Rufius Petronius Nicomachus Cethegus was a politician of

Ostrogothic Italy The Ostrogothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of Italy (), was a barbarian kingdom established by the Germanic Ostrogoths that controlled Italy and neighbouring areas between 493 and 553. Led by Theodoric the Great, the Ostrogoths killed Odoa ...

and the

Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

. He 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 thro ...

for 504 AD, and held the post without a colleague. His father was Petronius Probinus, the consul for 489 and prominent supporter of

Antipope Laurentius Laurentius (possibly Caelius) was the Archpriest of Santa Prassede and later antipope of the See of Rome. Elected in 498 at the Basilica Saint Mariae (presumably Saint Maria Maggiore) with the support of a dissenting faction with Byzantine symp ...

. John Moorhead has proposed identifying Cethegus with a Petronius of Rome, who with a Renatus of Ravenna, debated

Severus of Antioch Severus of Antioch (; ), also known as Severus of Gaza, or the Crown of Syrians (; ), was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 512 until his death in 538. He is venerated as a saint in the Oriental Orthodox Church ...

on the nature of Christ while Severus resided in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

(508–511). If correct, this identification would put Cethegus in a circle of aristocratic intellectuals around

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known simply as Boethius (; Latin: ''Boetius''; 480–524 AD), was a Roman Roman Senate, senator, Roman consul, consul, ''magister officiorum'', polymath, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middl ...

. In December 546, when the King of the Ostrogoths,

Totila Totila, original name Baduila (died 1 July 552), was the penultimate King of the Ostrogoths, reigning from 541 to 552 AD. A skilled military and political leader, Totila reversed the tide of the Gothic War (535–554), Gothic War, recovering b ...

, overcame the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

defences and entered the city of Rome, Cethegus, who by his seniority had become president of the

Senate 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 el ...

('caput senatus'),

Decius Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius ( 201June 251), known as Trajan Decius or simply Decius (), was Roman emperor from 249 to 251. A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was proclaimed emperor by his troops a ...

(who had been consul in 529), and

Anicius Faustus Albinus Basilius Anicius Faustus Albinus Basilius ( Greek: Ανίκιος Φαύστος Αλβίνος Βασιλείος) was a high official of the Eastern Roman Empire and the last ordinary consul of Roman history, holding the office alone in 541. Biography ...

(who had been consul in 541) fled Rome with general Bessas. According to the ''

Liber Pontificalis The ''Liber Pontificalis'' (Latin for 'pontifical book' or ''Book of the Popes'') is a book of biography, biographies of popes from Saint Peter until the 15th century. The original publication of the ''Liber Pontificalis'' stopped with Pope Adr ...

'', Cethegus and Basilius reached Constantinople where the Emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

consoled them "and enriched them as befitted Roman consuls." While residing in Constantinople, Justinian twice used Cethegus' services to negotiate with

Pope Vigilius Pope Vigilius (died 7 June 555) was the bishop of Rome from 29 March 537 to his death on 7 June 555. He is considered the first pope of the Byzantine papacy. Born into Roman aristocracy, Vigilius served as a deacon and papal ''apocrisiarius' ...

over the latter's refusal to condemn the Three Chapters: the first was in late 551, when Vigilius had fled the

Placidia Palace The Placidia Palace was the official residence of the papal apocrisiarius, papal ''apocrisiarius'', the ambassador from the pope to the patriarch of Constantinople, and the intermittent home of the pope himself when in residence at Constantinople.E ...

and sought sanctuary in the Basilica of St. Peter of Hormisdas; the second in Spring 552, when Vigilius had again fled the Placidia Palace shortly before Christmas, and this time finding sanctuary in the Church of St. Euphemia in

Chalcedon Chalcedon (; ; sometimes transliterated as ) was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, Turkey. It was located almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari (modern Üsküdar) and it is now a district of the city of Ist ...

. He was still alive in 558., citing

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 ...

, Vol II, PP 281-2

References

{{Authority control 6th-century Byzantine people 6th-century western Roman consuls Patricii Petronii Petronius Nicomachus Cethegus Ministers of Justinian I