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This article concerns the period 59 BC – 50 BC.
The gens Valeria was a patrician family at ancient Rome, prominent from the very beginning of the Republic to the latest period of the Empire. Publius Valerius Poplicola was one of the consuls in 509 BC, the year that saw the overthrow of the Tarquins, and the members of his family were among the most celebrated statesmen and generals at the beginning of the Republic. Over the next ten centuries, few gentes produced as many distinguished men, and at every period the name of Valerius was constantly to be found in the lists of annual magistrates, and held in the highest honour. Several of the emperors claimed descent from the Valerii, whose name they bore as part of their official nomenclature.
The gens Sulpicia was one of the most ancient patrician families at ancient Rome, and produced a succession of distinguished men, from the foundation of the Republic to the imperial period. The first member of the gens who obtained the consulship was Servius Sulpicius Camerinus Cornutus, in 500 BC, only nine years after the expulsion of the Tarquins, and the last of the name who appears on the consular list was Sextus Sulpicius Tertullus in AD 158. Although originally patrician, the family also possessed plebeian members, some of whom may have been descended from freedmen of the gens.
Publius Sulpicius Rufus was a Roman politician and orator whose attempts to pass controversial laws with the help of mob violence helped trigger the first civil war of the Roman Republic. His actions kindled the deadly rivalry between Gaius Marius and Sulla, and provided the pretext for Sulla's unexpected march on Rome.
Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus was a Roman general, author, and patron of literature and art.
Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Crus was Consul of the Roman Republic in 49 BC, an opponent of Caesar and supporter of Pompeius in the Civil War during 49 to 48 BC.
Valeria or Valeria Messalla was the fifth wife of two-term consul and Roman dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla.
The gens Pompeia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, first appearing in history during the second century BC, and frequently occupying the highest offices of the Roman state from then until imperial times. The first of the Pompeii to obtain the consulship was Quintus Pompeius in 141 BC, but by far the most illustrious of the gens was Gnaeus Pompeius, surnamed Magnus, a distinguished general under the dictator Sulla, who became a member of the First Triumvirate, together with Caesar and Crassus. After the death of Crassus, the rivalry between Caesar and Pompeius led to the Civil War, one of the defining events of the final years of the Roman Republic.
The gens Cornelia was one of the greatest patrician houses at ancient Rome. For more than seven hundred years, from the early decades of the Republic to the third century AD, the Cornelii produced more eminent statesmen and generals than any other gens. At least seventy-five consuls under the Republic were members of this family, beginning with Servius Cornelius Maluginensis in 485 BC. Together with the Aemilii, Claudii, Fabii, Manlii, and Valerii, the Cornelii were almost certainly numbered among the gentes maiores, the most important and powerful families of Rome, who for centuries dominated the Republican magistracies. All of the major branches of the Cornelian gens were patrician, but there were also plebeian Cornelii, at least some of whom were descended from freedmen.
Rufus is one of the most common of the ancient Roman cognomina.
The gens Marcia, occasionally written Martia, was one of the oldest and noblest houses at ancient Rome. They claimed descent from the second and fourth Roman Kings, and the first of the Marcii appearing in the history of the Republic would seem to have been patrician; but all of the families of the Marcii known in the later Republic were plebeian. The first to obtain the consulship was Gaius Marcius Rutilus in 357 BC, only a few years after the passage of the lex Licinia Sextia opened this office to the plebeians.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio, often referred to as Metellus Scipio, was a Roman senator and military commander. During the civil war between Julius Caesar and the senatorial faction led by Pompey, he was a staunch supporter of the latter. He led troops against Caesar's forces, mainly in the battles of Pharsalus and Thapsus, where he was defeated. He later committed suicide. Ronald Syme called him "the last Scipio of any consequence in Roman history."
Marcus Valerius Messalla Appianus was a Roman Senator during the reign of Augustus. He was ordinary consul in 12 BC with Publius Sulpicius Quirinius as his colleague.
Marcus Valerius Messalla Rufus, was a Roman senator who was elected consul for 53 BC.
Appius Claudius Pulcher was a Roman politician. An early supporter of Augustus, he was elected consul in 38 BC.
Marcus Valerius Messalla was a Roman senator who was appointed suffect consul in 32 BC.
Marcus Licinius Crassus was a quaestor of the Roman Republic in 54 BC. He was the elder son of Marcus Crassus who formed the political alliance known as the "First Triumvirate" with Pompeius Magnus and Julius Caesar. His mother was Tertulla, the daughter of Marcus Varro Lucullus. His father and his younger brother, Publius, died at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, after which time Marcus continued to be a partisan of Caesar.
The gens Silia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are mentioned as early as the fifth century BC, but first to hold the consulship was Publius Silius Nerva, in the time of Augustus. The Silii remained prominent until the time of the Severan dynasty, in the early third century.
References
- Asconius Pedianus, in Scaurian. p. 20, Orelli
- Caesar, Bellum Gallicum, i.2 [ permanent dead link ].
- Cicero, ad Atticum, i.12 [ permanent dead link ], 13 [ permanent dead link ], 14 [ permanent dead link ]; ad Familiares, viii.2 [ permanent dead link ], 4 [ permanent dead link ]; Brutus, 70; pro Sextio Roscio, 51 [ permanent dead link ]; pro Sulla, 6 [ permanent dead link ].
- Dio Cassius, Roman History, xxxvii.46;
- Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historis, vii.26, viii.54, xxxviii.2.
- Syme, Ronald, Augustan Aristocracy
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Messalla (6)". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology . Vol. 2. p. 1050.