Maternus Cynegius

Maternus Cynegius (died 14 March 388) was a high official in the late Roman Empire. He served as praetorian prefect of the East and consul, and is best known for destroying some of the most sacred sites of the Hellenistic religion during the persecution of pagans.

Biography

Cynegius was a Christian and is thought to have been born in Hispania[1][lower-alpha 1] Sometime between 381 and 383 he was appointed comes sacrarum largitionum, the imperial treasurer, by Emperor Theodosius I.[3] Later he was appointed quaestor sacri palatii[3] and in 384 praetorian prefect of the East.[2] He issued laws that forbade pagan sacrifices and closed and destroyed non-Christian temples in Egypt and Syria (386). Deviating from Theodosius' policy, he also issued anti-Jewish laws.[1]

On his second visitation to the East (including Egypt) he was accompanied by Bishop Marcellus of Apamea. With Marcellus' encouragement, he destroyed, among other things:

In 388, Cynegius was appointed consul,[1] though he died that same year in Berytos. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.[1]

Cynegius has been identified with the high official who received the Missorium of Theodosius I and was probably depicted on it. A country house found by archaeologists near Carranque in Spain has been attributed to Cynegius.[7]

Notes
  1. Keay calls Cynegius a "Spaniard".[2]
  2. Trombley indicates that Marcellus was the force behind the destruction of the Temple of Zeus.[5]

References
  1. Natal 2018, p. 441.
  2. Keay 1988, p. 198.
  3. Holum 1982, p. 15.
  4. Olszaniec 2013, p. 104.
  5. Trombley 2014, p. 111.
  6. Trombley 2014, p. 144.
  7. Leader-Newby 2004, p. 11-14.

Sources
  • Holum, Kenneth G. (1982). Theodosian Empresses: Women and Imperial Dominion in Late Antiquity. University of California Press.
  • Keay, Simon J. (1988). Roman Spain. University of California Press.
  • Leader-Newby, Ruth E. (2004). Silver and Society in Late Antiquity. Functions and Meanings of Silver Plate in the Fourth to the Seventh Centuries. Ashgate. ISBN 0-7546-0728-3.
  • Natal, David (2018). "Cynegius". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. 1:A-I. Oxford University Press.
  • Olszaniec, Szymon (2013). Prosopographical studies on the court elite in the Roman Empire (4th century A. D.). Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu MikoĊ‚aja Kopernika [S.l.] ISBN 8323131430.
  • Trombley, Frank R. (2014). Hellenic Religion and Christianization c. 370-529. I. Brill.


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