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The gens Aemilia, originally written Aimilia, was one of the most ancient patrician houses at Rome. The family was said to have originated in the reign of Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome, and its members held the highest offices of the state, from the early decades of the Republic to imperial times. The Aemilii were probably one of the gentes maiores, the most important of the patrician families. Their name was associated with two major roads (the Via Aemilia and the Via Aemilia Scauri), an administrative region of Italy, and the Basilica Aemilia at Rome.[1]

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[edit] Origin of the gens

Several stories were told of the foundation of the Aemilii. The most familiar was that their ancestor, Mamercus, was the son of Numa Pompilius, who was also claimed as an ancestor of the gentes Pompilia, Pomponia, Calpurnia, and Pinaria. A variation of this account stated that Mamercus was the son of Pythagoras, who was sometimes said to have taught Numa. However, as Titus Livius observed, this was not possible, as Pythagoras was not born until more than a century after Numa's death, and was still living in the early days of the Republic.[2][3]

This Mamercus is said to have received the name of Aemilius because of the persuasiveness of his language (δι αιμυλιαν λογου), although such a derivation is certainly false etymology. Another account claims that the Aemilii were descended from Aemylos, a son of Ascanius, four hundred years before the time of Numa Pompilius. Still another version relates that the gens was descended from Amulius, the wicked uncle of Romulus and Remus, who deposed his brother Numitor to become king of Alba Longa.[4]

Whether any of these accounts is true, the Aemilii were probably of Sabine origin. The praenomen Mamercus is derived from Mamers, a god worshipped by the Sabelli of central and southern Italy, and usually identified with Mars. Although usually included in lists of praenomina regularly used at Rome, and thus considered Latin, the Aemilii and Pinarii were the only patrician families to use the name.[5]

[edit] Praenomina used by the gens

The Aemilii regularly used the praenomina Mamercus, Lucius, Manius, Marcus, and Quintus. The Aemilii Mamercini also used Tiberius and Gaius, while the Aemilii Lepidi, who had a particular fondness for old and unusual names, used Paullus, presumably with reference to the family of the Aemilii Paulli, which had died out nearly a century earlier. The daughters of the Aemilii are known to have used the numerical praenomina Prima, Secunda, and Tertia, although these are frequently treated as cognomina.[6]

[edit] Branches and cognomina of the gens

The oldest stirps of the Aemilii used Mamercus and its diminutive, Mamercinus as a cognomen. This family flourished from the earliest period to the time of the Samnite Wars. Several other major branches, including the Papi, Barbulae, Paulli, and Lepidi, date from this period, and may have been descended from the Mamercini. The Aemilii Paulli vanished with the death of Lucius Aemilius Paullus, the conqueror of Macedonia, in 160 B.C. His sons, though grown, were adopted into the families of the Fabii Maximi and the Cornelii Scipiones.[7]

The family of the Aemilii Lepidi came to prominence at the beginning of the third century B.C., and from then to imperial times was one of the most distinguished in the state. In the first century B.C. they revived several old names, including the praenomina Mamercus and Paullus, and the cognomina Paullus and Regillus. The Aemilii Scauri flourished from the beginning of the second century B.C. to the beginning of the first century A.D. The cognomina Buca and Regillus apparently belonged to short-lived families. Other surnames are found in imperial times.[8]

[edit] Prominent members of the gens

[edit] Aemilii Barbulae

[edit] Aemilii Buci

  • Lucius Aemilius Buca, quaestor in the time of Lucius Cornelius Sulla.
  • Lucius Aemilius L. f. Buca (fl. 54 B.C.), triumvir of the mint.

[edit] Aemilii Mamerci

[edit] Aemilii Lepidi

[edit] Aemilii Papi

[edit] Aemilii Paulli

[edit] Aemilii Regelli

[edit] Aemilii Scauri

[edit] Others

[edit] See also

List of Roman gentes

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor
  2. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor
  3. ^ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, i. 18.
  4. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor
  5. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor
  6. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor
  7. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor
  8. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor
  9. ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares xiii. 2, 21, 27.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aemilia_(gens)"



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