Claudia (gens)

Tiberius Claudius Nero, Second Roman Emperor

The gens Claudia (Classical Latin: [ˈklawdɪa]), sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain the consulship was Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis, in 495 BC, and from that time its members frequently held the highest offices of the state, both under the Republic and in imperial times.

Plebeian Claudii are found fairly early in Rome's history. Some may have been descended from members of the family who had passed over to the plebeians, while others were probably the descendants of freedmen of the gens.[1]

In his life of the emperor Tiberius, who was a scion of the Claudii, the historian Suetonius gives a summary of the gens, and says, "as time went on it was honoured with twenty-eight consulships, five dictatorships, seven censorships, six triumphs, and two ovations." Writing several decades after the fall of the so-called "Julio-Claudian dynasty", Suetonius took care to mention both the good and wicked deeds attributed to members of the family.[2]

The patrician Claudii were noted for their pride and arrogance, and intense hatred of the commonalty. In his History of Rome, Niebuhr writes,

That house during the course of centuries produced several very eminent, few great men; hardly a single noble-minded one. In all ages it distinguished itself alike by a spirit of haughty defiance, by disdain for the laws, and iron hardness of heart.[3]

During the Republic, no patrician Claudius adopted a member of another gens; the emperor Claudius was the first who broke this custom, by adopting Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, afterwards the emperor Nero.[1][4][5]

Origin of the gens

According to legend, the first of the Claudii was a Sabine, by the name of Attius Clausus,[6] who came to Rome with his retainers in 504 BC, the sixth year of the Republic. At this time, the fledgling Republic was engaged in regular warfare with the Sabines, and Clausus is said to have been the leader of a faction seeking to end the conflict. When his efforts failed, he defected to the Romans. Clausus was enrolled among the patricians, and exchanged his Sabine name for the Latin Appius Claudius.[7][8]

The emperor Claudius is said to have referred to this tradition, in a speech made before the Roman Senate, in which he argued in favor of admitting Gauls to that body. "My ancestors, the most ancient of whom was made at once a citizen and a noble of Rome, encourage me to govern by the same policy of transferring to this city all conspicuous merit, wherever found." The Claudii were also said to have been granted a tract of land for their dependents on the far side of the Anio,[9] and a burial site at the foot of the Capitoline Hill.[7][10][11]

By imperial times, the influence of the Claudii was so great that the poet Virgil flattered them by a deliberate anachronism. In his Aeneid, he makes Attius Clausus a contemporary of Aeneas, to whose side he rallies with a host of quirites, or spearmen.[12]

The nomen Claudius, originally Clausus, according to legend, is usually said to be derived from the Latin adjective claudus, meaning "lame". As a cognomen, Claudus is occasionally found in other gentes. This etymology was argued by Antoine Meillet and Karl Braasch. However, since there is no tradition that any of the early Claudii were lame, the nomen might refer to some ancestor of Attius Clausus. It could also have been metaphorical, or ironic, and the possibility remains that this derivation is erroneous.[13][14]

The metathesis of Clausus into Claudius, and its common by-form, Clodius, was discussed in the Dictionnaire Étymologique Latin. The alternation of 'o' and 'au' seems to have been common in Sabine. The alternation of 's' and 'd' occurs in words borrowed from Greek: Latin rosa from Greek rhodos; but in this instance clausus or *closus is a Sabine word becoming clod- in Latin. The name could have come from Greek settlers in Latium, but there is no evidence in favor of this hypothesis.[15]

The Sabine praenomen Attius has been the subject of similar fascination for philologists. The form Attus is mentioned by Valerius Maximus, who connected it with the bucolic Greek name Atys. Braasch translated it as Väterchen, "little father," and connected it with a series of childhood parental names: "atta, tata, acca," and the like, becoming such names as Tatius (also Sabine) and Atilius.[16]

Praenomina used by the gens

The early Claudii favored the praenomina Appius, Gaius, and Publius. These names were used by the patrician Claudii throughout their history. Tiberius was used by the family of the Claudii Nerones, while Marcus, although used occasionally by the earliest patrician Claudii, was favored by the plebeian branches of the family. According to Suetonius, the gens avoided the praenomen Lucius because two early members with this name had brought dishonor upon the family, one having been convicted of highway robbery, and the other of murder.[1][11]

Branches and cognomina of the gens

The patrician Claudii bore various surnames, including Caecus, Caudex, Centho, Crassus, Nero, Pulcher, Regillensis, and Sabinus. The latter two, though applicable to all of the gens, were seldom used when there was a more definite cognomen. A few of the patrician Claudii are mentioned without any surname. The surnames of the plebeian Claudii were Asellus, Canina, Centumalus, Cicero, Flamen, and Marcellus.[1]

The earliest Claudii bore the surname Sabinus, a common surname usually referring to a Sabine, or someone of Sabine descent, which according to all tradition, the Claudii were.[17] This cognomen was first adopted by Appius Claudius, the founder of the gens, and was retained by his descendants, until it was replaced by Crassus.[1]

The surname Regillensis or Inregillensis, also attributed to the first of the Claudii, is more problematic. Regillensis was also a cognomen of the Postumia gens, presumably because Aulus Postumius Albus led the victorious Roman army at the Battle of Lake Regillus in 498 BC. It is entirely possible that Appius Claudius was also a participant in that battle, and assumed the same surname in consequence of this, although he is not mentioned in any surviving accounts of that battle.[18]

Niebuhr has suggested that Regillensis is derived not from Postumius' participation in the battle, but from a place of residence, perhaps a settlement, now lost, in the vicinity of Lake Regillus. This theory is supported by Suetonius, who writes that Claudius came ex Regillis oppido Sabinorum; that is, "from Regillum, a town of the Sabines." This appears to conflict with the tradition that Claudius was a native of Cures, and may simply be speculation on the part of Suetonius, but there is nothing inherently improbable about this theory.[11][19]

Crassus, sometimes given as the diminutive Crassinus, was a common surname usually translated as "thick, solid," or "dull". This cognomen succeeded that of Sabinus as the surname of the main family of the Claudia gens. It was borne by members of the family from the 5th to the 3rd century BC The other main families of the patrician Claudii were descended from Appius Claudius Caecus, a member of this stirps; his sons bore the surnames Crassus, Pulcher, Cento or Centho, and Nero. However, this generation saw the last of the Claudii Crassi.[1][20]

Pulcher, the surname of the next major branch of the Claudia gens, means beautiful, although it may be that the cognomen was given ironically. The Claudii Pulchri were an extensive family, which supplied the Republic with several consuls, and survived into imperial times.[1][20]

Claudius, Fourth Roman Emperor

The other main branch of the patrician Claudii bore the surname Nero, originally a Sabine praenomen described as meaning, fortis ac strenuus, which roughly translated is "strong and sturdy." It may be the same as the Umbrian praenomen Nerius. This family was distinguished throughout the latter Republic, and gave rise to several of the early emperors, including Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero (by adoption). An oddity of the names by which these emperors are known today is that several of their ancestors bore the name Tiberius Claudius Nero; of three emperors belonging to the same family, one is known by a praenomen, one by a nomen, and one by a cognomen.[11]

The most illustrious family of the plebeian Claudii bore the surname Marcellus, which is a diminutive of the praenomen Marcus. They gained everlasting fame from the exploits of Marcus Claudius Marcellus, one of Rome's finest generals, and a towering figure of the Second Punic War, who was five times consul, and won the spolia opima, defeating and killing the Gallic king, Viridomarus, in single combat.

Most of those who used the spelling Clodius were descended from plebeian members of the gens, but one family by this name was a cadet branch of the patrician Claudii Pulchri, which voluntarily went over to the plebeians, and used the spelling Clodius to differentiate themselves from their patrician relatives.

Caecus, the surname of one of the Claudii Crassi, refers to the condition of his blindness, which is well-attested, although it appears that he did not become blind until his old age. According to one legend, he was struck blind by the gods during his censorship, after inducing the ancient family of the Potitii to teach the sacred rites of Hercules to the public slaves. The Potitii themselves were said to have perished as a result of this sacrilege. However, it should be noted that Claudius was relatively young at the time of his censorship in 312 BC, and was elected consul sixteen years later, in 296.[21]

Caecus' brother, who shared the same praenomen, was distinguished by the cognomen Caudex, literally meaning a "treetrunk", although metaphorically it was an insult, meaning a "dolt." According to Seneca, he obtained the surname from his attention to naval affairs.[22]

Members of the gens

See also Clodius for members of the gens who used the alternate spelling of the name primarily or solely.

Claudii Sabini et Crassi

Claudii Pulchri

Claudii Centhones

Claudii Nerones

Claudii Marcelli

Claudii Caninae

Claudii Aselli

Claudii Pompeiani

Others

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
  2. Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum, "Tiberius," 1-3.
  3. Barthold Georg Niebuhr, History of Rome, vol. i. p. 599.
  4. Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum, "Claudius," 39.
  5. Tacitus, Annales, xii.
  6. Clausus' praenomen is spelled various ways in different sources and manuscripts, including Attius, Attus, and Atta.
  7. 1 2 Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, ii. 16.
  8. Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum, "Tiberius," 1. An alternative tradition, mentioned by Suetonius, asserted that the Claudii came to Rome with Titus Tatius, king of the Sabine town of Cures, during the reign of Romulus, the first King of Rome.
  9. The inhabitants of this region were later known as the "old Claudian tribe".
  10. Tacitus, Annales, xi. 24.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum, "Tiberius," 1.
  12. Vergilius. "Book VII, Lines 706-707". Aeneid. Lo! Clausus of old Sabine blood, who leads a mighty host, himself a host in might! From whom the Claudian tribe and clan to-day, since Rome was with the Sabine shared, spreads wide through Latium....
  13. Quinn, Jerome D.; Wacker, William C. (2000). The first and second letters to Timothy: a new translation with notes and commentary. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. p. 836. The authors cite Meillet, Antoine (1959). Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine, histoire des mots (in French). Paris: Klinsieck. p. 126.
  14. Braasch, Karl (2001) [1892]. Lateinische Personennamen, nach ihrer Bedeutung zusammen gestellt (in German). Zeitz: C. Brendel, The Internet Archive. pp. 7–8.
  15. Bréal, Michel; Bailly, Anatole (1885). "Rosa". Dictionnaire éymologique Latin. Paris: Librarie Hachette.
  16. Karl Braasch, Lateinische Personennamen, nach ihrer Bedeutung zusammen gestellt (1892), pp. 7-8.
  17. In Ethnic Identity and Aristocratic Competition in Republican Rome, Gary D. Farney argues that Sabines at Rome were proud of their heritage, and used this surname to assert their ethnic identity.Farney, Gary D. (2007). Ethnic identity and aristocratic competition in Republican Rome. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge University Press. p. 88.
  18. Livy, xxx. 45.
  19. Niebuhr, History of Rome, vol. i. p. 556.
  20. 1 2 D.P. Simpson, Cassell's Latin & English Dictionary (1963).
  21. Livy, 29.
  22. Seneca the Younger, De Brevitate Vitae, 13. The modern idiom for the usual meaning of Caudex might be "dumb as a stump."
  23. Livy, ii. 56-61.
  24. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Romaike Archaiologia, ix. 43-45, 48-54.
  25. Niebuhr, History of Rome, vol. ii. pp. 186, 219-228.
  26. Livy, iii. 15-21, 35, 40, 58; iv. 6.
  27. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Romaike Archaiologia, x. 9, 12-17, 30, 32; xi. 7-11, 49, 55, 56.
  28. Livy, iii. 33, 35-58.
  29. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, x. 54–xi. 46.
  30. Fasti Capitolini. The Capitoline Fasti assign him the filiation Ap. f. M. n., apparently making him identical with the consul of 471, but this may be a mistake, as the weight of tradition is against it, and the Fasti are thought to contain numerous errors and later emendations.
  31. Livy, iv. 35, 36.
  32. Livy, vi. 40.
  33. Livy, v. 1-6, 20.
  34. Niebuhr, History of Rome, vol. ii. p. 439, note 965.
  35. Livy, vi. 40-42; vii. 6 ff, 24, 25.
  36. Livy, viii. 15.
  37. 1 2 3 4 5 Fasti Capitolini.
  38. Marcus Velleius Paterculus, Compendium of Roman History, i. 14.
  39. Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac Dictorum Memorabilium libri IX, viii. 1. § 4.
  40. Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum, "Tiberius," 2.
  41. Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae, x. 6.
  42. Livy, xxix. 14.
  43. Ovid, Fasti, iv. 305 ff.
  44. Cicero, De Haruspicum Responsis, 13.
  45. Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac Dictorum Memorabilium libri IX, i. 8. § 11.
  46. Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis, vii. 35.
  47. Livy, xxiii. 2.
  48. Cicero, De Legibus, iii. 19.
  49. Cicero, Pro Scauro, ii. 32, De Oratore, ii. 60, 70.
  50. Cicero, Pro Caelio, 14.
  51. Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium, v. 4. § 6.
  52. Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, "Tiberius Gracchus," 4.
  53. Appian, Bellum Civile, i. 68.
  54. Sallust, Historiae, fragment 1.
  55. Cicero, Pro Domo Sua, 32.
  56. Quintus Asconius Pedianus, in Cic. Mil., p. 36.
  57. Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, xiv. 13. A.
  58. Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium, iii. 5. § 3.
  59. Cicero, Tusculanae Quaestiones, i. 1, Brutus, 18.
  60. Livy, xx. 34, xxv. 2.
  61. Livy, xxxi. 14, 22 ff
  62. Joannes Zonaras, Epitome Historiarum, ix. 15.
  63. Livy, xl. 59; xli. 22, 31, 33; xlii. 25; xliii. 11, 12.
  64. Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum, "Tiberius," 3.
  65. Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae, xiii. 22.
  66. Livy, xxix. 11; xxx. 26, 39.
  67. Livy, xxxiii. 43; xxxvii. 55.
  68. Livy, xl. 18.
  69. Livy, xli. 5, 8, 18; xlii. 19; xlv. 16.
  70. Florus, Epitome de T. Livio Bellorum Omnium Annorum DCC libri duo, iii. 6.
  71. Appian, Bella Mithridatica, 95, Bellum Civile, ii. 5.
  72. Sallust, The Conspiracy of Catiline, 50.
  73. Livy, viii. 18, 24.
  74. Fasti Siculi.
  75. Plutarch, "Marcellus," 1.
  76. Livy, xxiii. 30.
  77. Livy, xxxix. 23, 44, 45, 54-56; xliv. 18.
  78. Livy, xxxviii. 35, 42.
  79. Livy, xlii. 32.
  80. Wilhelm Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. ii. p. 393.
  81. Julius Obsequens, Liber de Prodigiis, 83.
  82. Cicero, De Oratore, i. 13.
  83. Pseudo-Asconius, ad Verr., p. 206.
  84. Cicero, In Verrem, ii. 3, 21, iii. 16, 91, iv. 40, 42, ff., Divinatio in Caecilium, 4, De Divinatione, ii. 35, De Legibus, ii. 13, Epistulae ad Familiares, xv. 8, Pro Sulla, 6
  85. Cicero, In Verrem, iv. 42. Several editions give Marcellus' praenomen as Gaius.
  86. Cicero, In Catilinam, i. 8.
  87. Paulus Orosius, Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII, vi. 6.
  88. Cicero, Pro Sestio, 4.
  89. Orosius, Historiarum Adversum Paganos, vi. 6.
  90. Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum, "Octavian", 43.
  91. Seneca the Elder, Controversiae (Epitome), lib. iv. praef.
  92. Tacitus, Annales, iii. 11.
  93. Fasti Siculi, 354.
  94. Livy, xxvii. 41; xxviii. 10; xxix. 11.
  95. Appian, De Bell. Annib. 37.
  96. Cicero, De Oratore, ii. 64, 66.
  97. Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae, ii. 20, iii. 4.
  98. Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium, vi. 3. § 8.
  99. Cassius Dio, Roman History, lxxi. 3, 20, lxxiii. 3.
  100. Herodian, History of the Roman Empire, i. 8. § 6.
  101. Julius Capitolinus, Marcus Aurelius, 20.
  102. Vulcatius Gallicanus, Avidius Cassius, 11.
  103. Aelius Lampridius, Commodus.
  104. 1 2 3 4 5 Inge Mennen Power and Status in the Roman Empire, AD 193-284 pp. 95-97.
  105. Cassius Dio, Roman History, lxxii. 4.
  106. Herodian, History of the Roman Empire, i. 8.
  107. Aelius Lampridius, Commodus, 4.
  108. Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae Libri XXXI, xxix. 4.
  109. PIR 568.
  110. PIR 569.
  111. PIR 570.
  112. Livy, iii. 31.
  113. Livy, viii. 15.
  114. Suetonius, "Tiberius," 2.
  115. Livy, Epitome, xix.
  116. Cassius Dio, Roman History, fragment, 45.
  117. Joannes Zonaras, Epitome Historiarum, viii. p. 400. B.
  118. Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium, vi. 3. § 3. Some sources identify the legate of 236 as Marcus Claudius Clineas. His fate is uncertain; he is said to have been delivered up to the Corsi, who returned him unharmed. According to various authorities he was then imprisoned, banished, or put to death.
  119. Livy, xxi. 63.
  120. Cicero, De Officiis, ii. 16.
  121. Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac Dictorum Memorabilium, viii. 2. § 1.
  122. Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, iv. 15, Philippicae, ii. 4, 17, iii. 9.
  123. Cassius Dio, Roman History, xlv. 30, xlvi. 8.
  124. Suetonius, De Claris Rhetoribus, 5.
  125. Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, iii. 4-6, 8.
  126. Pseudo-Cicero, Epistulae ad Brutum, i. 1.
  127. Cicero, Pro Milone, 17.
  128. Quintus Asconius Pedianus, in Cic. Mil., p. 33, ed. Orelli.
  129. Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Civili, iii. 57.
  130. Appian, Bellum Civile, v. 49.
  131. Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum, v. p. 172.
  132. Jean Foy-Vaillant, Numismata Imperatorum Romanorum (1674), Anton. nos. 14, 15, Claud. 43-46.
  133. Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, xi. 22.
  134. Appian, Bellum Civile, iv. 44, 55.
  135. Cassius Dio, Roman History, xlvii. 24.
  136. Plutarch, "Antonius," 22, "Brutus," 28.
  137. Appian, Bellum Civile, v. 2.
  138. Tacitus, Historiae, i. 68.
  139. Tacitus, Historiae, iv. 18, 56, 66, 70.
  140. Pliny the Younger, Epistulae, vi. 13.
  141. Fasti.
  142. Aelius Spartianus, Septimius Severus, 1.
  143. Codex Justinianus, 6. tit. 26. s. 1.
  144. Digesta seu Pandectae, 17. tit. 1. s. 6. § 7, 20. tit. 3. s. 1. § 2, 50. tit. 19. s. 16, 50. tit. 7. s. 4.
  145. Eusebius of Caesarea, Historia Ecclesiastica, iv. 27, v. 19.
  146. Jerome, De Viris Illustribus, 26, Epistulae, 84.
  147. Nicephorus, iv. 11.
  148. Photius, Cod. 14.
  149. Theodoret, de Haereticarum Fabularum, iii. 2.
  150. Chronicon Paschale.
  151. Digesta seu Pandectae, 23. tit. 3. s. 78. § 4, 27. tit. 1. s. 44, 48. tit. 19. s. 39, 49. tit. 14. s. 50.
  152. Codex Theodosianus, 1. tit. 9. s. 1.
  153. Codex Justinianus, 8. tit. 45. s. 1, et alibi.
  154. Flavius Vopiscus, Carinus, 18.
  155. Suda, s. v. Διδυμος.
  156. Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, s. vv. Ακη, Ιουδαια, Δωρος, Λαμπη, Γαδειρα.
  157. Πελοποννγσιακα, Schol. ad. Nicand. Ther., 521.

External links

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