Callinicus

Who is Callinicus?

Callinicus, surnamed or nicknamed Sutorius or Suetorius, sometimes known as Kallinikos of Petra or Callinicus of Petra was an Ancient Greek Historian, Orator, Rhetorician and Sophist who flourished in the 3rd century.

Callinicus was a man of Greek descent, who came from a local eminent family from either Arabia Petraea or Syria. Little is known about his family except that his father’s Praenomen was Gaius.

Callinicus was one of the most cultural figures that came from the Eastern Roman Empire. He was a contemporary and friend to Roman Emperor Gallienus and Queen of the Palmyrene Empire, Zenobia.

During the reign of Gallienus and his father Valerian, Callinicus taught Rhetoric in Athens, Greece. Later Callinicus accepted the patronage of Syrian Queen of Palmyra, Zenobia. Callinicus moved and lived in Zenobia’s court first in Palmyra and later in Alexandria, Egypt.

In 273, Callinicus was executed with Zenobia's chief counselor and Greek sophist, Cassius Longinus on the orders of Roman Emperor Aurelian in the city, Callinicum on the Euphrates. Zenobia had revolted against the Roman Empire and Aurelian had defeated and ended Zenobia’s revolt from Rome in Emesa.