Marcus Nonius Mucianus 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 was active in the second century. He was

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 ...

in 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 October-December 138 as the colleague of Publius Cassius Secundus. There is confusion in the secondary literature about the proper form of his name. In one inscription, referring to the

military tribune A military tribune () was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion. Young men of Equestrian rank often served as military tribunes as a stepping stone to the Senate. The should not be confused with the ...

Legio X Fretensis Legio X Fretensis ("Tenth legion of the Strait") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. It was founded by the young Gaius Octavius (later to become Augustus Caesar) in 41/40 BC to fight during the period of civil war that started the dissolu ...

, the name Marcus Nonius Mucianus M.f. Pob. Mucianus Publius Delphius Peregrinus appears. In another, referring to the suffect consul of 138, the name Publius Delphius Peregrinus Alfius Allenius Maximus Curtius Valerianus Proculus Marcus Nonius Mucianus appears. This problem is discussed by Olli Salomies. While admitting that "there is no compelling reason for the identification", he concedes that "all scholars agree in regarding the men as identical."Salomies, ''Adoptive and polyonymous nomenclature in the Roman Empire'', (Helsinki: Societas Scientiarum Fennica, 1992), p. 129 Salomies then attempts to explain the name in accordance with known rules of Roman naming practice. He proposes that Mucianus was the son of a Marcus Nonius -- "from Verona but related to the Nonii of Brixia" -- and a Delphia P.f.; she was the daughter of a Publius Delphius Peregrinus and of a Delphia who was the sister of a Publius Delphius Peregrinus Alfius Alennius Maximus Curtius Valerianus Proculus. Now, according to Salomies, our subject was originally named Marcus Nonius Mucianus Publius Delphius Peregrinus, the items he inherited from his mother added to the end of his name. Between his tenure as legate or assistant to the governor of

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and his consulship, he was adopted by his maternal uncle and accordingly put the adoptive elements -- e.g., Publius Delphius Peregrinus Alfius Alennius, etc. -- at the beginning of his name, simultaneously dropping it from the end. Alföldy states Mucianus has his origins in

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, where two other senators of the same

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

have been attested. Salomies proposes one of them -- Publius Alfius Alennius Maximus Curtius Valerianus, the son of Curtia C.f. Procilla -- was Mucianus' relative. Edward Dabrowa has reconstructed Mucianus' ''

cursus honorum The , or more colloquially 'ladder of offices'; ) was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The comprised a mixture of ...

'' from at least two inscriptions. His first recorded office was as military tribune of

, during the reign of Hadrian. This was followed by the traditional order of republican magistracies:

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 ...

aedile Aedile ( , , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public orde ...

, and

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 disch ...

. Then he was legate to the

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a Roman consul, consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military ...

ar governor of

. Since Dabrowa wrote, a military diploma was recovered that attests Mucianus was governor of the imperial province of

Pannonia Inferior Pannonia Inferior, lit. Lower Pannonia, was a province of the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sirmium. It was one of the border provinces on the Danube. It was formed in the year 103 AD by Emperor Trajan who divided the former province of Pannonia ...

on 19 May 135.Margaret M. Roxan
"Two Complete Diplomas of Pannonia inferior: 19 May 135 and 7 Aug. 143"
''

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 ...

'', 127 (1999) p. 253 Mucianus' career after he achieved the consulship is unknown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nonius Mucianus, Marcus 2nd-century Romans Mucianus, Marcus Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome