Virius Nicomachus Flavianus (334–394 AD) was a grammarian, a

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

and a

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

. A pagan and close friend of

Quintus Aurelius Symmachus Quintus Aurelius Symmachus signo Eusebius (, ; c. 345 – 402) was a Roman statesman, orator, and man of letters. He held the offices of governor of proconsular Africa in 373, urban prefect of Rome in 384 and 385, and consul in 391. Symmachus ...

, he was

Praetorian prefect of Italy The praetorian prefecture of Italy ( la, Praefectura praetorio Italiae, in its full form (until 356) ) was one of four praetorian prefectures into which the Late Roman Empire was divided. It comprised the Italian peninsula, the Western Balkans, ...

in 390–392. Under the usurper Eugenius (392–394), Flavianus was again praetorian prefect (393–394) and

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 ...

(394, recognized only within Eugenius' territory). After the death of Eugenius in the

battle of the Frigidus The Battle of the Frigidus, also called the Battle of the Frigid River, was fought between 5 and 6 September 394 between the army of the Roman emperor Theodosius the Great and the army of the rebel ''augustus'' Eugenius (), in the eastern bor ...

, Flavianus committed suicide.

Biography

Nicomachus Flavianus was born in 334, and belonged to the ''Nicomachi'', an influential family of senatorial rank. His father was

Volusius Venustus Volusius Venustus (''floruit'' 4th century) was an aristocrat of the Roman Empire. Biography Volusius Venustus set up a monument in the forum of Canosa in honour of Constantine I and his two sons (the fact that only two sons are honoured means ...

, and from his wife, a pagan herself, he had a son also called Nicomachus Flavianus and maybe another son called Venustus; he was also grandfather of

Appius Nicomachus Dexter Appius Nicomachus Dexter (''floruit'' before 432 AD) was a politician of the Western Roman Empire. Biography Dexter belonged to the ''Nicomachi'', an influential family of senatorial rank. Among his ancestors there was evidently Appius Claudius ...

and of Galla. His career can be reconstructed from two inscriptions: one ( CIL, VI, 1782) put up by his granddaughter's husband

Quintus Fabius Memmius Symmachus Quintus Fabius Memmius Symmachus (383/384 – after 402) was a politician of the Roman empire, member of the influential family of the Symmachi. Biography He was son of the orator and politician Quintus Aurelius Symmachus and of Rusticiana; ...

and probably inscribed in 394, the other ( CIL, VI, 1783) coming from the basis of a statue erected in 431 in

Trajan's Forum Trajan's Forum ( la, Forum Traiani; it, Foro di Traiano) was the last of the Imperial fora to be constructed in ancient Rome. The architect Apollodorus of Damascus oversaw its construction. History This forum was built on the order of the em ...

by his nephew Appius Nicomachus Dexter, to celebrate his grandfather's memory after its restoration by the ruling emperors. Flavianus' ''cursus honorum'' included the following offices: * '' quaestor'', * ''

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 ...

'', * ''pontifex maior'', * ''

consular A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

'' of

Sicilia (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

(364/365), * ''

vicarius ''Vicarius'' is a Latin word, meaning ''substitute'' or ''deputy''. It is the root of the English word "vicar". History Originally, in ancient Rome, this office was equivalent to the later English " vice-" (as in "deputy"), used as part of th ...

'' of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

(376/377), * ''

quaestor sacri palatii The ''quaestor sacri palatii'' ( gr, κοιαίστωρ/κυαίστωρ τοῦ ἱεροῦ παλατίου, usually simply ), in English: Quaestor of the Sacred Palace, was the senior legal authority in the late Roman Empire and early Byzanti ...

'', * praetorian prefect of Illyricum and Italia (390–392), * praetorian prefect of Illyricum and Italia for the second time (393–394), *

without a colleague (394). During his office as ''vicarius Africae'' he received a law against

Donatism Donatism was a Christian sect leading to a schism in the Church, in the region of the Church of Carthage, from the fourth to the sixth centuries. Donatists argued that Christian clergy must be faultless for their ministry to be effective and ...

; however it seems he somehow sided with the Donatists, if in 405 Augustine of Hippo misbelieved him a Donatist. In this office he, together with Decimius Hilarianus Hesperius, was in charge of the investigations around a scandal involving the city of

Leptis Magna Leptis or Lepcis Magna, also known by other names in antiquity, was a prominent city of the Carthaginian Empire and Roman Libya at the mouth of the Wadi Lebda in the Mediterranean. Originally a 7th-centuryBC Phoenician foundation, it was great ...

, but his conclusions, included in a report, had the citizens cleared of the charges; afterwards the citizens of Leptis Magna erected him a statue. In 392 Flavianus had been praetorian prefect of Illyricum and Africa for two years, when the emperor of the western part of the Roman Empire,

Valentinian II Valentinian II ( la, Valentinianus; 37115 May 392) was a Roman emperor in the western part of the Roman empire between AD 375 and 392. He was at first junior co-ruler of his brother, was then sidelined by a usurper, and only after 388 sole rul ...

, died, either killed or committing suicide (15 May); his general Arbogast, with whom he had had a long conflict, was suspected of being involved in his death. As soon as he heard of Valentinian's death, eastern emperor

Theodosius I Theodosius I ( grc-gre, Θεοδόσιος ; 11 January 347 – 17 January 395), also called Theodosius the Great, was Roman emperor from 379 to 395. During his reign, he succeeded in a crucial war against the Goths, as well as in two ...

nominated another praetorian prefect for Illyricum, Apodemius, who received also the praetorian prefecture of Africa in late 392/early 393. Arbogast, foreseeing an attack from Theodosius, put up a usurper, Eugenius, as emperor of the western part. As soon as Eugenius entered Italy (his crowning had been in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

on 22 August 393), Flavianus went to him and was appointed praetorian prefect for the second time; his key role within Eugenius' administration was confirmed with Flavianus' election to the consulate of 394 without a colleague (this office was recognized only within Eugenius' territory). There is another important aspect of Flavianus' activity under Eugenius, the one often referred to as the "pagan revival". Eugenius was a Christian, but chose several pagans within the aristocracy as his allies. Flavianus took the opportunity and renewed the public ceremonies of the

Roman religion Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule. The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, ...

, without the opposition of Eugenius, who was, for this reason, scolded by Ambrose, bishop of Milan. Theodosian propaganda first and Christian sources later presented the fight between Theodosius and Eugenius as a struggle of Christian faith against a last-standing Paganism: for this reason the religious acts of Flavianus have been interpreted as a pagan revival supported, or at least allowed, by Eugenius; a typical example is the episode of the ''Vita Ambrosii'' by

Paulinus the Deacon Paulinus the Deacon, also Paulinus of Milan was the notary of Ambrose of Milan, and his biographer. His work is the only life of Ambrose based on a contemporary account, and was written at the request of Augustine of Hippo; it is dated to 422 AD. ...

, in which Flavianus and Arbogast, leaving Milan to clash into Theodosius' army, promise to destroy the city basilica and to enlist the

Christian clergy In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidanc ...

into the army after their victorious return. Modern historians believe that there was not such a "pagan revival", but that Flavianus took the chance of a power vacuum (both in politics and in religion, as there was not, at the time, a powerful Christian figure) to support Roman religion, but without any plan by Eugenius. Flavianus encouraged Eugenius in his struggle against Theodosius claiming that sacrifices had indicated victory in the forthcoming war. However, Eugenius and Arbogast were killed in the decisive

against the army of Theodosius (5 September 394); a few days later, Flavianus committed suicide, at the age of sixty.

Pagan circle of Flavianus

Flavianus belonged to the pagan circle which included also

Vettius Agorius Praetextatus Vettius Agorius Praetextatus (ca. 315 – 384) was a wealthy pagan aristocrat in the 4th-century Roman Empire, and a high priest in the cults of numerous gods. He served as the praetorian prefect at the court of Emperor Valentinian II in 384 unti ...

and

. This circle was at the centre of the pagan movement of the late 4th century and, in particular through the work of the Nicomachi and Symmachi families, has been credited with preserving into modern times the works of several pagan authors, such as

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

, Martial and

Apuleius Apuleius (; also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis; c. 124 – after 170) was a Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He lived in the Roman province of Numidia, in the Berber city of Madauros, modern- ...

.Oliver Taplin, ''Literature in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A New Perspective'', Oxford University Press, 2000, , p. 537. The relationship between the ''Nicomachi'' and the ''Symmachi'' was strengthened through weddings: in 393/394 the son of Flavianus, Nicomachus Flavianus, married Galla, the daughter of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, whose son,

, married in 401 a daughter or a nephew of Flavianus. The bond between the two families was celebrated, either in occasion of one of the two weddings or at the time of a joint endorsement of religious offices, with the issue of a

diptych A diptych (; from the Greek δίπτυχον, ''di'' "two" + '' ptychē'' "fold") is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world w ...

, the valves of which are entitled ''Nicomachorum'' and ''Symmachorum''. Praetextatus, Symmachus and Flavianus are the main characters of

Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, usually referred to as Macrobius (fl. AD 400), was a Roman provincial who lived during the early fifth century, during late antiquity, the period of time corresponding to the Later Roman Empire, and when Latin was ...

' ''Saturnalia'', written in the 5th century but set in the summer holidays of 384; the author describes the leaders of the pagan movement who host in turn different pagan intellectuals to discuss philosophical and religious matters. Flavianus also has a connection with

Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480 – 524 AD), was a Roman senator, consul, ''magister officiorum'', historian, and philosopher of the Early Middle Ages. He was a central figure in the tran ...

via

Quintus Aurelius Memmius Symmachus Quintus Aurelius Memmius Symmachus (died 526) was a 6th-century Roman aristocrat, an historian and a supporter of Nicene Christianity. He was a patron of secular learning, and became the consul for the year 485. He supported Pope Symmachus in the ...

, adoptive father of Boethius. Symmachus named one of his daughters after the daughter of Flavianus. This is used to demonstrate the strong pagan influence on the household to which Boethius owed his loyalty.

Flavianus' role in literature

In the inscription on the base of the statue he dedicated to his father-in-law,

calls Flavianus ''historicus disertissimus''. In fact, Flavianus wrote a history of Rome entitled ''Annales'' ("Annals"), now lost; it was dedicated to Theodosius (probably when Flavianus was ''

'' in the 380s) and written in annalist form. As the title suggests, it might have been a continuation of the ''

Annals Annals ( la, annāles, from , "year") are a concise historical record in which events are arranged chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction between ann ...

'' by

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

: in fact, the often unreliable '' Historia Augusta'', in the book devoted to the life of the Emperor Aurelian (270–275), includes a letter from Aurelian to Queen

Zenobia Septimia Zenobia ( Palmyrene Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; AD 240 – c. 274) was a third-century queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Syria. Many legends surround her ancestry; she was probably not a commoner and she married the ruler of the city ...

that the author claims to have been reported by a Nicomachus; it is therefore possible that Nicomachus' work was a continuation of Tacitus' until at least Aurelian. Flavianus' ''Annals'' was maybe used by

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus (occasionally anglicised as Ammian) (born , died 400) was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquity (preceding Procopius). His work, known as the ''Res Gestae ...

as a source.Wendell Vernon Clausen, E. J. Kenney, ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature'', Cambridge University Press, 1983, , pp. 59-60; Samuel Lieu and

Dominic Montserrat Dominic Alexander Sebastian Montserrat (2 January 1964 – 23 September 2004) was a British egyptologist and papyrologist. Early life and education Montserrat studied Egyptology at Durham University and received his PhD in Classics at Universit ...

, ''From Constantine to Julian. Pagan and Byzantine Views: a Source History'', Routledge, 1996, , p. 6. Flavianus translated also from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Philostratus Philostratus or Lucius Flavius Philostratus (; grc-gre, Φιλόστρατος ; c. 170 – 247/250 AD), called "the Athenian", was a Greek sophist of the Roman imperial period. His father was a minor sophist of the same name. He was born probab ...

' ''

Life of Apollonius of Tyana ''Life of Apollonius of Tyana'' ( grc-gre, Τὰ ἐς τὸν Τυανέα Ἀπολλώνιον), also known by its Latin title , is a text in eight books written in Ancient Greece by Philostratus (c. 170 – c. 245 AD). It tells the story of ...

'', about a man whose life was seen as very close to that of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

and whose biography therefore was considered akin to a pagan Gospel in the 4th century. Flavianus has been identified with the object of the Christian work known as ''

Carmen adversus Flavianum The ''Carmen contra paganos'' ("Song against the pagans"), also called the ''Carmen adversus Flavianum'' ("Song against Flavian"), is an anonymous 4th- or 5th-century Latin poem in 122 hexameters condemning a brief restoration of Roman paganism, p ...

''. He is one of the main characters, together with other members of his pagan club, of Macrobius' ''Saturnalia'', a work written in the 430s, where he is depicted as a man of huge erudition. In his ''Ecclesiastical History'',

Tyrannius Rufinus Tyrannius Rufinus, also called Rufinus of Aquileia (''Rufinus Aquileiensis'') or Rufinus of Concordia (344/345–411), anglicized as Tyrann Rufine, was a monk, historian, and theologian. He is best known as a translator of Greek patristic materi ...

depicts the pagan Flavianus, rather than the Christian Eugenius, as the true opponent defeated by the Christian Theodosius at the

; according to Rufinus, Flavianus committed suicide because he realized his own religion was false.David Rohrbacher, ''The Historians of Late Antiquity'', Routledge, 2002, , pp. 106-107. Scholars are unanimous in the belief that Rufinus invented this claim to advance the cause of the religion for which he so zealously apologised.

Notes

References

Herbert Bloch Herbert Bloch (18 August 1911 – 6 September 2006) was a professor of Classics at Harvard and a renowned authority on Greek historiography, Roman epigraphy and archaeology, medieval monasticism, and the transmission of classical culture and litera ...

: ''The Pagan Revival in the West at the End of the Fourth Century''. In:

Arnaldo Momigliano Arnaldo Dante Momigliano (5 September 1908 – 1 September 1987) was an Italian historian of classical antiquity, known for his work in historiography, and characterised by Donald Kagan as "the world's leading student of the writing of history i ...

(Hrsg.): ''The Conflict Between Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth Century''. Oxford 1963, pp. 193–218. *

Robert Malcolm Errington Robert Malcolm Errington (born 5 July 1939 in Howdon-on-Tyne), also known as R. Malcolm Errington, is a retired British historian who studied ancient Greece and the Classical world. He is a professor emeritus from Queen's University Belfast and t ...

: ''The Praetorian Prefectures of Virius Nicomachus Flavianus''. In: ''Historia''. Vol. 41, 1992, pp. 439–461. * Thomas Grünewald: ''Der letzte Kampf des Heidentums in Rom? Zur posthumen Rehabilitation des Virius Nicomachus Flavianus''. In: ''Historia'' 41, 1992, pp. 462–487. * Charles W. Hedrick Jr.: ''History and Silence: The Purge and Rehabilitation of Memory in Late Antiquity''. Austin 2000, . *

Tony Honoré Anthony Maurice Honoré, (30 March 1921 – 26 February 2019) was a British lawyer and jurist, known for his work on ownership, causation and Roman law.John Gardne''Tony Honoré as Teacher and Mentor: A Personal Memoir''; read 1 April 2014. Bio ...

, John Matthews: ''Virius Nicomachus Flavianus''. Konstanz 1989. * James J. O’Donnell: ''The Career of Virius Nicomachus Flavianus''. In: ''Phoenix''. Vol. 32, 1978, pp. 129–143
online
. * Jelle Wytzes: ''Der letzte Kampf des Heidentums in Rom''. Brill, Leiden 1977. On Flavianus' ''Annals'': * Bruno Bleckmann: ''Bemerkungen zu den Annales des Nicomachus Flavianus''. In: '' Historia''. Volume 44, 1995, pp. 83–99. * J. Schlumberger: ''Die verlorenen Annalen des Nicomachus Flavianus: ein Werk über Geschichte der römischen Republik oder Kaiserzeit?''. In: ''HAC'' 1982/83, Bonn 1985, pp. 309–325. {{DEFAULTSORT:Flavianus, Virius Nicomachus 334 births 394 deaths 4th-century historians 4th-century Romans 4th-century Roman consuls Imperial Roman consuls Pontifices Praetorian prefects of Italy Roman governors of Sicily Late-Roman-era pagans Ancient Roman politicians who committed suicide Virii