Cornelia (gens)

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House of Cornelius Rufus, Pompeii

The gens Cornelia was one of the most distinguished Roman gentes, and produced a greater number of illustrious men than any other house at Rome. The first of this gens to achieve the consulship was Servius Cornelius Cossus Maluginensis, who held that office in 485 BC.[1]

The gens was a major contributor to the highest offices of the Republic, and contested for consulships with the Fabii and the Valerii from the 3rd century BC. Over thirty percent of all consulships were held by men from this gens[citation needed]; several great commanders also came from this family.

Origin

The origin of the Cornelii is lost to history, but the nomen Cornelius may be formed from the hypothetical cognomen Corneus, meaning "horny", that is, having thick or callused skin. The existence of such a cognomen in early times may be inferred from its diminutive, Corneolus.[2]

Another possibility is that the name is related to the surname Cossus, used by the most ancient branch of the gens. Cossus may be an archaic praenomen used by the ancestors of the Cornelii, which was subsequently used as a cognomen by the family. A similar instance is found in the patrician Furia gens, originally Fusia, which was evidently derived from the archaic praenomen Fusus. That gens later used Fusus as a cognomen, just as the Cornelii did with Cossus. Long after that branch of the family had disappeared, Cossus was revived as a praenomen by the later Cornelii.[1]

Praenomina

The Cornelii employed a wide variety of praenomina, although individual families tended to favor certain names and avoid others. Servius (abbreviated Ser.), Lucius (L.), Publius (P.), Gnaeus (Cn.), and Marcus (M.) were common to most branches. Aulus (A.) was used by the Cornelii Cossi. Gaius (C.) was used by both the Cornelii Cethegi and Lentuli. The praenomen Tiberius (Ti.) also appears once amongst the Lentuli, who later revived the former cognomen Cossus as a praenomen.[1]

In the 1st century BC, the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla named his twin children Faustus (F.) and Fausta, reviving an old praenomen that was regularly used by his descendants over the next two centuries, and making the Cornelii the only patrician family known to have used that name. Sulla's youngest daughter is believed to have been named Postuma, although no other instances of this name amongst the Cornelii are known.[3]

Branches and cognomina

Tombstone of the brothers Gaius and Lucius Cornelius, sons of Gaius

The gens included both patricians and plebeians, but all its great families belonged to the patrician order. The names of the patrician families are Arvina, Blasio, Cethegus, Cinna, Cossus, Dolabella, Lentulus, Maluginensis, Mammula, Merenda, Merula, Rufinus, Scapula, Scipio, Sisenna, and Sulla. The names of the plebeian families are Balbus and Gallus, and we also find various cognomina, as Chrysogonus, Culleolus, Phagita, etc., given to freedmen of this gens. There are also several plebeians mentioned without any surname. Under the Empire the number of cognomina increased considerably.[1]

The most ancient stirpes of the Cornelii bore the cognomina Cossus and Maluginensis. The Cossi and Maluginenses were probably one family originally, for at first both these surnames are united, as for instance, in the case of Servius Cornelius Cossus Maluginensis, consul in 485 BC. Afterwards, however, the Cossi and Maluginenses became two separate families. The Cossi produced many illustrious men in the 4th and 5th centuries BC, but afterwards sunk into oblivion. The last consuls from this stirps bore the surname Arvina. The name Cossus was afterwards revived as a praenomen in the family of the Lentuli, who belonged to the same gens. The Maluginenses last held consular authority in 367 BC.[1]

The Cornelii Scipiones first appear at the beginning of the 4th century BC, with Publius Cornelius Scipio, said to have been magister equitum to the dictator Marcus Furius Camillus in 396 BC. The Capitoline Fasti identify the magister equitum of that year as Publius Cornelius Maluginensis, suggesting that the Scipiones may have originated as a branch of the Maluginenses.[4][5]

The surname Scipio, which signifies a stick or staff, is said to have been originally given to a Cornelius, because he served as a staff in directing his blind father (patrem pro baculo regebat), and to have been handed down by him as a family name to his descendants. This family produced some of the greatest men in Rome, and to them she was more indebted than to any others for the empire of the world. They bore the agnomina Africanus, Asiaticus, Asina, Barbatus, Calvus, Hispallus, Nasica, and Serapio. With the additional cognomen Orfitus, the family remained prominent until the 2nd century AD[1][6]

Lentulus was the name of one of the haughtiest families of the Cornelian gens; so that Cicero coins the words Appietas and Lentulitas to express the qualities of the high patrician party. When we find plebeians bearing the name (as tribunes of the plebs), they were no doubt descendants of freedmen. Lentulus was said to be derived from lens, a lentil, much as Cicero is said to be derived from cicer, a chickpea. However, the Latin adjective lentulus means "slow". The Lentuli first appear in history at the time of the Gallic sack of Rome, early in the 4th century BC, and from that time remained prominent until the 1st century AD. They bore the agnomina Caudinus, Clodianus, Crus, Gaetulicus, Lupus, Maluginensis, Marcellinus, Niger, Rufinus, Scipio, Spinther, and Sura.[1][7][8]

The Cornelii Rufini appear in the latter half of the 4th century BC, beginning with Publius Cornelius Rufinus, dictator in 334 BC. From the surname Rufinus, meaning "reddish", one may infer that the first of this family had red hair. A descendant of this family was the first to assume the cognomen Sulla, about the time of the Second Punic War. The name is probably a diminutive of Sura, a cognomen found in several gentes, including among the Cornelii Lentuli. Plutarch, who erroneously believed that the dictator Sulla was the first to bear the name, thought it must have referred to a blotchy, reddish complexion, while Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius derives it from Sibylla, an etymology that is rejected by Quintilian. The Sullae continued in the highest offices of the state well into imperial times. Some of them bore the agnomen Felix.[1][9][10]

The Dolabellae first came to prominence at the beginning of the 3rd century BC, and so remained until the second half of the 1st century AD. The Cornelii Blasiones flourished for about a century, beginning in the early 3rd century BC. The Cethegi, who first appear in the latter half of the 3rd century BC, were described by Quintus Horatius Flaccus as cinctuti Cethegi, for their old-fashioned practice of wearing their arms bare. They remained prominent for the next two centuries.[1][11]

Merula signifies an ouzle, or blackbird. The family that bore this surname rose from obscurity at the beginning of the 2nd century BC., and continued for the next century. The Cornelii Cinnae flourished from the late 2nd century BC to the early decades of the Empire.[1]

The Cornelii Balbi were, properly speaking, no part of the Cornelia gens. The first of this name was not a Roman; he was a native of Gades; and his original name probably bore some resemblance to the Latin Balbus. Gaius Cornelius Gallus, the poet, and later prefect of Egypt, was evidently of Gallic descent, coming as a young man from the town of Forum Julii, and presumably manumitted by one of the Cornelii Cinnae or Sullae. None of his descendants achieved any prominence.[1]

Over 30% of all the consuls of the republican period of ancient Rome were Cornelians. The notable men and women of the Cornelii family are listed separately, below.

Members

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

Cornelii Maluginenses

Cornelii Cossi

Cornelii Scipiones

Cornelii Lentuli

Cornelii Rufini et Sullae

Cornelii Dolabellae

Cornelii Blasiones

  • Gnaeus Cornelius L. f. Cn. n. Blasio, consul in 270 and 257 BC, and censor in 265.
  • Gnaeus Cornelius Blasio, praetor in Sicilia in 194 BC.[89]
  • Publius Cornelius Blasio, ambassador to the Carni, Istri, and Iapydes in 170 BC, and special commissioner in 168.[90]

Cornelii Cethegi

Cornelii Merulae

Cornelii Cinnae

Cornelii Balbi

Other Cornelii during the Republic

  • Publius Cornelius Calussa, elected pontifex maximus c.330 BC without holding curule office[99]
  • Servius Cornelius P. f. Ser. n. Merenda, consul in 274 BC.
  • Publius Cornelius Merenda, failed candidate to consulship 217 BC
  • Aulus Cornelius Mammula, praetor in Sardinia 217 BC and propraetor in 216 BC
  • Aulus Cornelius Mammula, praetor in Bruttium 191 BC and propraetor in 190 BC[100]
  • Publius Cornelius Mammula, praetor in Sicily 180 BC[27]
  • Gnaeus Cornelius, installed as flamen dialis in 174 BC[101]
  • Marcus Cornelius Mammula, sent in 173 BC to Macedonia and Egypt
  • Cornelius, scriba in the dictatorship of Sulla, and quaestor during that of Caesar.[102][103]
  • Cornelius Phagita, captured Caesar when he was proscribed by Sulla in 82 BC.[104][105]
  • Gaius Cornelius, quaestor of Gnaeus Pompeius, and tribunus plebis in 67 BC.
  • Gaius Cornelius, one of Catiline's conspirators in 63 BC.[106][107]
  • Publius Cornelius, tribunus plebis in 51 BC.[108]
  • Cornelius, a centurion in the army of Octavianus in 43 BC, sent to Rome to demand the consulship for their general.[109]
  • Gaius Cornelius Gallus, poet, and prefect of Egypt in 30 BC.

Other Cornelii of Imperial Times

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
  2. ↑ George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897).
  3. ↑ Mika Kajava, Roman Female Praenomina: Studies in the Nomenclature of Roman Women (1994).
  4. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita v. 19.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Fasti Capitolini
  6. ↑ Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, Saturnalia i. 6.
  7. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares iii. 7. § 5, Pro Lege Manilia 19, Epistulae ad Atticum i. 19. § 2.
  8. ↑ Gaius Plinius Secundus, Naturalis Historia xviii. 3.
  9. ↑ Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans Sulla 2.
  10. ↑ Macrobius, Saturnalia i. 17.
  11. ↑ Quintus Horatius Flaccus, Ars Poëtica 50.
  12. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita iii. 35, 40, 41.
  13. ↑ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Romaike Archaiologia x. 58, xi. 15, 23.
  14. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita vi. 6, 18, 22, 27, 36, 38.
  15. ↑ Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica xv. 71.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita vi. 36, 42.
  17. ↑ Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica xii. 53.
  18. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita iv. 23.
  19. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita iv. 49.
  20. ↑ Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica xiii. 34.
  21. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita iv. 56.
  22. ↑ Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica xiii. 104.
  23. ↑ The Magistrates of Roman Republic v.1 by Robert T.Broughton p.88
  24. ↑ T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic (1952).
  25. ↑ Friedrich Münzer "Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families" pp.42.
  26. ↑ Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX vi. 3. § 3.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Friedrich Münzer "Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families" p.189.
  28. ↑ Friedrich Münzer "Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families" p.282.
  29. ↑ Friedrich Münzer "Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families" p.282.
  30. ↑ Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum, 59.
  31. ↑ Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans Caesar 52.
  32. ↑ Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History xlii. 58.
  33. ↑ Gaius Plinius Secundus, Naturalis Historia vii. 12, xxx. 2.
  34. ↑ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales iii. 74.
  35. ↑ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales xii. 41, xvi. 12, Historiae iv. 42.
  36. ↑ Gaius Plinius Secundus, Naturalis Historia ii. 31.
  37. ↑ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales xi. 2, 4, xii. 53, xiii. 25.
  38. ↑ Gaius Plinius Secundus, Naturalis Historia vii. 12, s. 14.
  39. ↑ Julius Capitolinus, Antoninus Pius 8.
  40. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita ix. 4.
  41. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita x. 1.
  42. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xxvii. 21.
  43. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xxviii. 10, xxix. 2.
  44. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xxxii. 2.
  45. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xlii. 37, 47, 49, 56, xliii. 15.
  46. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xlii. 37, 47, 49, 56.
  47. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xlv. 1.
  48. ↑ Sextus Julius Frontinus, De Aquaeductu 7.
  49. ↑ Florus, Epitome de T. Livio Bellorum omnium annorum DCC Libri duo iii. 19, 7.
  50. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Brutus, 36.
  51. ↑ Appianus, Bella Mithridatica, 95.
  52. ↑ Johann Caspar von Orelli, Onomasticon Tullianum, p. 177.
  53. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Quintum Fratrem
  54. ↑ Gaius Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Civili, iii. 62-65.
  55. ↑ Paulus Orosius, Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII, vi. 15.
  56. ↑ Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX vi. 7. § 3.
  57. ↑ Appianus, Bellum Civile iv. 39.
  58. ↑ Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History liv. 12.
  59. ↑ Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History, liv. 12, Arg. liv.
  60. ↑ Riccio, Monete Consolari, p. 52.
  61. ↑ Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History
  62. ↑ Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum Galba 4.
  63. ↑ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales xiv. 20.
  64. ↑ Sextus Julius Frontinus, De Aquaeductu 102.
  65. ↑ Friedrich Münzer "Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families" p.195.
  66. ↑ Friedrich Münzer "Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families" p.110.
  67. ↑ The Magistrates of Roman Republic v.1 by Robert T.Broughton p.268
  68. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xxxix. 6, 8.
  69. ↑ Friedrich Münzer "Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families" pp.200.
  70. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xlv. 17.
  71. ↑ Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans Sulla 1.
  72. ↑ Friedrich Münzer "Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families" v.II.
  73. ↑ Gaius Sallustius Crispus, The Conspiracy of Catiline 17.
  74. ↑ Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History xxxvi. 27.
  75. ↑ Senec. Cons. ad Marc. 12.
  76. ↑ Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans Sulla 37.
  77. ↑ Gaius Sallustius Crispus, The Conspiracy of Catiline 17, 47.
  78. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Sulla 2.
  79. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares xv. 17, Pro Sulla 31.
  80. ↑ Gaius Plinius Secundus, Naturalis Historia vii. 11. s. 13.
  81. ↑ Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History index, lib. lv.
  82. ↑ Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History lviii. 20.
  83. ↑ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales vi. 15.
  84. ↑ Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History lxxix. 4.
  85. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xxvii. 36, xl. 42.
  86. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Caecina 8.
  87. ↑ Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX viii. 1, Ambustae, § 2.
  88. ↑ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Historiae i. 88, ii. 63.
  89. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xxxiv. 42, 43.
  90. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xliii. 7, xlv. 13.
  91. ↑ Friedrich Münzer "Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families" p.232.
  92. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xxxix. 32, 38, 39.
  93. ↑ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita Epitome 49.
  94. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Oratore i. 52, Brutus, 23, Epistulae ad Atticum xii. 5.
  95. ↑ Friedrich Münzer "Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families" p.346.
  96. ↑ Friedrich Münzer "Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families" p.444.
  97. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Philippicae x. 6.
  98. ↑ Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans Brutus 25.
  99. ↑ Friedrich Münzer "Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families" p.171.
  100. ↑ Friedrich Münzer "Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families"
  101. ↑ Friedrich Münzer "Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families" p.406.
  102. ↑ Gaius Sallustius Crispus, Hist. in Or. Lep.
  103. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Officiis ii. 8.
  104. ↑ Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum Caesar 74.
  105. ↑ Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans Caesar 1.
  106. ↑ Gaius Sallustius Crispus, The Conspiracy of Catiline 17, 28.
  107. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Sulla 2, 6, 18.
  108. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares viii. 8.
  109. ↑ Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum Augustus 26.
  110. ↑ Marcus Tullius Cicero, In Verrem iii. 28, iv. 13.
  111. ↑ Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Suasoriae 2, sub fin.
  112. ↑ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales vi. 29.
  113. ↑ Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, Epistulae vii. 9.
  114. ↑ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales xv. 71, Historiae iii. 70, 73.

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