Marcus Arruntius Aquila 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 ...

who flourished during the Flavian dynasty. Although he was a

suffect consul 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 ...

for the ''

nundinium Nundinium was a Latin word derived from the word '' nundinum'', which referred to the cycle of days observed by the Romans. During the Roman Empire, ''nundinium'' came to mean the duration of a single consulship among several in a calendar year. ...

'' of September-October 77 with

Gaius Catellius Celer Gaius Catellius Celer (also known as Lucius Pompeius Vopiscus Gaius Catellius Celer) was a Roman senator who flourished during the Flavian dynasty. He served as suffect consul for the ''nundinium'' September-October 77 with Marcus Arruntius Aquila ...

Ronald Syme Sir Ronald Syme, (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Roma ...

notes that like the other consuls who came from Patavium (modern

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

), Aquila "failed to play a role in political life."Syme
"Eight Consuls from Patavium"
''Papers of the British School at Rome'', 51 (1983), p. 118 His father was Marcus Arruntius Aquila, suffect consul in 66. Either the elder Aquila had his son at a relatively early point in his life, or he acceded to the consulship late in life. A surviving inscription provides an outline of his career.ILS 980 Despite an auspicious start being selected as one of the ''tresviri monetales'' for his term in the ''

vigintiviri The ''vigintisexviri'' ( ''vigintisexvir''; ) were a college ( ''collegium'') of minor magistrates (''magistratus minores'') in the Roman Republic. The college consisted of six boards: * the '' decemviri stlitibus judicandis'' – 10 magis ...

'', and serving his

quaestor A quaestor ( , ; ; "investigator") was a public official in ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officia ...

ship in attendance to an unnamed emperor (likely

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...

whose name was commonly omitted from inscriptions due to

damnatio memoriae () is a modern Latin phrase meaning "condemnation of memory" or "damnation of memory", indicating that a person is to be excluded from official accounts. Depending on the extent, it can be a case of historical negationism. There are and have b ...

), except for his suffect consulship, Aquila's only other recorded achievement was becoming a member of the ''

Quindecimviri sacris faciundis In ancient Rome, the were the fifteen () members of a college (''collegium'') with priestly duties. They guarded the Sibylline Books, scriptures which they consulted and interpreted at the request of the Senate. This ''collegium'' also oversaw ...

'', one of the more prestigious ''

collegia A (: ) or college was any association in ancient Rome that acted as a legal entity. Such associations could be civil or religious. The word literally means "society", from ("colleague"). They functioned as social clubs or religious collectiv ...

'' of Roman priesthoods. Syme notes, "That college tended to annex senators of cultivated tastes."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arruntius Aquila, Marcus Ancient Romans from Padua Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome 1st-century Romans Aquila, Marcus Arruntius 77