Quintus Fulvius Gillo Bittius Proculus 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 ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

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

who held at least one office in imperial service. He was

suffect consul A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...

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. S ...

'' November-December AD 98 with

Publius Julius Lupus Publius Julius Lupus was a Roman senator, best known as the step-father of the emperor Antoninus Pius. He was suffect consul in the ''nundinium'' of November-December 98 as the colleague of Quintus Fulvius Gillo Bittius Proculus. Lupus was a des ...

as his colleague. He is also known by the shorter form of his name, Quintus Bittius Proculus. Proculus' family connections have been a matter of dispute. A number of scholars have attempted to connect him to the suffect consul of the year 76,

Marcus Fulvius Gillo The gens Fulvia, originally Foulvia, was one of the most illustrious plebeian families at ancient Rome. Members of this gens first came to prominence during the middle Roman Republic, Republic; the first to attain the Roman consul, consulship was ...

. Some have suggested that he was the son of the older Gillo; others that he was

adopted Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

by the older man. In his monograph on Roman naming practices, Olli Salomies finds either possibility unlikely, and points out the more likely possibilities are that "he could be a Bittius adopted by a Q. Fulvius; or he could be a Bittius whose mother was a sister of, or in some other way related to, M. Fulvius Gillo." Pliny the Younger refers to him in passing as the stepfather of his second wife, which would make him the husband of

Pompeia Celerina Pompeia () was the name of several ancient Roman women of the ''gens Pompeia'': * Pompeia, the daughter of Quintus Pompeius consul 141 BC, who married a certain Gaius Sicinius * Pompeia (sister of Pompeius Strabo), sister of General and Consul Gna ...

.Pliny, '' Epistulae'', IX.13 The ''

cursus honorum The ''cursus honorum'' (; , 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 ...

'' of Proculus is known only piecemeal. The earliest office attested for him is prefect of the '' aerarii Saturnii'' as the colleague of Publicius Certus, which he would have held after being

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 vario ...

;

Mireille Corbier Mireille Corbier (born 24 May 1943) is a French historian of Classical history. Currently Research Director emerita at Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), she has published a number of books and articles, and since 1992 has been ed ...

dated his tenure in this office to the years 96 and 97. This financial office usually directly led to its officeholder attaining the consulate, but the prosecution of Pliny the Younger, although it failed to convict Certus, prevented him from reaching that office. The other office Proculus is known to have held is

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a 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 command, or ' ...

ar governor of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

; an inscription at

Cyzicus Cyzicus (; grc, Κύζικος ''Kúzikos''; ota, آیدینجق, ''Aydıncıḳ'') was an ancient Greek town in Mysia in Anatolia in the current Balıkesir Province of Turkey. It was located on the shoreward side of the present Kapıdağ Peni ...

allows his tenure to be dated to 115/116. Proculus is attested to have been admitted to the

Arval Brethren In ancient Roman religion, the Arval Brethren ( la, Fratres Arvales, "Brothers of the Fields") or Arval Brothers were a body of priests who offered annual sacrifices to the Lares and gods to guarantee good harvests. Inscriptions provide ev ...

by the year 101. The inscriptions of this priesthood attest he attended their rituals in the years 105, 117, and 118. It is from the records of this priesthood that we learn he had died by 7 February 120, when Publius Malius Garbo was co-opted to fill the vacancy created by his death.Corbier, ''L'aerarium saturni et l'aerarium militare'' p. 119

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fulvius Gillo Bittius Proculus, Quintus 1st-century Romans 2nd-century Romans Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome Roman governors of Asia Ancient Roman adoptees