Siburius

Last updated

Siburius ( fl. 370s), for whom only the single name survives, was a high-ranking official of the Roman Empire. He was one of several Gauls who rose to political prominence in the late 4th century as a result of the emperor Gratian's appointment of his Bordelaise tutor Ausonius to high office. [1]

Contents

Life and career

Like Ausonius, Siburius came from Bordeaux. The medical writer Marcellus, their countryman, places Siburius in the company of the historian Eutropius and Julius Ausonius, father of the political scholar-poet, as peers with a literary expertise in medicine. [2]

In early 376, Siburius was magister officiorum under Gratian. [3] He succeeded Ausonius as praefectus praetorio Galliarum (praetorian prefect of Gaul) sometime before December 3, 379, [4] and held the office until 382, when he was succeeded by Mallius Theodorus. [5]

Other scanty evidence of Siburius's life comes from the correspondence of the Antiochan scholar Libanius, who has one letter addressed to him [6] and two to his son, who had the same name. [7] Libanius also mentions Siburius once elsewhere. [8] The son was proconsul of Palaestina Prima around 390. [9]

Culture and religion

Siburius is the addressee of three letters among the correspondence of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, the advocate of religious tolerance who attempted to preserve the traditional religions of Rome at a time when Christianity had become dominant. [10] Symmachus teases Siburius about his archaic writing style (ἀρχαϊσμὸν scribendi): [11]

If you're so in love with the old days, let's return with an equal amount of attention to the time-honored words in which the Salian priests chanted and the augurs pronounced on a bird-omen and the Commission of Ten established the legal code. [12]

In the assessment of commentator Andrea Pellizzari, Siburius was indeed "un uomo di grande cultura," a highly cultured person. [13]

Siburius's son still practiced the traditional religions of antiquity; Libanius refers to his Hellenism. If the father, as seems likely from Symmachus's remarks, also had not converted, [14] Siburius would have been the first non-Christian to hold the prefecture of Gaul since the death of the emperor Julian, and the last to hold the office. [15]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alcuin</span> 8th-century Northumbrian scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher

Alcuin of York – also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin – was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Archbishop Ecgbert at York. At the invitation of Charlemagne, he became a leading scholar and teacher at the Carolingian court, where he remained a figure in the 780s and 790s. Before that, he was also a court chancellor in Aachen. "The most learned man anywhere to be found", according to Einhard's Life of Charlemagne, he is considered among the most important intellectual architects of the Carolingian Renaissance. Among his pupils were many of the dominant intellectuals of the Carolingian era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul the Deacon</span> 8th century Benedictine monk, scribe and historian

Paul the Deacon, also known as Paulus Diaconus, Warnefridus, Barnefridus, or Winfridus, and sometimes suffixed Cassinensis, was a Benedictine monk, scribe, and historian of the Lombards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulfilas</span> Goth bishop and theologian (c. 311–383)

Ulfilas (Greek: Ουλφίλας; c. 311 – 383), known also as Wulfila(s) or Urphilas, was a 4th century Gothic preacher of Cappadocian Greek descent. He was the apostle to the Gothic people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope Gregory VII</span> Head of the Catholic Church from 1073 to 1085

Pope Gregory VII, born Hildebrand of Sovana, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 April 1073 to his death in 1085. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.

In Greek mythology, Schoeneus was the name of several individuals:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidonius Apollinaris</span> 5th-century Gallic poet, diplomat, bishop, and Catholic saint

Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius, better known as Sidonius Apollinaris, was a poet, diplomat, and bishop. Born into the Gallo-Roman aristocracy, he was son-in-law to Emperor Avitus and was appointed Urban prefect of Rome by Emperor Anthemius in 468. In 469 he was appointed Bishop of Clermont and he led the defence of the city from Euric, King of the Visigoths, from 473 to 475. He retained his position as bishop after the city's conquest, until his death in the 480s. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic church, the Orthodox Church, and the True Orthodox Church, with his feast day on 21 August.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pieter Burman the Elder</span> Dutch classical scholar (1668–1741)

Pieter Burman, also known as Peter or Pieter Burmann and posthumously distinguished from his nephew as "the Elder", was a Dutch classical scholar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angelo Mai</span>

Angelo Mai was an Italian Cardinal and philologist. He won a European reputation for publishing for the first time a series of previously unknown ancient texts. These he was able to discover and publish, first while in charge of the Ambrosian Library in Milan and then in the same role at the Vatican Library. The texts were often in parchment manuscripts that had been washed off and reused; he was able to read the lower text using chemicals. In particular he was able to locate a substantial portion of the much sought-after De republica of Cicero and the complete works of Virgilius Maro Grammaticus.

Riothamus was a Romano-British military leader, who was active circa AD 470. He fought against the Goths in alliance with the declining Western Roman Empire. He is called "King of the Britons" by the 6th-century historian Jordanes, but the extent of his realm is unclear. Some Arthurian scholars identify Riothamus as one of the possible sources of the legendary King Arthur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quintus Aurelius Symmachus</span> Roman senator, orator and author (345–402 CE)

Quintus Aurelius Symmachus signo Eusebius was a Roman statesman, orator, and man of letters. He held the offices of governor of proconsular Africa in 373, urban prefect of Rome in 384 and 385, and consul in 391. Symmachus sought to preserve the traditional religions of Rome at a time when the aristocracy was converting to Christianity, and led an unsuccessful delegation of protest against Emperor Gratian's order to remove the Altar of Victory from the curia, the principal meeting place of the Roman Senate in the Forum Romanum. Two years later he made a famous appeal to Gratian's successor, Valentinian II, in a dispatch that was rebutted by Ambrose, the bishop of Milan. Symmachus's career was temporarily derailed when he supported the short-lived usurper Magnus Maximus, but he was rehabilitated and three years later appointed consul. After the death of Theodosius I, he became an ally of Stilicho, the guardian of emperor Honorius. In collaboration with Stilicho he was able to restore some of the legislative powers of the Senate. Much of his writing has survived: nine books of letters; a collection of Relationes or official dispatches; and fragments of various orations.

Magnus Felix Ennodius was Bishop of Pavia in 514, and a Latin rhetorician and poet.

Marcellus Empiricus, also known as Marcellus Burdigalensis, was a Latin medical writer from Gaul at the turn of the 4th and 5th centuries. His only extant work is the De medicamentis, a compendium of pharmacological preparations drawing on the work of multiple medical and scientific writers as well as on folk remedies and magic. It is a significant if quirky text in the history of European medical writing, an infrequent subject of monographs, but regularly mined as a source for magic charms, Celtic herbology and lore, and the linguistic study of Gaulish and Vulgar Latin. Bonus auctor est was the judgment of J.J. Scaliger, while the science historian George Sarton called the De medicamentis an “extraordinary mixture of traditional knowledge, popular (Celtic) medicine, and rank superstition.” Marcellus is usually identified with the magister officiorum of that name who held office during the reign of Theodosius I.

<i>Ostomachion</i> Treatise on geometry attributed to Archimedes

In ancient Greek geometry, the Ostomachion, also known as loculus Archimedius or syntomachion, is a mathematical treatise attributed to Archimedes. This work has survived fragmentarily in an Arabic version and a copy, the Archimedes Palimpsest, of the original ancient Greek text made in Byzantine times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Itineraries of the Roman emperors, 337–363</span>

This article chronicles the attested movements of the fourth-century Roman emperors Constantine II, Constantius II, Constans, Gallus, and Julian the Apostate from 337 to 361 AD. It does not cover the imperial usurpers of the period, including Magnentius, Vetranio, Claudius Silvanus, and Poemenius. The chronology is principally derived from Timothy Barnes' Athanasius and Constantius. Substantial additions and further sources are based on recent research that seeks to go beyond Barnes' own chronology and slightly modifying his at a few places.

Paeanius, was a late Roman lawyer and translator who lived in the Eastern provinces. He was author of a translation into Greek language of the Latin historical work of Eutropius, the Breviarium ab urbe condita. His translation, which has survived in a handful of manuscripts, is a rare example of a near-contemporary translation from Latin to Greek, as Eutropius’s Breviarium was written in 369 and translated by Paeanius around 379.

Nonius Atticus was a politician of the Roman Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friedrich Vollmer</span> German classical philologist

Friedrich Karl Vollmer was a German classical philologist who specialized in Latin studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conrad Malaspina the Old</span> Italian nobleman

Conrad Malaspina, also known as L’Antico or The Old, was an Italian nobleman who lived in the 12th century. There is no certainty about Conrad's birthdate but most historians agree that it is around 1180, his death date is also uncertain but it is speculated to be around July 1254. Conrad was the forefather of the "Spino Secco" branch of the Malaspina family. Conrad Malaspina's achievements were of fundamental importance for the way Italian territories were shaped. He had very close relationships with Emperor Frederick II as well as many intellectuals and political figures of the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aquae Calidae, Bulgaria</span>

Aquae Calidae, also known as Therma and Thermopolis in the Middle Ages, was an ancient town in Thrace located in the territory of today's Bulgarian port city of Burgas on the Black Sea. It was built around thermal baths using the hot springs and became one of the most important spa centres of ancient times.

The Constitutum Silvestri is one of five fictitious stories known collectively as the Symmachian forgeries, that arose between 501 and 502 at the time of the political battle for the papacy between Pope Symmachus (498-514) and antipope Laurentius.

References

  1. ↑ Hagith Sivan, Ausonius of Bordeaux: Genesis of a Gallic Aristocracy (London: Routledge, 1993), p. 134, and p. 210, note 36.
  2. ↑ Marcellus Empiricus, De medicamentis, prefatory epistle 2, in Corpus Medicorum Latinorum: Marcelli de Medicamentis Liber, edited by Maximillian Niedermann (Leipzig: Teubner 1916), p. 3.
  3. ↑ Sivan, Ausonius of Bordeaux, p. 134.
  4. ↑ Codex Theodosianus XI.31.7; A.H.M. Jones, “Collegiate Prefectures,” Journal of Roman Studies 54 (1964), p. 84; Andrea Pellizzari, Commento storico al libro III dell'Epistolario di Q. Aurelio Simmaco (Pisa 1998), p. 156.
  5. ↑ David Stone Potter, The Roman Empire at bay, AD 180-395, Routledge, 2004, ISBN   0-415-10057-7, p. 545.
  6. ↑ Libanius, epistle 663, pp. 99–100 in the edition of Richard Förster, Libanii Opera (Leipzig: Teubner, 1903–27), vol. 11.
  7. ↑ Libanius, epistles 982 and 989, pp. 114–115 and 119–120 (Förster's edition).
  8. ↑ Libanius, epistle 973, pp. 107–108 (Förster).
  9. ↑ Otto Seeck, Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Auctores Antiquissimi. Q. Aurelii Symmachi quae supersunt (Munich 1984), with reference to Libanius, Sievers edition p. 269 (= Förster 989, pp. 119–120).
  10. ↑ J.A. McGeachy, Jr., “The Editing of the Letters of Symmachus,” Classical Philology 44 (1949), 222–229.
  11. ↑ Epistulae 3.44–45, edition of Otto Seeck, Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Auctores Antiquissimi. Q. Aurelii Symmachi quae supersunt (Munich 1984); Neil B. McLynn, Ambrose of Milan: Church and Court in a Christian Capital (University of California Press 1994), p. 86.
  12. ↑ Symmachus, epistle 3.44: Si tibi vetustatis tantus est amor, pari studio in verba prisca redeamus, quibus salii canunt et augures avem consulunt et decemviri tabulas condiderunt.
  13. ↑ Andrea Pellizzari, Commento storico al libro III dell'Epistolario di Q. Aurelio Simmaco (Pisa 1998), p. 157.
  14. ↑ J.A. McGeachy, Jr., “The Editing of the Letters of Symmachus,” Classical Philology 44 (1949), p. 226.
  15. ↑ Dorothy Watts, Religion in Late Roman Britain: Forces of Change (London: Routledge, 1998), p. 39.
Preceded by Praetorian prefect of Gaul
378–382		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.