Quintus Spicius Cerialis

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Quintus Spicius Cerialis was a Roman senator who, as part of his professional career ( Cursus honorum ) , held the governorship of the province of Raetia between AD 181 and 184 in the function of a legate with the rank of praetor (Legatus Augusti pro praetore) .

Very little is known about the life of Spicius Cerialis. When he took office in the Rhaetian provincial capital Augusta Vindelicorum ( Augsburg ), he replaced his predecessor, Marcus Helvius Clemens Dextrianus , around 181 . Around 185 he handed over the official business to his successor Gaius Caerellius Sabinus .

Cast of the building inscription from Fort Pfünz

Spicius Cerialis is mentioned in several inscriptions of the province of Raetia. The oldest mention so far dates from the year 181 AD and was discovered as a building inscription in the Limes Fort Böhming in the Altmühltal . At that time, the governor had assigned a department of the Legio III Italica from Regensburg to Böhming, which was subordinate to him , to rebuild parts of the stone-built numerus fort, which had previously been built using wood-earth technology. A year later, as part of this extensive expansion program for the Rhaetian Limes garrisons, the Ellingen fort was also renovated in stone by order of the governor. A third building inscription from the years 183/184 AD confirms the expansion or repairs to the rear Pfünz fort , which stood on a rock spur above the Altmühl. The extensive and costly construction work on the Rhaetian Limes is seen by research in connection with the end of the devastating first Marcomannic War (166 to 175 AD), as a result of which parts of the province of Rhaetia were devastated by the warriors from the Barbaricum . The predecessor of Spicius Cerialis, Marcus Helvius Clemens Dextrianus, had already made clear the new style of Roman border politics on the Limes with the construction of the Regensburg legion fort in 179 AD.

From the Roman settlement Eschenz ( Vicus Tasgetium ) on the western outflow of the Rhine from Lake Constance, the fragment of an undated inscription found in 1741 is known, which also names Quintus Spicius Cerialis and also dates from his time as the Rhaetian governor.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ioan Piso: Fasti Provinciae Daciae. The senatorial officials . Habelt, Bonn 1993. ISBN 3774926158 , p. 236.
  2. ↑ CIL 3, 14370 .
  3. ^ AE 1983, 730 .
  4. ↑ CIL 3, 11933 .
  5. ↑ Hans Jörg Kellner: The Romans in Bavaria . Süddeutscher Verlag, Munich 1971. p. 75.
  6. ↑ CIL 13,5255
personal data
SURNAME Spicius cerialis, Quintus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cerialis, Quintus Spicius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION roman senator
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century
DATE OF DEATH 2nd century or 3rd century