A noble family bore this name in the imperial era, and may have been descended from the Anicii of the Republic.[1]
Origin
The Anicii may have been from the Latin town of Praeneste. The earliest of the family to hold any curule magistracy at Rome bore the surname Praenestinus.[2]
The only major branch of the family during the Republic used the cognomenGallus, which may refer to a cock, or to a Gaul. The surname Praenestinus, found in earlier times, may indicate that the family originated at the city of Praeneste. It was probably a personal cognomen, as it does not appear in later times.[1]
During the imperial age, in the fourth century, a Roman family bearing the nomen Anicius rose to great prominence. The historian Edward Gibbon writes:
From the reign of Diocletian to the final extinction of the Western empire, that name shone with a lustre which was not eclipsed, in the public estimation, by the majesty of the Imperial purple. The several branches, to whom it was communicated, united, by marriage or inheritance, the wealth and titles of the Annian, the Petronian, and the Olybrian houses; and in each generation the number of consulships was multiplied by an hereditary claim. The Anician family excelled in faith and in riches: they were the first of the Roman senate who embraced Christianity; and it is probable that Anicius Julian, who was afterwards consul and praefect of the city, atoned for his attachment to the party of Maxentius, by the readiness with which he accepted the religion of Constantine.
Their ample patrimony was increased by the industry of Probus, the chief of the Anician family; who shared with Gratian the honors of the consulship, and exercised, four times, the high office of Praetorian praefect. His immense estates were scattered over the wide extent of the Roman world; and though the public might suspect or disapprove the methods by which they had been acquired, the generosity and magnificence of that fortunate statesman deserved the gratitude of his clients, and the admiration of strangers. Such was the respect entertained for his memory, that the two sons of Probus, in their earliest youth, and at the request of the senate, were associated in the consular dignity; a memorable distinction, without example, in the annals of Rome.
"The marbles of the Anician palace," were used as a proverbial expression of opulence and splendor; but the nobles and senators of Rome aspired, in due gradation, to imitate that illustrious family.[3]
A branch of the family transferred to the Eastern Roman Empire, establishing itself in Constantinople (where Anicia Juliana, daughter of Western emperor Anicius Olybrius, was a patron of the arts) and rising in prestige: the scholar and philosopher Boëthius was a member of this family, as was Anicius Faustus Albinus Basilius, the last person other than the Emperor himself to hold the office of consul, in 541. In the West, on the other side, the Anicii were supporters of the independence of the Western Empire from the Eastern one; they were, therefore, supporters of the Ostrogothic kings of Italy, and such celebrated by the king Theodahad.[4]
In the later Middle Ages, the Frangipani family claimed descent from the Anicii. However, since the first mention of the Frangipanis dates only from 1014, the veracity of this claim has been questioned by historians.
Members
This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.
The gens Petronia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. This gens claimed an ancient lineage, as a Petronius Sabinus is mentioned in the time of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last of the Roman kings, but few Petronii are mentioned in the time of the Republic. They are frequently encountered under the Empire, holding numerous consulships, and eventually obtaining the Empire itself during the brief reign of Petronius Maximus in AD 455.
Faltonia Betitia Proba was a Latin Roman Christian poet, perhaps the earliest female Christian poet whose work survives. A member of one of the most influential aristocratic families, she composed the Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi, a cento composed with verses by Virgil re-ordered to form an epic poem centred on the life of Jesus.
The praetorian prefecture of Italy was one of four praetorian prefectures into which the Late Roman Empire was divided. It comprised the Italian peninsula, the western Balkans, the Danubian provinces and parts of North Africa. The Prefecture's seat moved from Rome to Milan and finally, Ravenna.
Sextus Claudius Petronius Probus was a leading Roman aristocrat of the later 4th century AD, renowned for his wealth, power and social connections. The son of the consul Petronius Probinus, he married Anicia Faltonia Proba and had two sons. He had a successful political career, becoming praefectus urbanus, Proconsul of Africa, four times praetorian prefect, and consul alongside the emperor Gratian. His grandson and great-grandson went on to become emperor.
Quintus Clodius Hermogenianus Olybrius was a Roman politician, praefectus urbi of Rome from 368 to 370 and Roman consul in 379. Olybrius has been characterized as belonging to "the breed of flexible politicians who did well both under Valentinian I [...] and under Gratian."
Anicius Hermogenianus Olybrius was a politician and aristocrat of the Roman Empire.
Amnius Manius Caesonius Nicomachus Anicius PaulinussignoHonorius was a politician of the Roman Empire.
Amnius Anicius Julianus was a politician of the Roman Empire.
Anicius Faustus was a Roman senator who was appointed consul in AD 298.
Anicius Probus was a Roman politician.
Lucius Valerius Septimius Bassus was a Roman politician.
The gens Decia was a plebeian family of high antiquity, which became illustrious in Roman history by the example of its members sacrificing themselves for the preservation of their country. The first of the family known to history was Marcus Decius, chosen as a representative of the plebeians during the secession of 495 BC.
Anicius Petronius Probus was a politician of the Western Roman Empire.
Anicia Faltonia Proba was a Roman noblewoman of the gens Anicia.
Anicius Auchenius Bassus was a politician of the Roman Empire.
Anicius Probinus was a politician and aristocrat of the Roman Empire.
Petronius Probinus was an aristocrat and statesman of the Roman Empire. He was Roman consul in the year 341 and praefectus urbi of Rome from July 345 to December 346.
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