Calpurnia (gens)

Denarius of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, 2nd Century BC. The obverse features a head of Roma, while the reverse depicts the Dioscuri.

The gens Calpurnia was a plebeian family at Rome, which first appears in history during the third century BC. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Calpurnius Piso in 180 BC, but from this time their consulships were very frequent, and the family of the Pisones became one of the most illustrious in the Roman state. Two important pieces of Republican legislation, the lex Calpurnia of 149 BC and lex Acilia Calpurnia of 67 BC were passed by members of the gens.[1]

Origin

The Calpurnii claimed descent from Calpus, the son of Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome, and accordingly we find the head of Numa on some of the coins of this gens.[2][3][4][5]

Praenomina

The principal praenomina of the Calpurnii were Lucius, Gaius, Marcus, and Gnaeus.

Branches and cognomina

The family-names of the Calpurnii under the Republic are Bestia, Bibulus, Flamma, and Piso.

Piso was the name of the greatest family of the Calpurnia gens. Like many other cognomina, this name is connected with agriculture, and comes from the verb pisere or pinsere, which refers to the pounding or grinding of corn. The family first rose from obscurity during the Second Punic War, and from that time it became one of the most distinguished in the Roman state. It preserved its celebrity under the empire, and during the first century was second to the imperial family alone. Many of the Pisones bore this cognomen alone, but others bore the agnomina Caesoninus and Frugi.[1]

Of the other surnames of the Republican Calpurnii, Bestia refers to a "beast", "an animal without reason". Bibulus translates as "fond of drinking", or "thirsty", while Flamma refers to a flame.[6]

Members

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

Early Calpurnii

Calpurnii Pisones

Calpurnii Bestiae

Calpurnii Bibuli

Others

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 582 ("Calpurnia Gens").
  2. Plutarch "The Life of Numa", 21.
  3. Horace, Ars Poetica, 292.
  4. Festus, s. v. Calpurni.
  5. Eckhel, v. p. 160.
  6. Cassell's Latin & English Dictionary, s. v. Bestia, Bibulus, Flamma.
  7. Livy, xxxii. 19.
  8. Cicero, In Pisonem, 36, 23, 26, 27.
  9. Cicero, In Verrem, i. 46.
  10. Valerius Maximus, i. 3. § 2.
  11. Appian, Hispanica, 83.
  12. Orosius, v. 6.
  13. Obsequens, 85.
  14. Florus, iii. 19.
  15. Florus, iii. 4. § 6, iv. 12. § 17.
  16. Cicero, Philippicae, iii. 10.
  17. Cassius Dio, index lib. lv.
  18. Tacitus, Annales, iv. 45.
  19. Tacitus, Historiae, iv. 11.
  20. Aurelius Victor, Epitome de Caesaribus (attributed), 12.
  21. Cassius Dio, lxviii. 3, 16.
  22. Grainger, Nerva and the Roman Succession Crisis of AD 96-99, pp. 69 ff.
  23. Aelius Lampridius, "The Life of Commodus", 12.
  24. Velleius Paterculus, ii. 26.
  25. Caesar, De Bello Civili, iii. 110.
  26. Valerius Maximus, iv. 1. § 15.
  27. Tacitus, Annales, i. 39.
  28. Syme, "Piso Frugi and Crassus Frugi", p. 19.
  29. Tacitus, Annales, iv. 36.
  30. Tacitus, Annales, xi. 30.
  31. Tacitus, Annales, xii. 22, xiv. 72.
  32. Tacitus, Annales, xvi. 8.
  33. Pliny the Younger, Epistulae, viii. 10.
  34. Tacitus, Historiae, ii. 9.
  35. Fasti Ostienses, CIL XIV, 244.
  36. CIL XVI, 40.
  37. Gallivan, "The Fasti for A. D. 70-96", pp. 192, 218.
  38. Pithou, Declamations of Calpurnius Flaccus.
  39. Pliny the Younger, Epistulae, v. 2.
  40. AE 1980, 760.
  41. Southern, Roman Britain, pp. 27, 28.
  42. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 145.

Bibliography

Altar of Fortuna, dedicated by Gnaeus Calpurnius Verus, prefect of a cohort of soldiers stationed at Castellum apud Confluentes, modern Koblenz.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William (1870). "Calpurnia Gens". In Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 1. p. 580.

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