Aelia (gens)
Encyclopedia
The gens Aelia, occasionally written Ailia, was a plebeian family at Rome
, which flourished from the 5th century BC until at least the 3rd century AD, a period of nearly eight hundred years. The archaic spelling Ailia is found on coins, but must not be confused with Allia, which seems to be a distinct gens
. The first member of the gens to obtain the consulship
was Publius Aelius Paetus in 337 BC.
Under the empire the Aelian name became still more celebrated. It was the name of the emperor Hadrian
, and consequently of the Antonines, whom he adopted. A number of landmarks built by Hadrian also bear the name Aelius. The Pons Aelius
is a bridge in Rome, now known as the Ponte Sant'Angelo. Pons Aelius
also refers to a Roman settlement in Britannia Inferior
, now the site of Newcastle upon Tyne
, while Aelia Capitolina
was a Roman colony built on the ruins of Jerusalem.
Publius
, Sextus
, Quintus
, and Lucius
. There is also one example of Gaius
amongst the early members of the gens.
found on coins are Bala, Lamia, Paetus, and Sejanus. Of Bala nothing is known. Sejanus
is the name of the favorite of the emperor Tiberius
, who was adopted by one of the Aelii.
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, which flourished from the 5th century BC until at least the 3rd century AD, a period of nearly eight hundred years. The archaic spelling Ailia is found on coins, but must not be confused with Allia, which seems to be a distinct gens
Gens
In ancient Rome, a gens , plural gentes, referred to a family, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a stirps . The gens was an important social structure at Rome and throughout Italy during the...
. The first member of the gens to obtain the consulship
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...
was Publius Aelius Paetus in 337 BC.
Under the empire the Aelian name became still more celebrated. It was the name of the emperor Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
, and consequently of the Antonines, whom he adopted. A number of landmarks built by Hadrian also bear the name Aelius. The Pons Aelius
Ponte Sant'Angelo
Ponte Sant'Angelo, once the Aelian Bridge or Pons Aelius, meaning the Bridge of Hadrian, is a Roman bridge in Rome, Italy, completed in 134 AD by Roman Emperor Hadrian, to span the Tiber, from the city center to his newly constructed mausoleum, now the towering Castel Sant'Angelo...
is a bridge in Rome, now known as the Ponte Sant'Angelo. Pons Aelius
Pons Aelius
Pons Aelius or Newcastle Roman Fort was an auxiliary castra and small Roman settlement on Hadrian's Wall in the Roman province of Britannia Inferior...
also refers to a Roman settlement in Britannia Inferior
Britannia Inferior
Britannia Inferior was a subdivision of the Roman province of Britannia established c. 214 by the emperor Caracalla, son of Septimius Severus. Located in modern northern England, the region was governed from the city of Eboracum by a praetorian legate in command of a single legion stationed in...
, now the site of Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
, while Aelia Capitolina
Aelia Capitolina
Aelia Capitolina was a city built by the emperor Hadrian, and occupied by a Roman colony, on the site of Jerusalem, which was in ruins since 70 AD, leading in part to the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–136.-Politics:...
was a Roman colony built on the ruins of Jerusalem.
Praenomina used by the gens
The Aelii regularly used the praenominaPraenomen
The praenomen was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the dies lustricus , the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the birth of a boy...
Publius
Publius (praenomen)
Publius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and was very common at all periods of Roman history. It gave rise to the patronymic gens Publilia, and perhaps also gens Publicia. The feminine form is Publia...
, Sextus
Sextus (praenomen)
Sextus is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was common throughout all periods of Roman history. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gentes Sextia and Sextilia. The feminine form is Sexta...
, Quintus
Quintus (praenomen)
Quintus is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was common throughout all periods of Roman history. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gentes Quinctia and Quinctilia. The feminine form is Quinta...
, and Lucius
Lucius (praenomen)
Lucius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. The feminine form is Lucia . The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gentes Lucia and Lucilia, as well as the cognomen Lucullus...
. There is also one example of Gaius
Gaius (praenomen)
Gaius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. The feminine form is Gaia. The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Gavia...
amongst the early members of the gens.
Branches and cognomina of the gens
The family-names and surnames of the Aelia gens are Catus, Gallus, Gracilis, Lamia, Ligur, Paetus, Staienus, Stilo, and Tubero. The only cognominaCognomen
The cognomen nōmen "name") was the third name of a citizen of Ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. The cognomen started as a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary. Hereditary cognomina were used to augment the second name in order to identify a particular branch within...
found on coins are Bala, Lamia, Paetus, and Sejanus. Of Bala nothing is known. Sejanus
Sejanus
Lucius Aelius Seianus , commonly known as Sejanus, was an ambitious soldier, friend and confidant of the Roman Emperor Tiberius...
is the name of the favorite of the emperor Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
, who was adopted by one of the Aelii.
Aelii Paeti
- Publius Aelius, one of the first plebeian quaestorQuaestorA Quaestor was a type of public official in the "Cursus honorum" system who supervised financial affairs. In the Roman Republic a quaestor was an elected official whereas, with the autocratic government of the Roman Empire, quaestors were simply appointed....
s, in 409 BC. - Publius Aelius Paetus, consulRoman consulA 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...
in 337 BC, and one of the first plebeian augurAugurThe augur was a priest and official in the classical world, especially ancient Rome and Etruria. His main role was to interpret the will of the gods by studying the flight of birds: whether they are flying in groups/alone, what noises they make as they fly, direction of flight and what kind of...
s in 300 BC. - Publius Aelius Paetus, plebeian aedileAedileAedile was an office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public order. There were two pairs of aediles. Two aediles were from the ranks of plebeians and the other...
in 296 BC. - Gaius Aelius Paetus, consul in 286 BC.
- Quintus Aelius Paetus, a pontifexCollege of PontiffsThe College of Pontiffs or Collegium Pontificum was a body of the ancient Roman state whose members were the highest-ranking priests of the polytheistic state religion. The college consisted of the Pontifex Maximus, the Vestal Virgins, the Rex Sacrorum, and the flamines...
who fell in the Battle of CannaeBattle of CannaeThe Battle of Cannae was a major battle of the Second Punic War, which took place on August 2, 216 BC near the town of Cannae in Apulia in southeast Italy. The army of Carthage under Hannibal decisively defeated a numerically superior army of the Roman Republic under command of the consuls Lucius...
, 216 BC. He had been a candidate for the consulship that year. - Publius Aelius Q. f. PaetusPublius Aelius Paetus (consul 201 BC)Publius Aelius Paetus , otherwise known as Publius Aelius Q.f. Paetus, was an Roman consul of the late 3rd century BC...
, a well-known jurist, consul in 201 BC. - Sextus Aelius Q. f. Paetus CatusSextus Aelius Paetus CatusSextus Aelius Paetus Catus or Sextus Aelius Q.f. Paetus Catus , was a Roman Republican consul, elected in 198 BC. Today, he is best-known for his interpretation of the laws of the Twelve Tables, which is known to us only through the praise of Cicero...
, an eminent jurist, consul in 198 BC. - Quintus Aelius P. f. Q. n. Paetus, consul in 167 BC.
Aelii Tuberones
- Publius Aelius Tubero, praetor in 201 and 177 BC.
- Quintus Aelius Tubero, tribunus plebisTribuneTribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...
in 194 BC, proposed the establishment of colonies among the BruttiiBruttiiThe Bruttii , were an ancient Italic people who inhabited the southern extremity of Italy, from the frontiers of Lucania to the Sicilian Straits and the promontory of Leucopetra, roughly corresponding to modern Calabria.-History:...
and ThuriiThuriiThurii , called also by some Latin writers Thurium , for a time also Copia and Copiae, was a city of Magna Graecia, situated on the Tarentine gulf, within a short distance of the site of Sybaris, whose place it may be considered as having taken...
, and appointed a commissioner for the foundation of the latter colony. - Quintus Aelius Tubero, served under his son-in-law, Lucius Aemilius PaullusLucius Aemilius Paulus MacedonicusLucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus was a two-time consul of the Roman Republic and a noted general who conquered Macedon putting an end to the Antigonid dynasty.-Family:...
, in the war against PerseusPerseus of MacedonPerseus was the last king of the Antigonid dynasty, who ruled the successor state in Macedon created upon the death of Alexander the Great...
. - Quintus Aelius Q. f. Tubero, a jurist, praetor in 123 and consul suffectus in 118 BC.
- Lucius Aelius Tubero, a friend and relation of CiceroCiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
. - Quintus Aelius L. f. TuberoQuintus Aelius TuberoQuintus Aelius Tubero was a Roman consul in 11 BC. He was most likely the father of Sextus Aelius Catus, who was himself consul in 4 AD. His granddaughter was Aelia Paetina, who married future Emperor Claudius in 28. Her adopted brother was Lucius Aelius Sejanus, the Praetorian Prefect who was...
, a jurist, and perhaps the same man as the consul of 11 BC.
Others
- Publius Aelius LigusPublius Aelius LigusPublius Aelius Ligus was a consul of the Roman Republic in 172 BCE, serving with fellow consul Gaius Popillius Laenas. Aelius Ligus probably was praetor in 175 BC.In 172 BC there was the first plebeian college of consuls. Both consuls were sent to Liguria....
, consul in 172 BC. - Lucius Aelius Stilo PraeconinusLucius Aelius Stilo PraeconinusLucius Aelius Stilo Praeconinus , of Lanuvium, is the earliest philologist of the Roman Republic. He came from a distinguished family and belonged to the equestrian order....
, a grammarian, and teacher of both VarroVarroVarro was a Roman cognomen carried by:*Marcus Terentius Varro, sometimes known as Varro Reatinus, the scholar*Publius Terentius Varro or Varro Atacinus, the poet*Gaius Terentius Varro, the consul defeated at the battle of Cannae...
and CiceroCiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
. - Aelius Ligur, tribunus plebisTribuneTribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...
in 57 BC, opposed the recall of CiceroCiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
, according to whom, he had assumed a surname to which he had no right. - Aelius PromotusAelius PromotusAelius Promotus was an ancient physician of Alexandria, of whose personal history no particulars are known, and whose date is uncertain. He is supposed by Villoison to have lived after the time of Pompey the Great, that is, in the 1st century BC...
, an ancient physician at Alexandria, perhaps during the 1st century BC. - Lucius Aelius Lamia, consul in AD 3.
- Sextus Aelius CatusSextus Aelius CatusSextius Aelius Catus was father of Aelia Paetina, second wife of the emperor Claudius from 28 AD to about 31 AD . His only known grandchild was Aelia and Claudius's daughter Claudia Antonia, born in 30.Sextus Aelius Catus was possibly descended from Sextus Aelius Q.f...
, consul in AD 4. - Aelius TheonAelius TheonAelius Theon was an Alexandrian sophist and author of a collection of preliminary exercises for the training of orators. He probably lived and wrote in the mid to late 1st century AD and his treatise is the earliest treatment of these exercises...
, a 1st century sophist. - Aelius CatusAelius CatusAelius Catus was a Roman commander near the Danube who, according to Strabo's geography, transplanted 50,000 Getae from what is now Muntenia in Romania far to the south of Danube, in Moesia....
, a commander, possibly the same as Sextus Aelius Catus. - Lucius Aelius SejanusSejanusLucius Aelius Seianus , commonly known as Sejanus, was an ambitious soldier, friend and confidant of the Roman Emperor Tiberius...
, praetorian prefect under the emperor TiberiusTiberiusTiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
. - Aelia PaetinaAelia PaetinaAelia Paetina or Paetina was the second wife of the Roman Emperor Claudius. Her biological father was consul of 4, Sextus Aelius Catus while her mother is unknown. She was born into the family of the Aelii Tuberones, and thus apparently descended from the consul of 11 BC...
, wife of the emperor ClaudiusClaudiusClaudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
. - See Domitia LonginaDomitia LonginaDomitia Longina was an Empress of Rome and wife to the Roman Emperor Domitian. She was the youngest daughter of the general and consul Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo. Domitia divorced her first husband Lucius Aelius Lamia in order to marry Domitian in 71...
for Lucius Aelius Lamia, consul in AD 80. - Publius Aelius Trajanus HadrianusHadrianHadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
, emperor from AD 117 to 138. - Aelius DionysiusAelius DionysiusAelius Dionysius was a Greek rhetorician from Halicarnassus, who lived in the time of the emperor Hadrian. He was a very skillful musician, and wrote several works on music and its history. It is commonly supposed that he was a descendant of the elder Dionysius of Halicarnassus, author of the...
, a Greek rhetorician during the reign of Hadrian. - Lucius Aelius Caesar, Hadrian's heir, consul in AD 137.
- Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus PiusAntoninus PiusAntoninus Pius , also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty and the Aurelii. He did not possess the sobriquet "Pius" until after his accession to the throne...
, emperor from AD 138 to 161. - Lucius Aelius Lamia Silvanus, married Aurelia Fadilla, the daughter of Antoninus Pius.
- Aelius AristidesAelius AristidesAelius Aristides was a popular Greek orator , who lived during the Roman Empire. He is considered to be a prime example of the Second Sophistic, a group of showpiece orators who flourished from the reign of Nero until ca. 230 AD. His surname was Theodorus...
, a 2nd century orator. - Publius Aelius FortunatusPublius Aelius FortunatusPublius Aelius Fortunatus was a Roman painter.His name got known due to his epitaph in the city of Rome. He was a freedman - a libertus - and lived in the 2nd century CE.- Literature :...
, a 2nd century painter. - Lucius Aelius Aurelius CommodusLucius VerusLucius Verus , was Roman co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius, from 161 until his death.-Early life and career:Lucius Verus was the first born son to Avidia Plautia and Lucius Aelius Verus Caesar, the first adopted son and heir of Roman Emperor Hadrian . He was born and raised in Rome...
, better known as Lucius Aelius Verus, emperor with Marcus Aurelius from AD 161 to 169. - Lucius Aelius Aurelius CommodusCommodusCommodus , was Roman Emperor from 180 to 192. He also ruled as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until his father's death in 180. His name changed throughout his reign; see changes of name for earlier and later forms. His accession as emperor was the first time a son had succeeded...
, the son of Marcus Aurelius; emperor from AD 176 to 192. - Aelius MarcianusAelius MarcianusAelius Marcianus was a Roman jurist who wrote after the death of Septimius Severus, whom he calls Divus in his excerpts from the Pandects. Other passages in the same source show that he was then writing under Antoninus Caracalla, the son and successor of Severus. It also appears from his...
, a jurist of the early 3rd century. - Aelius SpartianusAugustan HistoryThe Augustan History is a late Roman collection of biographies, in Latin, of the Roman Emperors, their junior colleagues and usurpers of the period 117 to 284...
, a historian, and one of the authors of the Historia AugustaAugustan HistoryThe Augustan History is a late Roman collection of biographies, in Latin, of the Roman Emperors, their junior colleagues and usurpers of the period 117 to 284...
. He wrote lives of several emperors from Hadrian to CaracallaCaracallaCaracalla , was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. The eldest son of Septimius Severus, he ruled jointly with his younger brother Geta until he murdered the latter in 211...
. - Aelius DonatusAelius DonatusAelius Donatus was a Roman grammarian and teacher of rhetoric. The only fact known regarding his life is that he was the tutor of St...
, a 4th century grammarian and teacher of rhetoric.