Marcellinus was a Roman military commander who was consul

Roman consul

A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...

 of the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 in 275

275

Year 275 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelianus and Marcellinus...

 AD.

Career

A man of equestrian origin who was adlected

Adlection

Adlection was the term for a process that the Romans used to fill civic vacancies. It was most known for filling the Senate to the requisite number, when membership fell below the ordained number of members. This number changed with time, as the Roman Constitution, , was a dynamic phenomenon...

 into the Senate

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

, Marcellinus was probably appointed the dux

Dux

Dux is Latin for leader and later for Duke and its variant forms ....

 ducenarius by the emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...

 Gallienus

Gallienus

Gallienus was Roman Emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260, and alone from 260 to 268. He took control of the Empire at a time when it was undergoing great crisis...

 and put in charge of fortifying Verona

Verona

Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...

 in 265

265

Year 265 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valerianus and Lucillus...

 AD.

Marcellinus was possibly sent by the emperor Aurelian

Aurelian

Aurelian , was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275. During his reign, he defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war. He also defeated the Goths, Vandals, Juthungi, Sarmatians, and Carpi. Aurelian restored the Empire's eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273. The following...

 to retake Egypt in late 271 and was subsequently given the title of praefectus

Prefect

Prefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....

 Mesopotamiae

Mesopotamia (Roman province)

Mesopotamia was the name of two distinct Roman provinces, the one a short-lived creation of the Roman Emperor Trajan in 116–117 and the other established by Emperor Septimius Severus in ca. 198, which lasted until the Muslim conquests of the 7th century....

 rectorque

Corrector

A corrector is a person who or object that practices correction, usually by removing or rectifying errors.The word is originally a Roman title corrector, derived from the Latin verb corrigēre, meaning "an action to rectify, to make right a wrong."Apart from the general sense of anyone who corrects...

 Orientis and made responsible for reintegrating the region into the empire and restructuring the Euphrates frontier defences after Aurelian’s first campaign at Palmyra

Palmyra

Palmyra was an ancient city in Syria. In the age of antiquity, it was an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 180 km southwest of the Euphrates at Deir ez-Zor. It had long been a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert...

 in 272

272

Year 272 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Postumius and Veldumnianus...

 AD. While here, during 273 he was approached by a representative of Palmyra, Septimius Apsaeus, who offered him his support if Marcellinus rebelled against Aurelian and became emperor. Marcellinus pretended to consider the offer, but immediately sent word to Aurelian notifying him of the dangerous situation. In the meantime, the Palmyrenes raised another pretender to the throne, Septimius Antiochus

Septimius Antiochus

Septimius Antiochus was a Roman usurper in Syria during the 3rd century.In 272 AD Emperor Aurelian had defeated the breakaway Kingdom of Palmyra: Vaballathus and his mother Zenobia were under Roman captivity. In 273 AD another rebellion against Roman rule broke out in Palmyra...

, against whom Marcellinus made no move, either in support of or against, preferring to wait for Aurelian.

After Aurelian returned and crushed the rebels, Marcellinus kept his command in the east. In return for his loyalty, Marcellinus was appointed consul alongside Aurelian in 275. He was with Aurelian when the emperor was killed, and persuaded the soldiers to refer the decision about who should be the next emperor to the Senate

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

.

Sources

• Jones, A. H. M., Martindale, J. R., Morris, J., The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. I (1971).
• Watson, Alaric, Aurelian and the Third Century (1999).
• Southern, Pat, The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine (2001).
• Southern, Pat, Empress Zenobia: Palmyra's Rebel Queen (2008).
• Bowman, Alan K. The Cambridge Ancient History: The Crisis of Empire, A.D. 193-337 (2005).