Antonia (gens)

The gens Antonia was a Roman family of great antiquity, with both patrician and plebeian branches. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Titus Antonius Merenda, one of the second group of Decemviri called, in 450 BC, to help draft what became the Law of the Twelve Tables.^[1]

Origin of the gens

Marcus Antonius, the triumvir, pretended that his gens was descended from Anton, a son of Heracles. We are told that he harnessed lions to his chariot to commemorate his descent from this hero; and many of his coins bear a lion for the same reason.^[2][3][4]

Praenomina used by the gens

The patrician Antonii used the praenomina Titus and Quintus. Titus does not appear to have been used by the plebeian Antonii, who instead used Quintus, Marcus, Lucius, and Gaius. There is also one instance of Aulus, while Marcus Antonius the triumvir named one of his sons Iulus. This name, also borne by a later descendant of the triumvir, may have been an ancient praenomen revived by the family, but it was probably also intended to call to mind the connections of the Antonii with the illustrious gens Julia.

Branches and cognomina of the gens

The patrician Antonii bear the cognomen Merenda; the plebeian Antonii bear no surname under the Republic, with the exception of Quintus Antonius, propraetor in Sardinia in the time of Sulla, who is called Balbus on coins.^[5]

Members of the gens

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

• Titus Antonius Merenda, Decemvir in 450 BC, defeated by the Aequi on Mount Algidus.^[6][7][8]
• Quintus Antonius T. f. Merenda, tribunus militum consulari potestate in 422 BC^[9][10]
• Marcus Antonius, magister equitum in 334 B.C.^[11]
• Lucius Antonius, expelled from the Senate by the censors in 307 BC^[12]
• Quintus Antonius, one of the officers in the fleet under the praetor Lucius Aemilius Regillus, in the war with Antiochus the Great, in 190 BC^[13]
• Aulus Antonius, sent by the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus, with two others to Perseus, after the defeat of the latter, in 168 BC^[14]
• Marcus Antonius, tribunus plebis in 167 BC, opposed the bill introduced by the praetor Marcus Juventius Thalna for declaring war against the Rhodians.^[15]
• Gaius Antonius, the father of Marcus Antonius the orator.^[16]
• Marcus Antonius C. f., the orator, praetor in 104 BC and censor in 97, put to death by Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna in 87.
• Quintus Antonius Balbus, praetor in Sardinia in 82 BC, killed by Lucius Marcius Philippus, the legate of Sulla.^[17]
• Marcus Antonius Gnipho, a distinguished rhetorician and tutor of Caesar.
• Marcus Antonius M. f. C. n., surnamed Creticus, praetor in 75 BC
• Gaius Antonius M. f. C. n., surnamed Hybrida, consul in 63 BC
• Antonia M. f. C. n., daughter of Marcus Antonius the orator, captured by pirates, and ransomed.^[18]
• Marcus Antonius M. f. M. n., the triumvir, magister equitum in 47 and consul in 44 BC
• Gaius Antonius M. f. M. n., praetor in 44 BC, put to death by Marcus Junius Brutus in 42.
• Lucius Antonius M. f. M. n., surnamed Pietas, consul in 41 B.C.
• Antonia C. f. M. n. Hybrida Major, married Lucius Caninius Gallus.^[19]
• Antonia C. f. M. n. Hybrida Minor, married her cousin, Marcus Antonius, the triumvir, but was divorced from him in 47 B.C.^[20][21]
• Antonia M. f. M. n., daughter of the triumvir, who was betrothed to Marcus Aemilius Lepidus the younger.^[22][23]
• Marcus Antonius M. f. M. n., called Antyllus by the Greek writers, put to death by Augustus in 30 BC
• Iulus Antonius M. f. M. n., consul in 10 BC, condemned to death by Augustus in 2 BC
• Antonia M. f. M. n. Major, married Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, and grandmother of the emperor Nero.^[24][25]
• Antonia M. f. M. n. Minor, married Decimus Claudius Drusus, and mother of the emperor Claudius, grandmother of Nero.
• Alexander, called Helios by his father, the triumvir.
• Cleopatra, called Selene by her father, the triumvir.
• Ptolemaeus Philadelphus, son of the triumvir.
• Antonius Musa, a physician at the time of Augustus, and author of works on medicine and medicinal plants.
• Lucius Antonius Iuli f. M. n., exiled to Massilia in 2 BC^[26]
• Iula Antonia Iuli f. M. n., daughter of the consul of 10 BC
• Antonius Atticus, a Roman rhetorician of the age of Seneca and Quintilian.^[27]
• Antonius Rufus, a Latin grammarian, and perhaps also a playwright, in the time of Quintilian.^[28][29]
• Antonius Castor, a botanist at Rome during the 1st century, who lived more than a hundred years.^[30]
• Antonia Tryphaena, Queen of Thrace, and a granddaughter of Marcus Antonius, the triumvir.
• Marcus Antonius Felix, a freedman of the emperor Claudius, later procurator of Judaea.
• Marcus Antonius Pallas, a freedman, brother to Marcus Antonius Felix. Secretary to emperors Claudius and Nero, executed by Nero in 63.
• Claudia Antonia, daughter of the emperor Claudius, refused to marry her cousin, the emperor Nero, and put to death by him in AD 66.^[31][32][33]
• Antonius Natalis, one of the conspirators of Gaius Calpurnius Piso against Nero.
• Marcus Antonius Julianus, procurator of Judaea from AD 66 to 70.
• Lucius Antonius Naso, tribune of the Praetorian Guard in AD 69, and procurator of Bithynia in the reign of Vespasian.^[34][35]
• Antonius Flamma, governor of Cyrenaica under Nero, banished at the beginning of Vespasian's reign for his extortion and cruelty.^[36]
• Antonius Novellus, one of Otho's principal generals, but possessed no influence with the soldiery.^[37]
• Antonius, a Roman of high rank, and a contemporary and friend of Pliny the Younger, among whose letters there are three addressed to Antoninus. Pliny heaps the most extravagant praise upon his friend both for his personal character and his skill in composing Greek epigrams and iambics.^[38]
• Marcus Antonius L. f. Iuli n., the principal general of Vespasian, and consul in AD 69.
• Antonius Taurus, a tribune in the Praetorian Guard in AD 69.^[39]
• Marcus Antonius M. f. Agrippa, son of Marcus Antonius Felix, procurator of Judaea, died in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
• Antonia M. f. Clementiana, daughter of Marcus Antonius Felix.
• Lucius Antonius Saturninus, governor of Germania Superior, rebelled against the emperor Domitian in AD 91.
• Antonius Diogenes, author of a Greek romance, who may have lived in the second century.
• Antonius, a notable herbalist mentioned by Galen, dated to the second century. Perhaps the same figure as Antonius Castor.
• Marcus Antonius Rufinus, consul in AD 131.^[40]
• Antonius Julianus, a friend and contemporary of Aulus Gellius, and a teacher of grammar and oratory.^[41]
• Marcus Antonius Polemon, a celebrated sophist and rhetorician who flourished under Trajan, Hadrian, and the first Antoninus.
• Julius Antonius Seleucus, governor of Moesia in the early 3rd century. Possibly the same figure as the contemporary Roman usurper Seleucus, who revolted against Emperor Elagabalus. Other sources identify the usurper with the consul Marcus Flavius Vitellius Seleucus.
• Marcus Antonius Gordianus I, surnamed Africanus, emperor in AD 238.
• Marcus Antonius M. f. Gordianus II, emperor with his father in AD 238.
• Antonia M. f. Gordiana, daughter of the emperor Gordianus I, and mother of Gordianus III.
• Marcus Antonius Gordianus III, grandson of Gordianus I, and emperor from AD 238 to 244.
• Flavius Claudius Antonius, 4th century politician, consul in 382.
• Rufius Antonius Agrypnius Volusianus, 5th century politician, proconsul of Africa, praefectus urbi (417-418) and praefectus praetorio italiae.

See also

List of Roman gentes

References

1. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
2. Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans Antonius 4, 36, 60.
3. Gaius Plinius Secundus, Naturalis Historia viii. 16. s. 21; comp. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum x. 13.
4. Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum vi. pp. 38, 44.
5. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
6. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Romaike Archaiologia x. 58, xi. 23, 33.
7. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita iii. 35, 38, 41, 42.
8. Fasti Capitolini
9. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita iv. 42.
10. Fasti Capitolini
11. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita viii. 17.
12. Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX ii. 9. § 2.
13. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xxxvii. 32.
14. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xlv. 4.
15. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xlv. 21, 40.
16. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
17. Florus, Epitome de T. Livio Bellorum omnium annorum DCC Libri duo 86.
18. Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans Pompeius 24.
19. Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX iv. 2. § 6.
20. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Philippicae ii. 38.
21. Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans Antonius 9.
22. Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History xliv. 53.
23. Appianus, Bellum Civile v. 93.
24. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum Nero 5.
25. Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans Antonius 87.
26. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales iv. 44.
27. Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Suasoriae 2. p. 19, ed. Bip.
28. Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, Institutio Oratoria i. 5. § 43.
29. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
30. Gaius Plinius Secundus, Naturalis Historia xxv. 5.
31. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum Claudius 27, Nero 35.
32. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales xii. 2, xiii. 23, xv. 53.
33. Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History lx. 5.
34. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Historiae i. 20.
35. Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum ii. p. 404.
36. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Historiae iv. 45.
37. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Historiae i. 87, ii. 12.
38. Pliny the Younger, Epistulae 4.3, 18, 5.10
39. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Historiae i. 20.
40. Fasti Capitolini.
41. Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae iv. 1, ix. 15, xv. 1, xviii. 5, xix. 9, xx. 9.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "^{article name needed}". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.