Aponius Rogatianus

Aponius Rogatianus is known from a dedication discovered in the Mithraeum of Vindobala (Rudchester) on Hadrian’s Wall, recorded in RIB 1397 and generally dated to the 3rd century AD. The inscription invokes Sol Apollo Anicetus Mithras, an unusual syncretic formulation combining Mithras with both Sol and Apollo, while employing the Greek-derived epithet Anicetus (“Invincible”) instead of the more common Latin Invictus (RIB 1397; Bosanquet 1926, 39; Vermaseren, CIMRM 843). Although partially damaged, the monument preserves the name of the dedicator, Aponius Rogatianus, who may have been a praefectus, a restoration proposed by Birley on epigraphic grounds (Birley 1954, 212).

The dedication has attracted scholarly attention because of its distinctive religious vocabulary and cultural implications. The association of Mithras with Apollo is uncommon in the western Mithraic epigraphic record, while the use of the transliterated Greek Anicetus is exceptionally rare in Latin inscriptions (RIB 1397 commentary; Bosanquet 1926, 39). John G. Drummond has suggested that these features may reflect some degree of Greek learning or eastern cultural influence on the part of the dedicator, although the nomen Aponius has also been interpreted as compatible with a North African origin (Drummond, Mystery Cults in Roman Britain).