Junius Quartus Palladius ( 408–421) was a politician of the

Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period fr ...

, who held the Praetorian prefecture of Italy, Illyricum and Africa for six years and was also consul in 416.

Life

Palladius come from a noble family,. This statue-base was found in 1926 on the

Aventine Hill The Aventine Hill (; la, Collis Aventinus; it, Aventino ) is one of the Seven Hills on which ancient Rome was built. It belongs to Ripa, the modern twelfth '' rione'', or ward, of Rome. Location and boundaries The Aventine Hill is the ...

in Rome, near Sant'Anselmo monastery east of via Santa Sabina, close to the remains of a Roman house. The base is now at the Musei Capitolini (inv. 7056), in the Giardino Caffarelli of the

Palazzo dei Conservatori The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; it, Campidoglio ; la, Mons Capitolinus ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. ...

(Arthur Ernest Gordon, ''Illustrated introduction to Latin epigraphy'', University of California Press, 1983, , p. 181-182). that gave several high officers to the imperial administration. It is known that he had a brother, who set up a statue in his honour near his house on the

; the inscription on the base gives Palladius' career in detail. Early in his career he was ''quaestor'' and ''pretor candidatus'', ''notarius et tribunus'' at the Imperial court, and '' comes sacrarum largitionum'' (probably in 408/409, if he is to be identified with the Palladius that was in Rome at the time of Alaric's first siege). In 416 Palladius was appointed

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 th ...

, at the same time as the Eastern emperor

Theodosius II Theodosius II ( grc-gre, Θεοδόσιος, Theodosios; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450) was Roman emperor for most of his life, proclaimed ''augustus'' as an infant in 402 and ruling as the eastern Empire's sole emperor after the death of his ...

held the same position in Constantinople. On January 7, 416, he also assumed office as Praetorian prefect of Italy, Illyricum and Africa, which he held for six years (at least until July 28, 421, but his first possible successor is attested only in 422). On April 30, 418, he received a law from Honorius, directing him to expel the Pelagians from Rome; later he and the other prefects ( Monaxius and Agricola) issued a praetorian law against the Pelagians. He is probably to be identified with the ''tribunus et notarius'' who was in Rome in 408, during the first siege of Alaric. In this occasion Palladius was to gather from the Roman aristocrats the jewels needed to pay for Alaric's tribute, but he could not obtain enough and was obliged to proceed to despoil the residual decorations of the Pagan temples of the city. Zosimus, ''Historia nea'', V.41. On four occasions he was appointed envoy by the

Roman Senate The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...

Notes

Sources

* ''

Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...

'', "Fl. Iunius Quartus Palladius 19", p. 822–824. {{end 5th-century Romans 5th-century Roman consuls Comites sacrarum largitionum Imperial Roman consuls Quartus Palladius Praetorian prefects of the Illyricum Praetorian prefects of Italy