Gaius Quinctius Certus Poblicius Marcellus

Gaius Quinctius Certus Poblicius Marcellus was a Roman senator active in the first quarter of the second century AD. He was suffect consul for the nundinium of May to June AD 120, with Titus Rutilius Propinquus as his colleague.[1] The more common and shorter version of his name is Gaius Publicius Marcellus;[2] he is known primarily from inscriptions. He later served in Syria as the imperial legate (the province's governor).

Name

Marcellus' polyonymous name has attracted much study. Olli Salomies, in his monograph on early imperial naming practices, notes that he "was most probably related to Publicius Certus, prefect of the aerarium Saturni in 97 ... and to Quintus Certus, a Roman knight killed in 69",[2] and notes that Géza Alföldy suggests that Publicius Certus was Marcellus' biological father and Marcellus was adopted by a descendant of Quintus Certus. That Certus is an uncommon gentilicium further suggests the two were related. Salomies, however, concedes Marcellus could have acquired one cognomen through his mother, instead of through adoption. "But I must confess," Salomies concludes, "that I much prefer the explanation that Publicius Marcellus had been adopted by a relative."[3]

Biography

His cursus honorum can be reconstructed from his consulship forward from an inscription.[4] The inscription attests that at some point after his consulate, Marcellus acquired the prestigious sacral office of augur. Other offices he held recorded in this inscription were: governor of Germania Superior, which Werner Eck dates between the year 120 and 128;[5] and governor of Syria, which Dabrowa dates from the year 128 to 135.[6][7][8] While governor of Syria, Marcellus was awarded triumphal ornaments for his role in crushing the Bar Kokhba revolt.[9] One of the reasons for receiving military decoration was that the commander of the Syrian navy, Sextus Cornelius Dexter, was under the commander of the Syrian governor.[10]

Despite these achievements and honors, the Historia Augusta states that the emperor Hadrian forced Marcellus to commit suicide.[11]

References
  1. Werner Eck and Andreas Pangerl, "Ein Consul Suffectus Q. Aburnius in drei fragmentarischen Diplomen", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 185 (2013), pp. 239–247
  2. Salomies, Adoptive and Polyonymous Nomenclature in the Roman Empire (Helsinki: Societas Scientiarum Fennica, 1992), p. 125
  3. Salomies, Adoptive and Polyonymous Nomenclature, p. 126
  4. AE 1934, 231
  5. Eck, "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69/70 bis 138/139", Chiron, 13 (1983), p. 196
  6. Eck, W. - Pangerl, A, Syria unter Domitian und Hadrian: Neue Diplome für die Auxiliartruppen der Provinz, Chiron 36, 2006, pp. 205-247
  7. David Macdonald, New Fragmentary Diploma of the Syrian Army, 22 March 129, SCI 25, pp. 97-100
  8. E. Dabrowa, Poblicius Marcellus and the Bar Kokhba Revolt, Rivista Storica dell'Antichita 49, 2019, 69-84.
  9. W. Eck, 'Kaiserliche Imperatorenakklamation und ornamenta triumphalia', ZPE 124 (1999) 223–227
  10. W. Eck, D. MacDonald, A. Pangerl, 'Neue Diplome für das Heer der Provinz Syrien', Chiron 32 (2002), pp. 428
  11. "Hadrian", 15.4

Further reading
Political offices
Preceded by
Lucius Catilius Severus Julianus Claudius Reginus II,
and Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus
as consules ordinarii		 Suffect consul of the Roman Empire
120
with Titus Rutilius Propinquus		 Succeeded by
Gaius Carminius Gallus,
and Gaius Atilius Serranus
as consules suffecti
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