Marcus Aurelius Frontinianus

Marcus Aurelius Frontinianus was a soldier of the Legio II Adiutrix at Aquincum and the brother of Marcus Aurelius Fronto. The two men are jointly attested at Budaörs as the founders of a Mithraic sanctuary and dedicators of two associated altars. Their dedication to Sol Socius (TNMM 558; CIMRM 1793) describes them explicitly as fratres and dates their activity to the fourth consulship of an emperor Antoninus, either Caracalla in AD 213 or Elagabalus in 222. Clauss (1992) favoured the earlier date and suggested that the brothers may have been relatively recent Roman citizens.

Frontinianus and Fronto also appear together on the altar dedicated to Deus Invictus Mithras (TNMM 1787; CIMRM 1792). Its inscription identifies both as milites legionis II Adiutricis and records that they built the templum pro salute sua et suorum, for their own welfare and that of their households. The two altars were found at Budaörs together with a marble tauroctony (TNMM 1786; CIMRM 1791), providing a closely associated group of monuments from the sanctuary. Vágási (2018) argues that the brothers probably established the shrine on their own property and suggests that two statues, now lost, may also have accompanied the altars.

The relationship between Frontinianus and Fronto has attracted particular attention because of their names and their description as fratres. Clauss understood them as biological brothers, while Vágási notes that the cognomen Frontinianus is itself derived from Fronto. She nevertheless allows the possibility that fratres carried an additional religious sense, reflecting their common membership of the Mithraic community. Both inscriptions therefore present Frontinianus not merely as an individual dedicator but as one half of a pair of soldier-brothers whose joint patronage provided Budaörs with a Mithraic place of worship.