Gaius Minicius Fundanus

Gaius Minicius Fundanus was a Roman senator who held several offices in the Emperor's service, and was an acquaintence of Pliny the Younger. He is best known as being the recipient of an edict from the emperor Hadrian about conducting trials of Christians in his province.

Life

The details of Fundanus' career are sketchy. It is known that he was governor of Achaea, but the year is uncertain.^[1] We can narrow the possible dates he was governor a little: the terminus post quem his governorship started was 101, when Gaius Caristianus Julianus is known to have governed;^[2] and the terminus ante quem he left his post is the year of his consulate, although the letters he received from Pliny indicate he was no longer in Achaea, allowing us to adjust the date ante quem as early as the year 105.

Most, if not all, of the letters Pliny wrote to Fundanus fall before he was suffect consul. In the first letter of his collection, Pliny declares that living on his rural estate is preferable to living in Rome where he is subject to constant pleas for assistance.^[3] The second is a petition him to appoint the son of his friend Asinius Rufus to serve as Fundanus' quaestor for Fundanus' upcoming consulate.^[4] The third is another petition, canvassing him on behalf of Julius Naso, who is running for an unnamed office.^[5] While all of these letters demonstrate the two men were acquainted, they fail to show the warmth of a friendship.

The date of the nundinium he was suffect consul is definitely known, May-August 107; Titus Vettennius Severus was his colleague.^[6]

Following his consulate, during the reign of Trajan Fundanus was governor of Dalmatia; although the term would fall sometime after 107. Werner Eck suggests that a date closer to 108-111 is more likely.^[7]

Procedure and Christians

It is through a rescript the historian Eusebius preserves at length in his Ecclesiae Historia that we know Fundanus was proconsul of Asia.^[8] Eck dates his tenure to 122/123.^[9] Fundanus' predecessor, Quintus Licinius Silvanus Granianus, had asked Hadrian how to handle legal cases where some inhabitants were accusing their neighbors of being Christians through "informers or mere clamour". Hadrian's reply was to state that any such accusations had to be through a law court, where the matter could be properly investigated, and if they are "guilty of any illegality, you [Fundanus] must pronounce sentence according to the seriousness of the offence."

This rescript is important as an independent witness of the existence of one or more Christian communities in this part of Anatolia in the early second century. The only other contemporaneous evidence we have for these communities is the list of the Seven churches of Asia from the book of Revelations (2:1-3:22).

Family

While the name of Fundanus' wife is not known, we know the name of his daughter, Minica Marcella, from two independent sources. She died young: her funerary vase has been identified, which states her age at death as 12 years 11 months and seven days.^[10] Pliny also attests to her existence, revealing information about the girl that shows he and Fundanus were better friends than the letters he wrote Fundanus suggest. In the letter, which Pliny wrote to one Aefulanus Marcellinus, noting that although she was not yet 14 years old she was betrothed; describing the preparations for her wedding Fundanus was busy with; and asking Marcellinus to send Fundanus a letter consoling him for his loss.^[11] it is not known if he had any other children.

References