The Nicene Age · AD 313–400 · External witness
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
b. c. AD 340; urban prefect 384–385; d. c. 402 · Urban prefect of Rome · Senator · Orator · Pagan spokesman · Rome
External witness
Who Quintus Aurelius Symmachus was
The most articulate pagan opponent the Christian settlement produced, and the archive held no record of him. As urban prefect in 384 he petitioned Valentinian II to restore the Altar of Victory to the Senate house and to return the revenues of the Vestals — Relatio 3, the most reasonable statement of the pagan case that survives. Ambrose answered it in two letters and Prudentius in two books of verse. His nine hundred letters, published by his son, are one of the fullest windows into the Roman senatorial class of the century. Distinct from Symmachus the translator of the Old Testament.
Also listed in non-christian witnesses.
Common questions
When did Quintus Aurelius Symmachus live?
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus is dated b. c. AD 340; urban prefect 384–385; d. c. 402 in the archive, which places Quintus Aurelius Symmachus in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
What did Quintus Aurelius Symmachus write?
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus has 2 catalogued writings in the archive: Relatio 3 (on the Altar of Victory) and Letters, in ten books.
Which early sources mention Quintus Aurelius Symmachus?
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Quintus Aurelius Symmachus and Ambrose of Milan. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Quintus Aurelius Symmachus from?
The archive associates Quintus Aurelius Symmachus with Rome.
Writings (2)
Relatio 3 (on the Altar of Victory)
AD 384[The classic statement of the pagan case for toleration, addressed to Valentinian II as urban prefect.]
Letters, in ten books
published after AD 402 by his son[Some nine hundred letters, modelled on Pliny, and the chief source for the senatorial aristocracy of the late fourth century.]
Primary-source mentions (2)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Relatio 3, the official petition on the Altar of Victory
c. AD 384[The petition asks that the ancient rites be left standing, on the ground that so great a mystery cannot be reached by one road only.]Quintus Aurelius Symmachus · Symmachus, Relatio 3
The third official dispatch of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus as prefect of Rome, AD 384, petitioning for the restoration of the Altar of Victory — the document Ambrose answered in Letters 17 and 18. Edited by Otto Seeck, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi VI.1 (1883).
Letters 17 and 18, answering the petition point by point
c. AD 384[Ambrose intervened with the emperor before the Senate’s petition could be granted, and then answered it in writing.]Ambrose of Milan · Ambrose, Epp. 17–18 · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Named alongside Quintus Aurelius Symmachus in the sources
This figure is placed with Quintus Aurelius Symmachus by the record — in a council roll, a martyr-act, a letter or a history — without Quintus Aurelius Symmachus naming them in return.
Events in this lifetime
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
- AD 361 · Julian’s pagan restoration, AD 361
- AD 366 · Damasus and the catacomb epigrams, AD 366
- AD 367 · Athanasius lists the 27 NT books, AD 367
- AD 372 · The martyrdom of Sabbas the Goth, AD 372
- AD 378 · Queen Mavia’s revolt, AD 378
- AD 380 · The Edict of Thessalonica, AD 380
- AD 381 · The Council of Constantinople, AD 381
- AD 381 · The Council of Aquileia, AD 381
- AD 384 · The Altar of Victory petition, AD 384
- AD 390 · Thessalonica and the penance of Theodosius, AD 390
- AD 397 · Carthage confirms the canon, AD 397
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Quintus Aurelius Symmachus.
- 1Rome