italy, and on the southward by Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia and upper Moesia. It ...

, and have rebelled against Gallienus. This would also solve a problem raised by the ''Historia'', which states Regalianus was of equestrian rank, while his governorship required the senatorial rank, as did the consulate.

Notes

References

* Pferdehirt, Barbara,"Vier neue Militärdiplome im Besitz des Römisch-Germanischen Zenralmuseums", ''Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt'', 2001. * Eck, Werner
"Prosopographische Bemerkungen zum Militärdiplom vom 20.12.202 n. Chr. Der Flottenpräfekt Aemilius Sullectinus und das Gentilnomen des Usurpators Regalianus"
''

Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik The (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 "the world's leading and certainly most prolific ...

'', 139 (2002), pp. 208–210. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cassius Regallianus, Gaius 3rd-century Roman consuls Regallianus, Gaius

See also

Notes

References