Marcus Ulpius Maximus
Supervisor of the imperial couriers who offered an elaborate votive altar and ritual insignia to Mithras in Rome under Commodus.
Biography
of Marcus Ulpius Maximus
- Marcus Ulpius Maximus is attested as a member of a Mithraic community (syndexios), with a recorded public career as Praepositus tabellariorum.
- Attested in the 183.
- Attested in Roma, Latium, Italia in 183 (TNMM 1089).
TNMP 281
Marcus Ulpius Maximus was a Roman official connected with the tabellarii, probably the imperial courier or dispatch service, who dedicated an elaborate marble altar to Sol Invictus Mithras in Rome in 183 CE during the reign of Commodus (TNMM 1089 = CIMRM 563). The dedication was carried out in the presence of the priest Sextus Creusina Secundus and included not only the altar itself, but also ritual ornaments and possibly four cult images or insignia associated with Mithras.
The text is notable for several unusual spellings and linguistic irregularities, perhaps reflecting non-standard Latin or the work of a poorly educated lapicida. He may also be connected with a funerary inscription from Rome (CIL VI 29381), where a Marcus Ulpius Maximus appears alongside Publius Spellius Secundus in the commemoration of Ulpia Petillia, although this identification remains uncertain.
Attestations
Altar to Sol Invictus Mithras from Rome
TNMM 1089
Marble altar dedicated to Sol Invictus Mithras, found in Rome (in aedibus Maffaeiorum), set up in 183 A.D. by M. Ulpius Maximus, praepositus tabellariorum, together with its ornaments and Mithraic insignia, in fulfilment of a vow.
Soli inbicto Mitre / M. Ulp[ius] Maximus prae/positus tabellari/orum aram cum / suis ornamentis / et bela domini / insicnis habentes [sic!] / n[umero] IIII / ut voverat d[onum] d[edit].
To Sol Invictus Mithras, Marcus Ulpius Maximus, praepositus of the couriers [tabellarii], set up this altar with its ornaments and the insignia and weapons of his lord, having [so it says] four units, and, as he had vowed, gave this gift.
