The gens Servilia was an illustrious Patrician 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...

at Rome

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 furnished numerous magistrates throughout the history of the Roman 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...

. It also had Plebeian

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...

 branches. According to tradition, the family was one of the noble houses of Alba Longa

Alba Longa

Alba Longa – in Italian sources occasionally written Albalonga – was an ancient city of Latium in central Italy southeast of Rome in the Alban Hills. Founder and head of the Latin League, it was destroyed by Rome around the middle of the 7th century BC. In legend, Romulus and Remus, founders of...

, which settled at Rome following the destruction of that ancient city by Tullus Hostilius

Tullus Hostilius

Tullus Hostilius was the legendary third of the Kings of Rome. He succeeded Numa Pompilius, and was succeeded by Ancus Marcius...

, the third King of Rome

King of Rome

The King of Rome was the chief magistrate of the Roman Kingdom. According to legend, the first king of Rome was Romulus, who founded the city in 753 BC upon the Palatine Hill. Seven legendary kings are said to have ruled Rome until 509 BC, when the last king was overthrown. These kings ruled for...

.

The name of the family is a patronymic surname, based on 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...

 Servius

Servius (praenomen)

Servius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was used throughout the period of the Roman Republic, and well into imperial times. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Servilia. The feminine form is Servia...

, meaning one who keeps safe or preserves. Presumably this was the name of the ancestor of the gens. However, the names preferred by the Servilii were 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...

, 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...

, 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...

, Gnaeus

Gnaeus (praenomen)

Gnaeus is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was common throughout the period of the Roman Republic, and well into imperial times. The feminine form is Gnaea. The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Naevia...

, 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...

, and 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...

.

Amongst the more famous of the early Servilii was Gaius Servilius Ahala

Gaius Servilius Ahala

Gaius Servilius Structus Ahala was a 5th century BC politician of ancient Rome, considered by many later writers to have been a hero. His fame rested on the contention that he saved Rome from Spurius Maelius in 439 BC by killing him with a dagger concealed under an armpit...

, who was revered for having saved Rome from tyranny, by killing Spurius Maelius

Spurius Maelius

Spurius Maelius , a wealthy Roman plebeian, who during a severe famine bought up a large amount of wheat and sold it at a low price to the people.-Biography:...

 in 439 BC. This tradition, however, is suspect, because in several instances the patricians charged various persons with treason after they became popular with the plebs. Maelius was accused because he had used his own resources to purchase grain and distribute it to the poor.

The Servilii were an important force in the later Republic, as appears in the following (incomplete) family tree:

Stemma Serviliorum

Sources

• Broughton, T. Robert S. (1951). The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association, 3 Volumes. Volume I (509 B.C. - 100 B.C.) ISBN 0-89130-812-2. Volume II (99 B.C. - 31 B.C.) Philological Monographs Number XV, 1952. Volume III (Supplement) ISBN 0-89130-811-3.
• Crawford, Michael H. (1974). Roman Republican Coinage, Cambridge University Press, 2 Volumes. ISBN 0-521-07492-4
• Hornblower, Simon and Spaworth, Antony (1999). The Oxford Classical Dictionary, ISBN 0-19-866172-X
• Münzer, Friedrich (1999). Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families, translated by Thérèse Ridley, Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 0-8018-5990-5