Silia gens

The gens Silia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are mentioned as early as the fifth century BC, but first to hold the consulship was Publius Silius Nerva, in the time of Augustus.[1] The Silii remained prominent until the time of the Severan dynasty, in the early third century.

Origin

The nomen Silius is derived from the cognomen Silus, originally designating someone with an upturned nose. It was one of a large class of cognomina derived from the physical characteristics of an individual.[2][3][4][5] Chase classifies Silius among those gentilicia that either originated at Rome, or cannot be shown to have come from anywhere else.[6]

Praenomina

The main praenomina of the Silii were Aulus, Publius, and Gaius, all of which were common throughout Roman history. Other common praenomina were used occasionally.

Branches and cognomina

Nerva, originally applied to someone described as "sinewy", was the cognomen of the most prominent family of the Silii, and the only surname of this gens that occurs on coins.[7][1] This family was prominent from the age of Cicero to the time of Nero. One branch of this family was descended from a member who was adopted by Aulus Licinius Nerva; but as the two families shared a surname prior to this adoption, they may perhaps have been related.

Other surnames of the Silii that did not become hereditary included Bassus, "stout" or "sturdy";[7] Italicus, referring to someone from "Italy", originally describing the region of Bruttium, before it came to describe the rest of the peninsula;[8] and Messala or Messalla, a surname usually associated with the ancient Valeria gens. This name was derived from the city of Messana in Sicily, which was rescued from a Carthaginian naval blockade by Manius Valerius Maximus during the Second Punic War; the name was passed down to his descendants, perhaps including Marcus Silius Messala.

Members

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

Notes

  1. Erroneously called "Gaius Silius Aulus Caecina Largus" in many sources, based on an ambiguous inscription; Aulus Caecina Largus has been shown to have been his colleague.

See also

References

  1. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 823 ("Silia Gens").
  2. Festus, s.v. Silus.
  3. Cicero, De Natura Deorum, i. 29.
  4. Chase, pp. 109, 131.
  5. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 827 ("Silus").
  6. Chase, p. 131.
  7. Chase, p. 110.
  8. Strabo, Geographica.
  9. Livy, iv. 54.
  10. Broughton, vol. I, p. 78.
  11. Caesar, De Bello Gallico, iii. 7.
  12. Broughton, vol. II, p. 211.
  13. Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, x. 13, xii. 18a, 22, 24, 25, xiii. 50.
  14. Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, vi. 1. § 13, vii. 1. § 8, xv. 23, 24; Epistulae ad Familiares, vii. 21.
  15. Huschke]], De Causa Siliana, Studien des Römischen Rechts.
  16. Broughton, vol. II, pp. 234, 242, 250.
  17. Cassius Dio, liv. 7, 20.
  18. PIR, S. 512.
  19. Velleius Paterculus, ii. 101.
  20. 'PIR, S. 506.
  21. Syme, The Augustan Aristocracy, pp. 52, 101 (note 51), 458.
  22. Velleius Paterculus, ii. 116.
  23. Cassius Dio, lv. 30.
  24. Syme, The Augustan Aristocracy, p. 425.
  25. Fasti Capitolini.
  26. Cassius Dio, lvi. 28, lx. 31.
  27. Suetonius, "The Life of Augustus", 101.
  28. Frontinus, De Aquaeductu, 102.
  29. Tacitus, Annales, i. 31, ii. 6, 7, 25, iii. 42–45, iv. 18, 19.
  30. PIR, S. 507.
  31. Tacitus, Annales, iv. 68.
  32. Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis, viii. 40.
  33. PIR, S. 513.
  34. Seneca, Controversiae, iii. 16, 17, 20–22.
  35. Tacitus, Annales, xi. 5, 12, 26–35.
  36. Cassius Dio, lx. 31.
  37. Suetonius, "The Life of Claudius", 26.
  38. Juvenal, Satirae, x. 331 ff.
  39. CIL VI, 32325.
  40. PIR, S. 505.
  41. CIL III, 7368.
  42. AE 1946, 124.
  43. Inscriptiones Latinae in Graecia Repertae, 251.
  44. PIR, S. 511a.
  45. Tacitus, Annales, xvi. 20.
  46. PIR, S. 516.
  47. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, pp. 824, 825 ("C. Silius Italicus").
  48. PIR, S. 509.
  49. PIR, S. 504.
  50. Pliny the Younger, Epistulae, iii. 15.
  51. PIR, S. 514.
  52. Fasti Ostienses.
  53. PIR, S. 508.
  54. CIL VIII, 1183.
  55. PIR, S. 515.
  56. Cassius Dio, lxxiii. 17, lxxix. 5.
  57. PIR, S. 510, 511.

Bibliography

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