Ancharia gens
The gens Ancharia was a plebeian family at Rome. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Quintus Ancharius, a senator early in the 1st century BC.
Origin of the gens
The origin of the Ancharii is uncertain, but the nomen Ancharius may be derived from Ancharia, a name of the goddess Angerona, by which she was known at Faesulae. The ancestor of the Ancharii may have been particularly devoted to the worship of Angerona. This connection also suggests the possibility that the family was of Etruscan origin, and may have hailed from Faesulae.[1]
Praenomina used by the gens
The praenomina associated with the Ancharii are Quintus and Publius.
Branches and cognomina of the gens
The cognomina used by the Ancharii included Priscus, a common surname meaning "elder" or "old-fashioned", and Soter, a "savior" or "protector." The latter surname was borne by a freedwoman, and was not necessarily used by other members of the gens.
Members of the gens
- Quintus Ancharius, a senator of praetorian rank, killed by Marius on his return to Rome from Africa in 87 B.C.[2]
- Ancharia, the first wife of Gaius Octavius, father of Augustus.[3]
- Quintus Ancharius, tribunus plebis in 59 and praetor in 56 B.C., received the province of Macedonia the following year.[4]
- Ancharius Priscus, prosecuted Caesius Cordus, proconsul of Crete, for treason and extortion in A.D. 21.[5][6]
- Publia Ancharia Soteris, a freedwoman in Bithynia; Gaius Plinius asked the emperor Trajan to grant her the Ius Quiritium, thereby making her a Roman Citizen.[7][8]
See also
References
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition
- ^ Appianus, Bellum Civile i. 73.
- ^ Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum Augustus 4.
- ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Sestio 53, Epistulae ad Familiares xiii. 40.
- ^ Tacitus, The Annals 2.38
- ^ Tacitus, The Annals 2.70
- ^ Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, Epistulae 10, 11, 2.
- ^ Mika Kajava, Roman Female Praenomina: Studies in the Nomenclature of Roman Women (1994).
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)