Cassius (gens)
Encyclopedia
The gens Cassia was a Roman
family of great antiquity. The gens
was originally patrician, but all of the members who appear in later times were plebeians
. The first of the Cassii to obtain the consulship
was Spurius Cassius Viscellinus, in 502 BC. He was the proposer of the first agrarian law
, and was put to death by the patricians. As all of the Cassii known from after his time are plebeians, it is not improbable either that the patricians expelled them from their order, or that they abandoned it on account of the murder of Viscellinus.
The Cassia gens was reckoned one of the noblest in Rome; and members of it are constantly mentioned under the Empire
as well as during the Republic
. The Roman road to Arretium
was called the Via Cassia
, and the village of Cassianum Hirpinum
was named for an estate of the family in the country of the Hirpini
. One family of the Cassii was one of the dominant houses of Olissipo
in Lusitania
.
Viscellinus or Vecellinus, borne by the eldest branch of the family. It appears to be derived from the town of Viscellium or Vescellium, a settlement of the Hirpini, which is mentioned by Titus Livius
in connection with the Second Punic War
. The town was one of three captured by the praetor
Marcus Valerius Laevinus after they had revolted in 215 BC. Its inhabitants, the Viscellani, are also mentioned by Plinius
. This suggests the possibility that the ancestors of the Cassii were from Hirpinum, or had some other connection with Viscellium. The existence of a substantial estate of the Cassii in Hirpinum at a later time further supports such a connection.
, Gaius
, and Quintus
. The praenomen
Spurius
was used only by the patrician house of the Cassii Viscellini. Marcus
is known from a single instance at the very end of the Republic, in which the praenomen is given only by Valerius Maximus
.
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....
family of great antiquity. The 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...
was originally patrician, but all of the members who appear in later times were plebeians
Plebs
The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...
. The first of the Cassii 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 Spurius Cassius Viscellinus, in 502 BC. He was the proposer of the first agrarian law
Agrarian law
Agrarian laws were laws among the Romans regulating the division of the public lands, or ager publicus.There existed three types of land in ancient Rome: private land, common pasture, and public land...
, and was put to death by the patricians. As all of the Cassii known from after his time are plebeians, it is not improbable either that the patricians expelled them from their order, or that they abandoned it on account of the murder of Viscellinus.
The Cassia gens was reckoned one of the noblest in Rome; and members of it are constantly mentioned under the Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
as well as during the Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
. The Roman road to Arretium
Arezzo
Arezzo is a city and comune in Central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about 80 km southeast of Florence, at an elevation of 296 m above sea level. In 2011 the population was about 100,000....
was called the Via Cassia
Via Cassia
The Via Cassia was an important Roman road striking out of the Via Flaminia near the Milvian Bridge in the immediate vicinity of Rome and, passing not far from Veii traversed Etruria...
, and the village of Cassianum Hirpinum
Cassano Irpino
Cassano Irpino is a town and comune in the province of Avellino, Campania, southern Italy....
was named for an estate of the family in the country of the Hirpini
Hirpini
The Hirpini , were an ancient Samnite people of central Italy. While general regarded as having been Samnites, sometimes they are treated as a distinct and independent nation...
. One family of the Cassii was one of the dominant houses of Olissipo
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
in Lusitania
Lusitania
Lusitania or Hispania Lusitania was an ancient Roman province including approximately all of modern Portugal south of the Douro river and part of modern Spain . It was named after the Lusitani or Lusitanian people...
.
Origin of the gens
A possible clue to the origin of the Cassii is the cognomenCognomen
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...
Viscellinus or Vecellinus, borne by the eldest branch of the family. It appears to be derived from the town of Viscellium or Vescellium, a settlement of the Hirpini, which is mentioned by Titus Livius
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
in connection with the Second Punic War
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and The War Against Hannibal, lasted from 218 to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. This was the second major war between Carthage and the Roman Republic, with the participation of the Berbers on...
. The town was one of three captured by the praetor
Praetor
Praetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...
Marcus Valerius Laevinus after they had revolted in 215 BC. Its inhabitants, the Viscellani, are also mentioned by Plinius
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
. This suggests the possibility that the ancestors of the Cassii were from Hirpinum, or had some other connection with Viscellium. The existence of a substantial estate of the Cassii in Hirpinum at a later time further supports such a connection.
Praenomina used by the gens
The principal names of the Cassii during the Republic were LuciusLucius (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...
, 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...
, and 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...
. The praenomen
Praenomen
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...
Spurius
Spurius (praenomen)
Spurius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was used primarily during the period of the Roman Republic, and which fell into disuse in imperial times. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Spurilia. The feminine form is Spuria...
was used only by the patrician house of the Cassii Viscellini. Marcus
Marcus (praenomen)
Marcus is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. The feminine form is Marca or Marcia. The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Marcia, as well as the cognomen Marcellus...
is known from a single instance at the very end of the Republic, in which the praenomen is given only by Valerius Maximus
Valerius Maximus
Valerius Maximus was a Latin writer and author of a collection of historical anecdotes. He worked during the reign of Tiberius .-Biography:...
.
Branches and cognomina of the gens
The chief family of the Cassii in the time of the Republic bears the name of Longinus. The other cognomina during this time are Hemina, Parmensis, Ravilla, Sabaco, Varus, and Viscellinus. The Viscellini were the only patrician family of the gens. Under the Empire, the surnames are very numerous.Cassii Viscellini
- Spurius Cassius (Viscellinus), grandfather of the consul.
- Spurius Cassius S. f. (Viscellinus), father of the consul.
- Spurius Cassius S. f. S. n. Viscellinus, 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 502, 493, and 486 BC, and the first magister equitumMaster of the HorseThe Master of the Horse was a position of varying importance in several European nations.-Magister Equitum :...
in 501; put to death by the patricians after proposing the first agrarian lawAgrarian lawAgrarian laws were laws among the Romans regulating the division of the public lands, or ager publicus.There existed three types of land in ancient Rome: private land, common pasture, and public land...
during his third consulship. - Cassii Viscellini, three sons of the consul whose praenomina are unknown, spared by the senate after the murder of their father. They or their descendants may have been expelled by the patricians from their order, or have voluntarily passed over to the plebeians.
Cassii Longini
- Quintus Cassius Longinus, tribunus militumMilitary tribuneA military tribune was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion...
in 252 BC, during the First Punic WarFirst Punic WarThe First Punic War was the first of three wars fought between Ancient Carthage and the Roman Republic. For 23 years, the two powers struggled for supremacy in the western Mediterranean Sea, primarily on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters but also to a lesser extent in...
. He was deprived of his command following a severe defeat, after engaging the enemy against the orders of the consul, Gaius Aurelius Cotta. - Lucius Cassius Q. f. Longinus, son of the tribune of 252 BC.
- Gaius Cassius Longinus, grandfather of the consul of 171 BC.
- Gaius Cassius C. f. Longinus, father of the consul of 171 BC.
- Gaius Cassius C. f. C. n. LonginusGaius Cassius Longinus (consul 171 BC)Gaius Cassius Longinus was a Roman consul in the year 171 BCE, together with Publius Licinius Crassus.Cassius Longinus was not given a command position as he had hoped during the Third Macedonian War, and instead was sent to the northern border of Italy in the province of Illyria to man a defense...
, consul in 171 and censor in 154 BC. - Quintus Cassius L. f. Q. n. Longinus, consul in 164 BC, died during his year of office.
- Quintus Cassius Q. f. L. n. Longinus, son of the consul of 164 BC.
- Lucius Cassius Q. f. L. n. Longinus RavillaLucius Cassius Longinus RavillaLucius Cassius Longinus Ravilla was a Roman consul in 127 BC.As a tribune of Concilium Plebis in 137 BC he put forward and passed the Lex Cassia Tabellaria . In 127 BC he was consul with Lucius Cornelius Cinna and in 125 BC he was elected censor...
, consul in 127 and censor in 125 BC. - Gaius Cassius C. f. C. n. Longinus, consul in 124 BC.
- Lucius Cassius Q. f. Q. n. LonginusLucius Cassius Longinus (consul 107 BC)Lucius Cassius Longinus was a consul of the Roman Republic in 107 BC. His colleague was Gaius Marius.As a praetor in 111 BC, he was sent to Numidia to bring Jugurtha to Rome, promising him safe conduct. Jugurtha valued this pledge as much as the public pledge for his safety. In his consulship with...
, consul in 107 BC, slain by the TiguriniTiguriniThe Tigurini were a pagus of the Celtic Helvetii. They crossed the Rhine together with the Helvetii to invade Gaul in 109 BCE...
. - Lucius Cassius L. f. Q. n. Longinus, tribunus plebis in 104 BC.
- Gaius Cassius L. f. Q. n. Longinus, consul in 96 BC.
- Gaius Cassius Longinus Varus, consul in 73 BC, proscribed and killed by the triumvirsSecond TriumvirateThe Second Triumvirate is the name historians give to the official political alliance of Octavius , Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Mark Antony, formed on 26 November 43 BC with the enactment of the Lex Titia, the adoption of which marked the end of the Roman Republic...
in 43. - Lucius Cassius Longinus, unsuccessful candidate for the consulship in 63 BC, and afterward one of Catiline'sCatilineLucius Sergius Catilina , known in English as Catiline, was a Roman politician of the 1st century BC who is best known for the Catiline conspiracy, an attempt to overthrow the Roman Republic, and in particular the power of the aristocratic Senate.-Family background:Catiline was born in 108 BC to...
conspirators. - Gaius Cassius LonginusGaius Cassius LonginusGaius Cassius Longinus was a Roman senator, a leading instigator of the plot to kill Julius Caesar, and the brother in-law of Marcus Junius Brutus.-Early life:...
, the tyrannicide, praetor peregrinusPraetorPraetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...
in 44 BC. - Lucius Cassius Longinus, tribunus plebis in 44 BC.
- Gaius Cassius C. f. Longinus, son of the tyrannicide, received the toga virilis just before the murder of CaesarJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
. - Lucius Cassius L. f. Longinus, left by his uncle, Gaius, as governor of SyriaSyria (Roman province)Syria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War. It remained under Roman, and subsequently Byzantine, rule for seven centuries, until 637 when it fell to the Islamic conquests.- Principate :The...
in 43 BC, fell at the Battle of PhilippiBattle of PhilippiThe Battle of Philippi was the final battle in the Wars of the Second Triumvirate between the forces of Mark Antony and Octavian and the forces of Julius Caesar's assassins Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus in 42 BC, at Philippi in Macedonia...
. - Quintus Cassius LonginusQuintus Cassius LonginusQuintus Cassius Longinus, the brother or cousin of Cassius , was a governor in Hispania for Caesar....
, tribunus plebis in 49 BC, and governor of Hispania UlteriorHispania UlteriorDuring the Roman Republic, Hispania Ulterior was a region of Hispania roughly located in Baetica and in the Guadalquivir valley of modern Spain and extending to all of Lusitania and Gallaecia...
during the Civil WarCaesar's civil warThe Great Roman Civil War , also known as Caesar's Civil War, was one of the last politico-military conflicts in the Roman Republic before the establishment of the Roman Empire...
. - Quintus Cassius (Longinus), legateLegatusA legatus was a general in the Roman army, equivalent to a modern general officer. Being of senatorial rank, his immediate superior was the dux, and he outranked all military tribunes...
of Quintus Cassius LonginusQuintus Cassius LonginusQuintus Cassius Longinus, the brother or cousin of Cassius , was a governor in Hispania for Caesar....
in HispaniaHispaniaAnother theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
in 48 BC, probably the same man who received that province from AntoniusMark AntonyMarcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...
at the end of 44. - Lucius Cassius Longinus, consul in AD 30, married Drusilla, the sister of CaligulaCaligulaCaligula , also known as Gaius, was Roman Emperor from 37 AD to 41 AD. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula's father Germanicus, the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, was a very successful general and one of Rome's most...
. - Gaius Cassius Longinus, a jurist, consul suffectus in AD 30; banished by 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...
, but afterward recalled by VespasianVespasianVespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
.
Others
- Lucius Cassius HeminaLucius Cassius HeminaLucius Cassius Hemina, Roman annalist, composed his annals in the period between the death of Terence and the revolution of the Gracchi.He wrote in Latin around 146 BC, including the earliest chronicle concerning the career of Mucius Scaevola....
, a historian of the 2nd century BC. - Gaius Cassius, tribunus militumMilitary tribuneA military tribune was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion...
in 168 BC, entrusted by the praetor Lucius Anicius Gallus with the custody of the IllyrianIllyriansThe Illyrians were a group of tribes who inhabited part of the western Balkans in antiquity and the south-eastern coasts of the Italian peninsula...
king GentiusGentiusGentius was the last Illyrian king of the Ardiaean State. The name appears to derive from PIE *g'en- "to beget", cognate to Latin gens, gentis "kin, clan, race". He was the son of Pleuratus III, a king who kept relations with Rome very strong...
. - Lucius Cassius, proconsulProconsulA proconsul was a governor of a province in the Roman Republic appointed for one year by the senate. In modern usage, the title has been used for a person from one country ruling another country or bluntly interfering in another country's internal affairs.-Ancient Rome:In the Roman Republic, a...
in Asia in 90 BC, captured the following year by MithradatesMithridates VI of PontusMithridates VI or Mithradates VI Mithradates , from Old Persian Mithradatha, "gift of Mithra"; 134 BC – 63 BC, also known as Mithradates the Great and Eupator Dionysius, was king of Pontus and Armenia Minor in northern Anatolia from about 120 BC to 63 BC...
. - Lucius Cassius, 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 89 BC, excited the crowds to riot and murder the praetor, Aulus Sempronius Asellio. - Marcus Cassius Scaeva, a centurionCenturionA centurion was a professional officer of the Roman army .Centurion may also refer to:-Military:* Centurion tank, British battle tank* HMS Centurion, name of several ships and a shore base of the British Royal Navy...
in Caesar'sJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
army at the Battle of DyrrhachiumBattle of Dyrrhachium (48 BC)The Battle of Dyrrachium on 10 July 48 BC, was a battle of Caesar's Civil War in the area of the city of Dyrrachium . It was fought between Julius Caesar and the army led by Gnaeus Pompey with the backing of the majority of the Roman Senate. The battle was indecisive but is regarded as a victory...
, and later one of Caesar's partisans. - Cassius DionysiusCassius DionysiusCassius Dionysius of Utica was an ancient Greek agricultural writer of the 2nd century BC. The Roman nomen, Cassius, combined with the Greek cognomen, Dionysius, make it likely that he was a slave , originally Greek-speaking, who was owned and afterwards freed by a Roman of the gens Cassia...
, a native of UticaUtica, TunisiaUtica is an ancient city northwest of Carthage near the outflow of the Medjerda River into the Mediterranean Sea, traditionally considered to be the first colony founded by the Phoenicians in North Africa...
, and an agricultural writer, who translated the work of the CarthaginianCarthageCarthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
MagoMago (agricultural writer)Mago was a Carthaginian writer, author of an agricultural manual in Punic which was a record of the farming knowledge of Carthage. The Punic text has been lost, but some fragments of Greek and Latin translations survive....
. - Cassius Barba, a friend of Caesar, who gave 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...
guards for his villa, when Caesar paid him a visit in 44 BC. - Cassius Etruscus, an author ridiculed by Quintus Horatius FlaccusHoraceQuintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
, sometimes confused with Cassius Parmensis. - Cassius Parmensis, tribunus militum in the army of Brutus and CassiusGaius Cassius LonginusGaius Cassius Longinus was a Roman senator, a leading instigator of the plot to kill Julius Caesar, and the brother in-law of Marcus Junius Brutus.-Early life:...
, put to death by OctavianusAugustusAugustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
. - Cassius Betillinus, apparently an error for Betilienus BassusBetiliena (gens)The gens Betiliena was a Roman family known from the early decades of the imperial era. It is known chiefly from two individuals. Betilienus Bassus was triumvir monetalis in the reign of Augustus, and is probably the same man who was later put to death by order of Caligula in AD 40...
. - Cassius SeverusCassius SeverusTitus Cassius Severus was an ancient Roman rhetor from the gens Cassia. He belonged to the reign of Augustus, Tiberius and Caligula. Cassius Severus, a fearless fighter of freedom of speech,was sharply eloquent against the new governmental order, which finally led him to the path of...
, a celebrated orator and satirical writer, in the time of AugustusAugustusAugustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
and 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...
. - Gaius Cassius ChaereaCassius ChaereaCassius Chaerea was a centurion in the army of Germanicus and served in the Praetorian Guard under the emperor Caligula, whom he eventually assassinated....
, tribune of the Praetorian GuardPraetorian GuardThe Praetorian Guard was a force of bodyguards used by Roman Emperors. The title was already used during the Roman Republic for the guards of Roman generals, at least since the rise to prominence of the Scipio family around 275 BC...
under CaligulaCaligulaCaligula , also known as Gaius, was Roman Emperor from 37 AD to 41 AD. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula's father Germanicus, the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, was a very successful general and one of Rome's most...
, against whom he conspired and whom he helped to assassinate, with the intent of restoring the Republic. - Cassius AsclepiodotusCassius AsclepiodotusCassius Asclepiodotus was a wealthy man from Nicaea, Bithynia, who was stripped of his property and driven into exile by Nero in AD 67, because he had continued to speak admiringly of the former proconsul Quintus Marcius Barea Soranus even after his disgrace and suicide. He was later restored by...
, a wealthy man of BithyniaBithynia et PontusBithynia et Pontus was the name of a province of the Roman empire on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia . It was formed by the amalgamation of the former kingdoms of Bithynia and Pontus ....
, exiled by NeroNeroNero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
, but subsequently restored by GalbaGalbaGalba , was Roman Emperor for seven months from 68 to 69. Galba was the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, and made a bid for the throne during the rebellion of Julius Vindex...
. - Cassius FelixCassius FelixCassius Felix is a Roman African medical writer probaby native of Constantina. He is known for having written in AD 447 a Latin treatise titled De Medicina. The little we can say of the author comes from his book, that is meant to be a simple handbook for practical use in which he wants others to...
, also called Cassius Iatrosophista, author of a medical treatise, Quaestiones Medicae et Problemata Naturalia. - Avidius CassiusAvidius CassiusGaius Avidius Cassius was a Roman general and usurper who briefly ruled Egypt and Syria in 175.-Origins:He was the son of Gaius Avidius Heliodorus, a noted orator who was Prefect of Egypt from 137 to 142 under Hadrian, and wife Junia Cassia Alexandra...
, a successful general under Marcus Aurelius, against whom he subsequently rebelled. - Cassius ApronianusCassius ApronianusCassius Apronianus or Apronianus was a Roman who lived in the 2nd century. He was a member of Cassius , one of the oldest families in Ancient Rome....
, governor of DalmatiaDalmatia (Roman province)Dalmatia was an ancient Roman province. Its name is probably derived from the name of an Illyrian tribe called the Dalmatae which lived in the area of the eastern Adriatic coast in Classical antiquity....
and CiliciaCiliciaIn antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...
, father of the historian Cassius Dio. - Cassius Clemens, brought to trial circa AD 195, for having espoused the side of Gaius Pescennius NigerPescennius NigerPescennius Niger was a Roman usurper from 193 to 194 during the Year of the Five Emperors. He claimed the imperial throne in response to the murder of Pertinax and the elevation of Didius Julianus, but was defeated by a rival claimant, Septimius Severus and killed while attempting to flee from...
, defended himself with such dignity that Septimius SeverusSeptimius SeverusSeptimius Severus , also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of...
granted him his life and allowed him to retain half his property. - Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, author of a monumental history of Rome.
- Cassius Dio, consul in AD 291, perhaps the grandson of the historian.