Priscus

"Priscus" was an extremely common Roman cognomen, and this record appears to aggregate correspondents of that name across three widely separated collections (the letters of Pliny the Younger c. 100 AD, the emperor Julian c. 360 AD, and Pope Gregory the Great c. 600 AD), who were almost certainly distinct and unrelated men. The best-attested bearer in this group is Priscus the Neoplatonist (a pupil of Aedesius and friend of Julian), a philosopher whom Julian summoned to court, who attended the emperor at his death in 363, and who survived into the reign of Theodosius. In Pliny's correspondence the name attaches to one or more senatorial acquaintances (such as a Priscus addressed on points of friendship and patronage), while in Gregory's register it denotes a separate late-sixth-century figure entirely. Because the underlying identities differ by collection, no single coherent biography, set of dates, or office can be assigned with confidence; the name is reliably attested chiefly through these letters themselves.