Calvisia gens

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The gens Calvisia was an ancient Roman family, which first rose to prominence during the final decades of the Republic, and became influential in imperial times. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Calvisius Sabinus in 39 BC. [1] [2]

Contents

Origin

The nomen Calvisius is probably based on the Latin adjective calvus, meaning "bald". Both Calvus and its diminutive, Calvinus, were common Roman surnames. [3] With respect to their place of origin, Ronald Syme begins a survey of the evidence by stating, "Calvisii might issue from any region of Italy except old Latium." He lists a placename, "villa Calvisia" in Southern Etruria, amongst the properties of a Hadrianic consular; two Calvisii attested in Puteoli, and fifteen named in sources from Transpadane Italy, but concludes "[y]et they lead nowhere"; the evidence is frustratingly inconclusive. [4] However, for one branch of the gens, the Calvisii Rusones, Syme suggests that their origins lay in Gallia Narbonensis. [5] A further clue lies in the surname Sabinus, borne by the only distinct family of the early Calvisii, which may point to a Sabine origin. [6]

Praenomina

The main lines of the Calvisii employed the praenomina Gaius and Publius , both of which were amongst the most common of Roman names.

Branches and cognomina

Most of the Calvisii appearing in history belong to one of two distinct families, bearing the surnames Sabinus and Ruso. Sabinus, belonging to the earlier of the two, typically indicated Sabine ancestry, although as an adjective it could also suggest that the original bearer resembled a Sabine, either in his appearance or manner. [6] The Calvisii Sabini flourished from the end of the Republic to about the time of the emperor Claudius, when the surname is replaced by that of Ruso. [1] The latter surname might be formed from rus, the country, or russus, ruddy or red-haired; the latter derivation is suggested by the fact that two later Calvisii, whose relationship to the others is unclear, bore the surname Rufus, which generally referred to someone with red hair. [3]

Members

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

Calvisii Sabini

Calvisii Rusones

Others

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 689 ("Calvisius Sabinus").
  2. 1 2 3 4 Dixon, p. 225.
  3. 1 2 Chase, p. 110.
  4. ↑ Syme, "P. Calvisius Ruso", pp. 189 ff.
  5. ↑ Syme, "P. Calvisius Ruso", p. 190.
  6. 1 2 Chase, p. 113, 114.
  7. ↑ Caesar, De Bello Civili, iii. 34, 35.
  8. ↑ Appian, Bellum Civile, ii. 60, v. 81, 96, 132.
  9. ↑ Cicero, Philippicae, iii. 10, Epistulae ad Familiares, xii. 25.
  10. ↑ Cassius Dio, xlviii. 34, 46.
  11. ↑ Plutarch, "The Life of Marcus Antonius", 58.
  12. ↑ Broughton, vol. II.
  13. ↑ Fasti Magistrorum Vici, CIL VI, 10286.
  14. ↑ Fasti Lucerini, CIL IX, 786.
  15. ↑ Setälä, p. 71
  16. ↑ Tacitus, Annales, iv. 46, vi. 9, Historiae, i. 48.
  17. ↑ Cassius Dio, lix. 18.
  18. ↑ Tacitus, Annales, v. 8, vi. 18, xi. 13, xii. 27, 28, Dialogus de Oratoribus, 13.
  19. ↑ Cassius Dio, lix. 6, 29.
  20. ↑ Quintilian, x. 1. § 98.
  21. ↑ Pliny the Elder, vii. 19, xiii. 12. s. 26, xiv. 4. s. 6.
  22. ↑ Pliny the Younger, Epistulae, iii. 5, vii. 17.
  23. 1 2 Fasti Ostienses , CIL XIV, 244.
  24. ↑ Gallivan, "The Fasti for the Reign of Claudius".
  25. ↑ Fasti Septempedani, AE 1998, 419.
  26. ↑ Gallivan, "The Fasti for A.D. 70–96".
  27. ↑ Smallwood.
  28. ↑ Geoffrey William Adams (2013). Marcus Aurelius in the Historia Augusta and Beyond. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 57–. ISBN   978-0-7391-7638-2.
  29. ↑ Pliny the Younger, Epistulae, i. 12. § 12, ii. 20, iii. 1, 19; iv. 4, 1; v. 7; viii. 2; ix. 6.
  30. 1 2 Jeffers, p. 52
  31. ↑ Birley, The Fasti of Roman Britain, pp. 193 ff.
  32. ↑ Seneca the Younger, Epistulae, 27.

Bibliography

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