Equestrian career

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The tomb of Quintus Sulpicius Celsus has some interesting reliefs, ...

I am suspicious at the choice of iconography. As well as a corona muralis, our man seems to have been awarded a torques, which I believe was too minor an award for an equestrian. This makes me suspicious that our man was one of those primipilares who rose to equestrian status via the honorific post of praefectus fabrum.

Hello all, and happy new year!

I haven't studied Sulpicius, so I can't do anything from notes (and the library's shut), so this is all off the top of my head...

The torques are out of place, and suggest a possible centurionate career. I'm not sure about the praetorians though - that's not the sort of thing that tends to get missed off inscriptions. Asking from ignorance, what makes the standard a praetorian standard?

you may like to note the dedication erected in gratitude to the emperor Claudius (Tiberio Claudio Augusto Germanico blah blah blah) by Glitius Barbarus (CIL 5, 6969), a primipilaris who subsequently embarked on an equestrian career (including the honorific praef. fabr.):

[Ti(berio) C]laudio Drusi f(ilio) Caesari A[u]gusto G[ermanico pont(ifici) max(imo)] | [t]ribunic(ia) potest(ate) VIII imper(atori) [X]VI consu[li IIII p(atri) p(atriae)] | [-- G]litius T(iti) f(ilius) Stel(latina) Barbarus prim[ip]ilaris p[raef(ectus) coh(ortis) --] | [t]ribunus militum praef(ectus) fabr(um) T[i(beri) C]laudi Caes[aris Aug(usti) Germ(anici) ...

I wouldn't say the post of praefectus fabrum was necessarily honourary (there is a great deal of debate on this one), at least not in the early principate (I can't speak for the post-Claudian period). It also has a tendency to appear later in the cursus as time goes on - its early position in this case is a relatively good indication of an early date. The fact that he names the unit he commanded as praefectus cohortis suggests that the date is probably post-Augustan.

Note that dating inscriptions stylistically is imprecise. The cohors VII lusitanorum (and its history) might provide a dating clue.

It's a good bet (as pointed out above), although not certain, that the next post is a cavalry prefecture, although the possible formula used to indicate this is unclear, especially as the level of abbreviation in the inscription is inconsistent. If the unit he commanded as a prefect for the second time was, as is likely, named, it's difficult to find space for any subsequent post if the inscription is only seven lines long. But we're into very speculative territory at this point.

The only other thing I have to add at right now (I'll do some research) is that the career path praefectus cohortis -> praefectus equitum is more likely in the Claudian period (when the normal order of posts was changed to praefectus cohortis->preaefectus equitum->tribunus militum).

I think it is at least possible that Sulpicius Celsus is showing us that he earned "centurial" decorations prior to his equestrian career. I can't be sure, though.

P.S. Do we know how much of the inscription is lost at the bottom? It's difficult to tell from the photo. (Perhaps we are only in the middle of the text, and our man was going to tell us about his primipilate and decorations?)

I think I have a couple of inscriptions where a centurionate post might be 'hinted' at with such decorations, although not named on the inscription, let me check. The transcription at manfredclauss.de also suggests that the inscription is longer than 7 lines, so I'll check the published version.

Best wishes, and blue skies

Tom

EDIT: Shows what I know (or at least, why stylistic dating can be dodgy). Devijver dates him to late 1st/2nd century, although I don't know on what grounds - I only have volume 6 - but it's probably due to the cohors VII lusitanorum. He's S85 in PME (vols 2 and 5).