Ulpius Marcellus 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 ...

consular governor of

Britannia The image of Britannia () is the national personification of United Kingdom, Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin was the name variously appli ...

who returned there as general of the later 2nd century. Ulpius Marcellus is recorded as governor of

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caes ...

in an inscription of 176–80, and apparently returned to Rome after a tenure without serious incident. He was sent out again by the Emperor

Commodus Commodus (; ; 31 August 161 – 31 December 192) was Roman emperor from 177 to 192, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father Marcus Aurelius and then ruling alone from 180. Commodus's sole reign is commonly thought to mark the end o ...

An inscription records the construction of an aqueduct under his direction. to suppress a serious revolt in 180, which earned him the reputation of a disciplinarian.

Dio Cassius Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

records that tribes from the north breached

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...

which separated them from the empire and killed a general (possibly Marcellus' predecessor,

Caerellius Priscus Caerellius Priscus is the name given to the man on an inscription recovered at Mogontiacum (Mainz), set up by a governor of Germania Superior who was afterwards governor of Roman Britain in the late 170s. The name of his son in the inscription imp ...

) with all his guards, presumably during an inspection of Hadrian's Wall. Little else is known of the revolt except that Dio called it the most serious war of Commodus' reign and reported that it was not quelled until about 184, when commemorative coins were issued and Commodus assumed the title of ''Britannicus''. Further coins were issued in 185 however, and a

hoard A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention of ...

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

coins with final issues from 186/7 suggest that unrest and fighting continued into later years. Marcellus undertook punitive raids north of the border and may have attempted to reoccupy the

Antonine Wall The Antonine Wall () was a turf fortification on stone foundations, built by the Romans across what is now the Central Belt of Scotland, between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. Built some twenty years after Hadrian's Wall to the south ...

. However, he ultimately withdrew to Hadrian's Wall and probably concluded treaties with the relevant tribes. The forts north of the wall such as Newstead were abandoned. Two inscriptions at the fort at Cilurnum mention him in connection with the Ala II Asturum. He was hampered by a lack of control over his troops. Marcellus was a martinet and the troops in Britain under Commodus were highly mutinous, going so far as to later put forward a pretender to the imperial throne. He was thought to have had a son, also called Ulpius Marcellus, serving as governor around thirty years later, although this is based on a misdated inscription and the existence of a second Marcellus is now discounted.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcellus, Ulpius Roman governors of Britain Roman governors of Asia 2nd-century Romans Ulpii

See also

Notes