Rufius Petronius Nicomachus Cethegus was a politician of the Western Roman Empire

Western Roman Empire

The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....

. He was appointed consul

Roman consul

A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...

 for 504, and held the post without a colleague. his father was Petronius Probinus, the consul for 489 and prominent supporter of Antipope Laurentius

Antipope Laurentius

Laurentius was an antipope of the Roman Catholic Church, from 498 to 506.-Biography:Archpriest of Santa Prassede, Laurentius was elected pope on 22 November 498, in opposition to Symmachus, by a dissenting faction...

.

John Moorhead has proposed identifying Cethgus with a Petronius of Rome, who with a Renatus of Ravenna debated Severus of Antioch

Severus of Antioch

Severus, Patriarch of Antioch , born approximately 465 in Sozopolis in Pisidia, was by birth and education a pagan, who was baptized in the "precinct of the divine martyr Leontius" at Tripoli, Lebanon.- Life :...

 on the nature of Christ

Christology

Christology is the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature and person of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament. Primary considerations include the relationship of Jesus' nature and person with the nature...

 while Severinus resided in Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

 (508-511). If correct, this identification would put Cethegus in a circle of aristocratic intellectuals around Boethius.

In December 546, when the King of the Ostrogoths Totila

Totila

Totila, original name Baduila was King of the Ostrogoths from 541 to 552 AD. A skilled military and political leader, Totila reversed the tide of Gothic War, recovering by 543 almost all the territories in Italy that the Eastern Roman Empire had captured from his Kingdom in 540.A relative of...

 overcame the Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 defences and entered the city, Cethegus, who by his seniority had become president of the Senate

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

, ex-consul Decius

Decius (consul 529)

Flavius Decius was a politician of the Eastern Roman Empire. A member of the Decia gens, he was appointed Consul Ordinarius for 529 without colleague....

, and Anicius Faustus Albinus Basilius

Anicius Faustus Albinus Basilius

Anicius Faustus Albinus Basilius was a high official of the Eastern Roman Empire and the last consul of Roman history, holding the office in 541.- Biography :...

 fled Rome with general Bessas. According to the Liber Pontificalis

Liber Pontificalis

The Liber Pontificalis is a book of biographies of popes from Saint Peter until the 15th century. The original publication of the Liber Pontificalis stopped with Pope Adrian II or Pope Stephen V , but it was later supplemented in a different style until Pope Eugene IV and then Pope Pius II...

, Cethegus and Basilius reached Constantinople where the Emperor Justinian consoled them "and enriched them as befitted Roman consuls."

While residing in Constantinople, Justinian twice used Cethegus' services to negotiate with Pope Vigilius

Pope Vigilius

Pope Vigilius reigned as pope from 537 to 555, is considered the first pope of the Byzantine Papacy.-Early life:He belonged to a aristocratic Roman family; his father Johannes is identified as a consul in the Liber pontificalis, having received that title from the emperor...

 over the latter's refusal to condemn the Three Chapters: the first was in late 551, when Vigilius had fled the Placidia Palace

Placidia Palace

The Placidia Palace was the official residence of the papal apocrisiarius , and the intermittent home of the Pope himself when in residence at Constantinople...

 and sought sanctuary in the basilica of Basilica of St. Peter of Hormisdas; the second in Spring 552, when Vigilius had again fled the Placida Palace shortly before Christmas, and this time finding sanctuary in the Church of St. Euphemia in Chalcedon

Chalcedon

Chalcedon , sometimes transliterated as Chalkedon) was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari . It is now a district of the city of Istanbul named Kadıköy...

.