Publius_Galerius_Trachalus

Publius Galerius Trachalus

Publius Galerius Trachalus

First century AD Roman senator, consul and provincial governor

Publius Galerius Trachalus was a Roman senator, who was active during the middle of the first century AD. He was consul for the year 68 as the colleague of Silius Italicus[1] and a noted Roman orator praised by Quintilian.[2][3]

Hailing from Ariminum, Trachalus is thought to possibly be a descendant of the equites Gaius Galerius, praefectus or governor of Egypt (AD 16–23).[4] He was also likely related to Galeria Fundana, the second wife of Otho.[5]

An inscription from Mediolanum (modern Milan), now lost, attests that Trachalus had been co-opted into the Septemviri epulones, one of the four most prestigious ancient Roman priesthoods.[6] Trachalus' skill in oratory and at the bar led Otho, upon becoming Emperor during the Year of the Four Emperors (AD 69), to make him an advisor.[7] With the suicide of Otho and the advent of his rival Vitellius to Rome and imperial power, Trachalus' life was in danger. Here he was protected by Vitellius' wife Galeria.[8] He evaded further danger in that tumultuous year and was permitted to be governor of Africa proconsularis for the term 78/79.[9]

References

  1. [1]
    Paul A. Gallivan, "Some Comments on the Fasti for the Reign of Nero", Classical Quarterly, 24 (1974), pp. 292, 311
  2. [2]
    Institutes 10.1.119
  3. [3]
    William Dominik; Jon Hall (11 January 2010). A Companion to Roman Rhetoric. John Wiley & Sons. p. 511. ISBN 978-1-4443-3415-9.
  4. [4]
    Werner Eck, "Galerius (4)", Brill's New Pauly, Volume 4 (Stuttgart:Metzler, 1998), Col. 758 ISBN 3-476-01474-6
  5. [5]
    Gwyn Morgan, 69 A.D., the Year of Four Emperors (Oxford: University Press, 2006), p. 77
  6. [6]
    CIL V, 5812
  7. [7]
    Tacitus Histories I.90.2
  8. [8]
    Tacitus, Histories, II.60
  9. [9]
    Werner Eck, "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69/70 bis 138/139", Chiron, 12 (1982), p. 300
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