Aemilia gens

The gens Aemilia, originally written Aimilia, was one of the greatest patrician families at ancient Rome. The gens was of great antiquity, and claimed descent from Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome. Its members held the highest offices of the state, from the early decades of the Republic to imperial times.[1] The Aemilii were almost certainly one of the gentes maiores, the most important of the patrician families. Their name was associated with two major roads (the Via Aemilia and the Via Aemilia Scauri), an administrative region of Italy, and the Basilica Aemilia at Rome.

Imperial-era consular fasti listing several Aemilii

Origin

Several stories were told of the foundation of the Aemilii, of which the most familiar was that their ancestor, Mamercus, was the son of Numa Pompilius. In the late Republic, several other gentes claimed descent from Numa, including the Pompilii, Pomponii, Calpurnii, and Pinarii. A variation of this account stated that Mamercus was the son of Pythagoras, who was sometimes said to have taught Numa. However, as Livy observed, this was not possible, as Pythagoras was not born until more than a century after Numa's death, and was still living in the early days of the Republic.[1][2]

This Mamercus is said to have received the name of Aemilius because of the persuasiveness of his language (δι᾽ αἱμυλίαν λόγου), although such a derivation is certainly false etymology.[1] A more likely derivation is from aemulus, "a rival".[3] According to a different legend, the Aemilii were descended from Aemylos, a son of Ascanius, four hundred years before the time of Numa Pompilius. Still another version relates that the gens was descended from Amulius, the wicked uncle of Romulus and Remus, who deposed his brother Numitor to become king of Alba Longa.[1]

In the late Republic, a number of minor families claimed descent from the figures of Rome's legendary past, including through otherwise unknown sons of Numa. Modern historians dismiss these as late inventions, but the claim of the Aemilii was much older, and there was no corresponding need to demonstrate the antiquity of a gens that was already prominent at the beginning of the Republic.[4] In any case, the Aemilii, like Numa, were almost certainly of Sabine origin. The praenomen Mamercus is derived from Mamers, a god worshipped by the Sabelli of central and southern Italy, and usually regarded as the Sabellic form of Mars. At Rome, this name, and its diminutive, Mamercinus, were known primarily as cognomina of the Aemilii and the Pinarii, although the Aemilii continued to use it as a praenomen.[1][5] A surname of the later Aemilii, Regillus, seems to be derived from the Sabine town of Regillum, better known as the ancestral home of the Claudia gens, and perhaps alludes to the Sabine origin of the Aemilii.

The roots of the Aemilia gens was also connected to the very founding of Rome through the claim that it descended from Aemilia, the daughter of Aeneas and Lavinia.[6]

Praenomina

The Aemilii regularly used the praenomina Lucius, Manius, Marcus, and Quintus, and occasionally Mamercus. The Aemilii Mamercini also used Tiberius and Gaius, while the Aemilii Lepidi, who had a particular fondness for old and unusual names, used Paullus, presumably with reference to the family of the Aemilii Paulli, which had died out nearly a century earlier. An obscure family of uncertain date seems to have used Caeso. The daughters of the Aemilii are known to have used the numerical praenomina Prima, Secunda, and Tertia, although these were frequently treated as cognomina, and placed at the end of the name.

Branches and cognomina

The oldest stirps of the Aemilii bore the surname Mamercus, together with its diminutive, Mamercinus; these appear somewhat interchangeably in early generations. This family flourished from the earliest period to the time of the Samnite Wars. Several other important families, with the surnames Papus, Barbula, Paullus, and Lepidus, date from this period, and were probably descended from the Mamercini. The most illustrious of the family was undoubtedly Mamercus Aemilius Mamercinus, three times dictator in the second half of the fifth century BC.

The Aemilii Papi occur in history for about a century and a half, from the time of the Samnite Wars down to the early second century BC.[7] Their surname, Papus, like Mamercus, appears to be of Oscan origin.[8] The name Aemilius Papus occurs again in the time of the emperor Hadrian, but properly speaking these appear to have belonged to the Messia gens, and probably claimed descent from the more illustrious Aemilii through a female line.[9]

Barbula, or "little beard", occurs as the surname of one branch of the Aemilii, which appears in history for about a century beginning in the time of the Samnite Wars, and accounting for several consulships.[10][11][12]

Paullus, occasionally found as Paulus, was an old praenomen, meaning "little".[13] As a praenomen, its masculine form had fallen into disuse at Rome, although the feminine form, Paulla, in various orthographies,[lower-roman 1] was very common.[14][15] As a surname, Paullus appeared in many families down to the latest period of the Empire, but none were more famous than the Aemilii Paulli. This family was descended from Marcus Aemilius Paullus, consul in 302 BC, and vanished with the death of Lucius Aemilius Paullus, the conqueror of Macedonia, in 160 BC. His sons, though grown, were adopted into the families of the Fabii Maximi and the Cornelii Scipiones. The Aemilii Lepidi revived the name toward the end of the Republic, when it was fashionable for younger branches of aristocratic families to revive the surnames of older, more illustrious stirpes.[16]

The cognomen Lepidus belongs to a class of surnames derived from the habits of the habits of the bearer, and evidently referred to someone with a pleasant demeanor.[17] The Aemilii Lepidi appear only a generation after the Aemilii Paulli, beginning with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, consul in 285 BC, and produced many illustrious statesmen down to the first century AD. In the final decades of the Republic, they revived a number of names originally belonging to older stirpes of the Aemilian gens, including Mamercus as a praenomen, Regillus as a cognomen, and Paullus as both. The last generations were related by marriage to the imperial family.[18]

The Aemilii Scauri flourished from the beginning of the second century BC to the beginning of the first century AD. Their surname, Scaurus, referred to the appearance of the feet or ankles; Chase suggests "swollen ankles".[19][11]

The cognomina Regillus and Buca apparently belonged to short-lived families. Regillus appears to be derived from the Sabine town of Regillum, perhaps alluding to the Sabine origin of the gens. The Aemilii Regilli flourished for about two generations, beginning at the time of the Second Punic War.[20][21] Buca, probably the same as Bucca, referred to someone with prominent cheeks, or perhaps someone known for shouting or wailing. The Aemilii Buci are known chiefly from coins, and seem to have flourished toward the end of the Republic.[22][11]

As with other prominent gentes of the Republic, there were some Aemilii whose relationship to the major families is unclear, as the only references to them contain no surname. Some of these may have been descended from freedmen, and been plebeians. Aemilii with a variety of surnames are found in imperial times.

Members
This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.

Aemilii Mamerci et Mamercini

Aemilii Papi

Aemilii Barbulae

Aemilii Paulli
  • Marcus Aemilius L. f. L. n. Paullus, consul in 302 BC, defeated Cleonymus of Sparta. The following year he was appointed magister equitum by the dictator Fabius Rullianus, who sent him against the Etruscans, but Aemilius was defeated.[27]
  • Marcus Aemilius M. f. L. n. Paullus, consul in 255 BC, during the First Punic War. He and his colleague, Servius Fulvius Paetinus Nobilior, led a Roman fleet to Africa, and won an important naval victory over the Carthaginians, but much of their fleet was wrecked in a storm on their return.[28][29][30][31][32][33][34]
  • Lucius Aemilius M. f. M. n. Paullus, consul in 219, triumphed over the Illyrians. Consul for the second time in 216 BC, early in the Second Punic War, he opposed engaging Hannibal at the Cannae, but fought bravely and was slain in battle.[35][36][37][38][39][40]
  • Lucius Aemilius L. f. M. n. Paullus, afterward surnamed Macedonicus, consul in 182 and 168 BC. The most illustrious of his family, he triumphed over Perseus of Macedon in 167 BC; but his two elder sons were adopted into other gentes, and his younger sons died within days of his triumph, leaving no sons to carry on his name.[41][42][43][44][45][46][47]
  • Tertia Aemilia L. f. M. n. Paulla, the sister of Macedonicus, married Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of Hannibal. Her daughter, Cornelia, was the mother of the Gracchi, and when she died, her property passed to her adoptive grandson, who was also her nephew, Scipio Aemilianus.[48][49][50][51][52]
  • Lucius Aemilius L. f. L. n. Paullus, afterward Quintus Fabius Q. f. Q. n. Maximus Aemilianus, the eldest son of Macedonicus, he was adopted into the Fabia gens.
  • Aemilius L. f. L. n. Paullus, afterward Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, was the second son of Macedonicus, and was adopted by his cousin, Publius Cornelius Scipio, whose father had defeated Hannibal. Aemilianus was consul in 147 and 134 BC.
  • Prima Aemilia L. f. L. n. Paulla, married Quintus Aelius Tubero, who served under her father, Macedonicus, in the war with Perseus.[53]
  • Secunda Aemilia L. f. L. n. Paulla, married Marcus Porcius Cato Licinianus, who also served under his father-in-law in the war with Perseus.
  • Tertia Aemilia L. f. L. n. Paulla, when a little girl, gave her father a favorable omen, when following his election as consul for 168 BC, in order to conduct the war with Perseus, he returned home to find Aemilia crying because her dog, also named Perseus, had died.[54][55]
  • Aemilius L. f. L. n. Paullus, the elder of two sons of Macedonicus by his second wife, died at the age of fourteen, three days after his father's triumph in November of 167 BC.
  • Aemilius L. f. L. n. Paullus, the youngest son of Macedonicus, died at the age of twelve, five days before his father's triumph.

Aemilii Lepidi
Obverse of a denarius of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, the triumvir

Aemilii Regilli

Aemilii Scauri

Aemilii Bucae
Denarius issued by Aemilius Buca the moneyer, depicting the laureate head of Julius Caesar, and on the reverse Venus holding Victoria and sceptre

Others
Gravestone of freedmen (liberti) with the nomen Aemilius, from Emerita Augusta, Roman Spain[93]
  • Aemilia, one of the Vestal Virgins, who miraculously rekindled the sacred flame with a piece of her garment.[94][95]
  • Aemilia, a Vestal put to death on the charge of incest in 114 BC. Two others, Marcia and Licinia, were acquitted, on the grounds that Aemilia had instigated the crime, but they were condemned to death by Lucius Cassius Longinus Ravilla.[96][97][98][99]
  • Caeso Aemilius K. f. Varrius, a military engineer of uncertain date.[100][101]
  • Marcus Aemilius Avianus, a friend of Cicero, and the patron of Avianus Evander and Avianus Hammonius.[102]
  • Aemilius Macer, a poet who flourished during the early decades of the Empire, and wrote upon the subjects of birds, snakes, and medicinal plants.
  • Aemilius Macer of Verona, a poet who wrote upon Homeric subjects He flourished toward the end of the reign of Augustus.
  • Aemilius Rectus, governor of Egypt in AD 15, was rebuked by Tiberius for returning more money to the treasury than had been requested; Tiberius replied that he wanted the governors to shear his sheep, not shave them.[103][104]
  • Aemilius Sura, annalist, probably a contemporary of Marcus Velleius Paterculus.
  • Aemilius Rufus, prefect of the cavalry under Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo in Armenia.
  • Lucius Aemilius Rectus, governor of Egypt from AD 41 to 42; possibly son of the elder Aemilius Rectus.[105]
  • Aemilius Pacensis, tribune of the city cohorts at the death of Nero in AD 69; perished fighting against Aulus Vitellius.
  • Aemilius Asper a late first century grammarian, and commentator on Terence and Virgil.
  • Sextus Aemilius Equester, consul suffectus at some point between 147 and 156, and afterwards governor of Dalmatia.
  • Aemilius Asper Junior, a grammarian who flourished during the second century, and the author of Ars Grammatica.
  • Quintus Aemilius Laetus, Praetorian Prefect under Commodus.
  • Quintus Aemilius Saturninus, governor of Egypt from AD 197 to 200.[106]
  • Aemilius Macer, a jurist who lived in the time of Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander.
  • Marcus Aemilius Aemilianus, governor of Pannonia and Moesia, was proclaimed Emperor in 253, but slain by his soldiers.
  • Aemilius Papinianus, a jurist of the late second and early third century.
  • Aemilius Rusticianus, governor of Egypt around AD 298.[107]
  • Aemilius Magnus Arborius, a fourth-century poet, and a friend of the brothers of Constantine I.
  • Aemilius Parthenianus, a historian who gave an account of the various persons who aspired to the tyranny.
  • Aemilius Probus, grammarian of the late fourth century, to whom the Excellentium Imperatorum Vitae of Cornelius Nepos was erroneously attributed.
  • Blossius Aemilius Dracontius a fifth-century Christian poet.

See also

Explanatory footnotes
  1. In addition to Paulla, the form Polla, was common in Latin, and either could be spelled with one 'l' or two. There were three distinct pronunciations of the vowel, which can be seen from Greek inscriptions, including Παυλλα, Πολλα, and Πωλα. The same variation was probably characteristic of the masculine Paullus, as with other Latin names, such as Claudius, which was frequently spelled Clodius, although this came to be regarded as a plebeian spelling.
  2. Klebs and Sumner[60] tentatively identified him with the praetor peregrinus in 213 BC. Broughton[61] was less certain, suggesting instead an identification with the curio maximus M. Aemilius Papus.
  3. Identified as Manius Aemilius Lepidus, the son of Manius, in Drumann; also formerly read as "Publius Licinius".
  4. Several sources indicate that he was consul a second time in 107, in place of Lucius Cassius Longinus, who fell in battle against the Tigurini.[86][87][88][89] However, Pauly–Wissowa indicates that this is a phantom consulship, arising from a misplaced fragment of the Fasti Capitolini, identifying a consul Scaurus who should instead be identified with Marcus Aurelius Scaurus, consul suffectus in the preceding year.[90]

References

Citations
  1. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 30 ("Aemilia Gens").
  2. Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, i. 18.
  3. Chase, pp. 122, 123.
  4. Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome, p. 10.
  5. Chase, pp. 114, 140, 141.
  6. Weigel, Richard D. (2002). Lepidus: The Tarnished Triumvir. Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-90163-0.
  7. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 120 ("Papus").
  8. Chase, pp. 114, 115.
  9. Birley, The Fasti of Roman Britain, pp. 242, 243.
  10. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 461 ("Barbula").
  11. Chase, pp. 109, 110.
  12. New College Latin & English Dictionary, s. v. barbula.
  13. Chase, pp. 109, 110, 150.
  14. Chase, pp. 165, 166.
  15. Kajava, Roman Female Praenomina.
  16. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 153 ("Aemilius Paulus").
  17. Chase, pp. 110, 111.
  18. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, p. 762 ("Aemilius Lepidus").
  19. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, pp. 735, 736 ("Scaurus", "Aemilius Scaurus").
  20. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 642 ("Regillus").
  21. Chase, p. 113, 114.
  22. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 516 ("Buca").
  23. Broughton, vol. I, p. 35.
  24. Birley, The Fasti of Roman Britain, pp. 242–244.
  25. Birley, p. 243.
  26. Broughton, vol. I, p. 187.
  27. Livy, x. 1–3.
  28. Polybius, i. 36, 37.
  29. Eutropius, ii. 22.
  30. Orosius, iv. 9.
  31. Diodorus Siculus, xxiii. 14.
  32. Zonaras, viii. 14.
  33. Niebuhr, History of Rome, vol. iii. p. 591.
  34. Arnold, History of Rome, vol. ii. p. 593, note 67.
  35. Polybius, iii. 16–19, iv. 37.
  36. Appian, Bella Illyrica, 8.
  37. Zonaras, viii. 20.
  38. Livy, xxii. 35, xxiii. 21.
  39. Horace, Carmen Saeculare, i. 12.
  40. Valerius Maximus, i. 3. § 3.
  41. Plutarch, "The Life of Aemilius Paullus".
  42. Livy, xxxiv. 45, xxxv. 10, 24, xxxvi. 2, xxxvii. 46, 57, xxxix. 56, xl. 25–28, 34, xliv. 17–xlv. 41, Epitome, 46.
  43. Polybius, xxix.–xxxii.
  44. Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustribus, 56.
  45. Valerius Maximus, v. 10. § 2.
  46. Velleius Paterculus, i. 9, 10.
  47. Orelli, Onomasticon Tullianum, vol. ii. p. 16.
  48. Polybius, xxxii. 12.
  49. Diodorus Siculus, excerpta, xxxi.
  50. Valerius Maximus, vi. 7. § 1.
  51. Plutarch, "The Life of Aemilius Paullus", 2.
  52. Livy, xxxviii. 57.
  53. Plutarch, "The Life of Aemilius Paullus", 28.
  54. Cicero, De Divinatione, i. 46, ii. 40.
  55. Plutarch, "The Life of Aemilius Paullus", 10.
  56. Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. I, "Aemilii", 1, 2.
  57. Broughton, vol. I, p. 186.
  58. Fasti Capitolini, AE 1900, 83; 1904, 114; AE 1927, 101; 1940, 59, 60.
  59. Broughton, vol. I, pp. 225, 234, 235 (note 2).
  60. Sumner, Orators, p. 66.
  61. Broughton, vol. I, pp. 263, 266 (notes 1, 2).
  62. Livy, xxiii. 30.
  63. Broughton, vol. I, pp. 238, 240 (note 2); vol. II, p. 526.
  64. Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. I, "Aemilii", 1–3.
  65. Broughton, vol. I, pp. 352, 367, 368, 392, 401, 402.
  66. Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. I, "Aemilii", 1, 3.
  67. Broughton, vol. I, p. 358; vol. II, p. 526.
  68. Broughton, vol. I, p. 446.
  69. Broughton, vol. I, p. 484.
  70. Broughton, vol. I, p. 508; vol. II, p. 526.
  71. Broughton, vol. II, p. 84.
  72. Broughton, vol. II, p. 87.
  73. Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. I, "Aemilii", 1, 3, 4.
  74. Broughton, vol. II, p. 151, 152 (note 1).
  75. Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. I, "Aemilii", 1, 4.
  76. Broughton, vol. II, p. 247.
  77. Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. I, "Aemilii", 1, 9–17.
  78. Broughton, vol. II, pp. 292, 356.
  79. Broughton, vol. II, pp. 341, 359.
  80. Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. I, "Aemilii", 1, 8.
  81. Broughton, vol. II, p. 409.
  82. Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. I, "Aemilii", 1, 17.
  83. Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. I, "Aemilii", 1, 18.
  84. Tansey, "Q. Aemilius Lepidus (Barbula?)", pp. 174, 175, 177.
  85. Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. I, "Aemilii", 1, 9.
  86. Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. I, p. 19.
  87. Orelli, Onomasticon Tullianum, p. 18.
  88. Krause, Vitae et Fragmenta, p. 224.
  89. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, pp. 736, 737 (Scaurus, Aemilius, No. 2).
  90. Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Aemilius No. 140.
  91. Plutarch, "Life of Pompeius", 9; "Life of Sulla", 33. 3.
  92. RE, Aemilius 137.
  93. AE 2003, 881.
  94. Dionysius, ii. 68.
  95. Valerius Maximus, i. 1. § 7.
  96. Plutarch, "Quaestiones Romanae", p. 284.
  97. Livy, Epitome, 63.
  98. Orosius, v. 15.
  99. Asconius Pedianus, In Ciceronis Pro Milone, p. 46, ed. Orelli.
  100. Karl Julius Sillig, Catalogus Artificium (1827), Appendix, s.v.
  101. Desiré-Raoul Rochette, Lettre à M. Schorn, 2nd ed., p. 422.
  102. Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares xiii. 2, 21, 27.
  103. Cassius Dio, lvii. 10.
  104. Orosius, vii. 4.
  105. Guido Bastianini, "Lista dei prefetti d'Egitto dal 30a al 299p", Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 17 (1975), p. 272.
  106. Bastianini, "Lista dei prefetti d'Egitto", p. 304.
  107. Bastianini, "Lista dei prefetti d'Egitto", p. 320.

General sources

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Aemilia gens". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Bibliography
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