Servilia gens
The gens Servilia was a patrician family at Rome. The gens was celebrated during the early ages of the Republic, and the names of few gentes appear more frequently at this period in the consular Fasti. It continued to produce men of influence in the state down to the latest times of the Republic, and even in the imperial period. The first member of the gens who obtained the consulship was Publius Servilius Priscus Structus in 495 B.C., and the last of the name who appears in the consular Fasti is Quintus Servilius Silanus, in A.D. 189, thus occupying a prominent position in the Roman state for nearly seven hundred years.
Like other Roman gentes, the Servilii of course had their own sacra; and they are said to have worshipped a triens, or copper coin, which is reported to have increased or diminished in size at various times, thus indicating the increase or diminution of the honors of the gens. Although the Servilii were originally patricians, in the later Republic there were also plebeian Servilii.[1][2][3]
Origin of the gens
The Servilia gens was one of the Alban houses removed to Rome by Tullus Hostilius, and enrolled by him among the patricians. It was, consequently, one of the gentes minores. The nomen Servilius is a patronymic surname, derived from the praenomen Servius, which must have been borne by the ancestor of the gens.[4][5]
Praenomina used by the gens
Branches and cognomina of the gens
The Servilii were divided into numerous families; of these the names in the Republican period are Ahala, Axilla, Caepio, Casca, Geminus, Glaucia, Globulus, Priscus (with the agnomen Fidenas), Rullus, Structus, Tucca, and Vatia (with the agnomen Isauricus). Other cognomina appear under the Empire. The only surnames found on coins are those of Ahala, Caepio, Casca, and Rullus.[6][7]
Members of the gens
Servilii Prisci
Servilii Ahalae
- Gaius Servilius Structus Ahala, consul in 478 B.C., died in his year of office.[8][9]
- Gaius Servilius Structus Ahala, magister equitum in 439 B.C., slew Spurius Maelius.
- Quintus Servilius C. f. Structus Ahala, father of the consul of 427 B.C.
- Gaius Servilius Q. f. C. n. Structus Ahala, consul in 427 B.C.[10]
- Publius Servilius Q. n. Structus Ahala, father of the magister equitum of 408 B.C.
- Gaius Servilius P. f. Q. n. Structus Ahala, tribunus militum consulari potestate in 408, 407, and 402 B.C., and magister equitum in 408.
- Gaius Servilius Ahala, magister equitum in 389 and 385 B.C.
- Quintus Servilius Q. f. Ahala, father of the consul of 365 B.C.
- Quintus Servilius Q. f. Q. n. Ahala, consul in 365 and 362 B.C., and dictator in 360.
- Quintus Servilius Q. f. Q. n. Ahala, magister equitum in 351 and consul in 342 B.C.[11]
Servilii Gemini
- Gaius Servilius P. f. Geminus, praetor before 218 B.C., taken prisoner by the Boii that year.
- Gaius Servilius C. f. P. n. Geminus, consul in 203 and dictator in 202 B.C., and later Pontifex Maximus.
Servilii Caepiones
- Servilia Q. f. Q. n., married Marcus Junius Brutus, and was the mother of the tyrranicide.
- Servilia Q. f. Q. n., married Lucius Licinius Lucullus, praetor in 74 B.C.
Servilii Structi
Others
- Servilia, the wife of Quintus Lutatius Catulus, consul in 102 B.C.[12]
- Quintus Servilius, proconsul in 90 B.C., was slain by the inhabitants of Asculum on the outbreak of the Social War.
- Publius Servilius, an eques, magister of one of the companies that farmed the taxes in Sicilia during the administration of Verres.[13]
- Gaius Servilius, a Roman citizen in Sicilia, publicly scourged by Verres.[14]
- Marcus Servilius, accused of repetundae in 51 B.C.[15]
- Marcus Servilius, tribunus plebis in 44 B.C., praised by Cicero as a vir fortissimus.[16]
- Marcus Servilius Nonianus, consul in A.D. 35, and one of the most celebrated orators and historians of his time.
- Servilius Damocrates, a physician at Rome during the first century.
- Servilius Barea Soranus, consul suffectus in A.D. 52, and afterwards proconsul of Asia; falsely accused of plotting revolution, and condemned to death.
- Servilia, daughter of Barea Soranus, accused and condemned with her father in A.D. 66.
- Quintus Servilius Pudens, consul in A.D. 166.[17][18]
- Marcus Servilius Silanus, consul in A.D. 188.[19]
- Quintus Servilius Silanus, consul in A.D. 189.[20]
See also
Footnotes
- ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
- ^ Fasti Capitolini.
- ^ Gaius Plinius Secundus, Historia Naturalis, xxxiv. 13. s. 38.
- ^ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, i. 30.
- ^ George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897).
- ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
- ^ Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum, v. p. 308 ff.
- ^ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, ii. 49.
- ^ Fasti Capitolini.
- ^ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, iv. 30.
- ^ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, vii. 22, 38.
- ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, In Verrem, ii. 8.
- ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, In Verrem, iii. 71.
- ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, In Verrem, v. 54.
- ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, viii. 8 § 3, Epistulae ad Atticum, vi. 3 § 10.
- ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, xii. 7, Philippicae, iv. 6.
- ^ Aelius Lampridius, Alexander Severus, Commodus, 11.
- ^ Fasti Capitolini.
- ^ Fasti Capitolini.
- ^ Fasti Capitolini.
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)