Marcus Sergius or Servius Octavius Laenas Pontianus was a
Roman politician of the early second century. He served as
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 ...
in AD 131, alongside
Marcus Antonius Rufinus, during the reign of
Hadrian
Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...
.
Name
Pontianus is not mentioned in ancient writers, and although his name occurs in a number of inscriptions, his precise nomenclature is uncertain. His
praenomen
The praenomen (; plural: praenomina) was a first name chosen by the parents of a Ancient Rome, Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the ...
is given as ''Marcus'' in an inscription from
Samothrace, but in all other inscriptions he is either ''Servius'' or ''Sergius''. ''Servius'' could be either a praenomen or a ''
nomen gentilicium
The (; or simply ) was a hereditary name borne by the peoples of Roman Italy and later by the citizens of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. It was originally the name of one's (family or clan) by Patrilineality, patrilineal descent. Howeve ...
''; both were widespread, but not particularly common. The gentile name ''
Sergius'' was better known, and frequently substituted for ''Servius'' in inscriptions; this may explain why several inscriptions record Pontianus' name using the standard abbreviation for ''Servius'', while in others it was apparently written ''Sergius''. However, the abbreviation could be used for the gentile name ''Servius'' as well as the praenomen; and further complicating matters, in
imperial times it was not uncommon for members of the Roman aristocracy to possess part or all of two or more complete nomenclatures. Thus, it is entirely possible for Pontianus to have been named ''Marcus Sergius Octavius'', ''Marcus Servius Octavius'', ''Sergius Octavius'', or ''Servius Octavius'', in which ''Marcus'', ''Servius'', or both could be praenomina.
A small amount of epigraphic evidence weighs in favour of ''Sergius'' in connection with the
Octavia gens, which regularly used the praenomen ''Marcus'', but not ''Servius''. A second-century inscription from
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
in
Gallia Narbonensis
Gallia Narbonensis (Latin for "Gaul of Narbonne", from its chief settlement) was a Roman province located in Occitania and Provence, in Southern France. It was also known as Provincia Nostra ("Our Province"), because it was the first ...
mentions a Marcus Sergius Octavius, who dedicated a grave for his mother, Vennonia Iarilla; but given the location and his mother's name, it is doubtful whether he is the same man. An undated inscription from Rome mentions a boy, Sergius Octavius Caricus, buried by his father, who is not named. But perhaps the best indication of whether Pontianus inherited the name ''Servius'' or ''Sergius'' comes from the tomb of
Nerva's mother, apparently Pontianus' great-aunt: according to the inscription, her name was "Sergia Plautilla", and she was the daughter of a Laenas, Pontianus' ''proavus''.
Descent
Pontianus was probably born in the late first century to an otherwise unknown Octavius Laenas; the surname ''Pontianus'' suggests that his mother may have been named Pontia. Because so little is known of his life, his historical significance is based less on his consulship, which seems to have been uneventful, and more on his relationship to Nerva.
[Grainger, ''Nerva and the Roman Succession Crisis'', p. xiv (table 3).]
Besides the inscriptions mentioning his consulship, Pontianus had a monument built at
Tusculum
Tusculum is a ruined Classical Rome, Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable dist ...
in memory of his grandmother,
Rubellia Bassa, the daughter of
Gaius Rubellius Blandus and possibly his wife,
Julia Livia
Julia Livia (AD 7–43) was the daughter of Drusus Julius Caesar and Livilla, and granddaughter of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. She was also a first cousin of the emperor Caligula, and niece of the emperor Claudius.
Biography Early life
Julia wa ...
, the granddaughter of
Tiberius
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...
.
In the paternal line, Pontianus was related to the
emperor
The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...
Nerva
Nerva (; born Marcus Cocceius Nerva; 8 November 30 – 27 January 98) was a Roman emperor from 96 to 98. Nerva became emperor when aged almost 66, after a lifetime of imperial service under Nero and the succeeding rulers of the Flavian dynast ...
. The emperor's mother, Sergia Plautilla, was a sister of
Gaius Octavius Laenas, consul in AD 33, and the husband of Rubellia Bassa, making Pontianus the emperor's first cousin once removed.
[Syme, "The Marriage of Rubellius Blandus", pp. 67, 68.]
Career
Pontianus was consul for the first four months of AD 131, alongside Marcus Antonius Rufinus, about midway through the reign of Hadrian. The emperor was away from Rome, visiting
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
during their consulship, which seems to have been uneventful. Although the consulship remained the chief executive
magistracy
A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings.
Courts
* Magistrates' court (England and Wales)
* Magistrates' cour ...
, under the authority of the emperors, much of its significance—and the reason why several different pairs of consuls shared the office each year—was to prepare able administrators to hold provincial governorships and other important positions throughout the empire. But while Pontianus probably held a variety of magistracies and other appointments before and after the consulship, none of the inscriptions mentioning him give any details of his career, except that he seems to have been a member of the
College of Pontiffs
The College of Pontiffs (; see ''collegium'') was a body of the ancient Rome, ancient Roman state whose members were the highest-ranking priests of the Religion in ancient Rome, state religion. The college consisted of the ''pontifex maximus'' an ...
.
[" erv=G>(ius) Octav us Lae s(?) ntianus pont(ifex) pec(unia) pub(lica) fac(iendum) cur(avit)", .]
See also
*
Octavia gens
Footnotes
References
*
Theodor Mommsen
Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; ; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th ce ...
''et alii'', ''
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
The ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (''CIL'') is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw ...
'' (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated ''CIL''), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present).
* ''Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità'' (News of Excavations from Antiquity, abbreviated ''NSA''), Accademia dei Lincei (1876–present).
* René Cagnat ''et alii'', ''
L'Année épigraphique
''L'Année épigraphique'' (''The Epigraphic Year'', standard abbreviation ''AE'') is a French publication on epigraphy (i.e the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing). It was set up by René Cagnat, as holder of the chair of 'Epigraphy a ...
'' (The Year in Epigraphy, abbreviated ''AE''), Presses Universitaires de France (1888–present).
*
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 ...
, "The Marriage of Rubellius Blandus", in ''American Journal of Philology'', vol. 103, No. 1, pp. 62–85 (Spring 1982).
* ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'' (Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy, abbreviated ''ZPE''), (1987).
*
Benet Salway, "What’s in a Name? A Survey of Roman Onomastic Practice from c. 700 B.C. to A.D. 700", in ''Journal of Roman Studies'', vol. 84, pp. 124–145 (1994).
* John D. Grainger, ''Nerva and the Roman Succession Crisis of AD 96–99'', Routledge (2003).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pontianus, Marcus Sergius Octavius Laenas
1st-century Romans
2nd-century Romans
Imperial Roman consuls
Octavii
Pontifices