Atia (gens)
Encyclopedia
The gens Atia, sometimes written Attia, was a plebeian
family at Rome
. The first of the gens
to achieve prominence was Lucius Atius, a military tribune
in 178 BC. Several of the Atii served in the Civil War
between Caesar
and Pompeius
. The gens Attia
may be identical with this family, although the individuals known by that name lived nearly a century after the more notable Atii, and are not known to have been related.
does not appear to have been of any great antiquity, and none of its members ever attained the consulship
; but, since Augustus
was connected with it on his mother's side, the flattery of the poets derived its origin from Atys, the son of Alba, and father of Capys. Atys was the sixth king of Alba Longa
, an ancient city in Latium
, traditionally founded by Ascanius
, the son of Aeneas
, and the mother city of Rome.
at Rome, including Lucius
, Marcus
, Gaius
, Publius
, and Quintus
.
of the Atii are Balbus, Rufus, and Varus. The Atii Balbi were from the city of Aricia
. The Venetian scholar Paulus Manutius
conjectured that the family of the Labieni belonged to the Atia gens, which opinion has been followed by most modern writers. However, Spanheim
pointed out that there was no authority for this. As Labienus is not found as the cognomen of any person named Atius, nor in any other gens, it is probably the nomen of a separate gens.
Plebs
The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...
family at Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
. The first of the gens
Gens
In ancient Rome, a gens , plural gentes, referred to a family, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a stirps . The gens was an important social structure at Rome and throughout Italy during the...
to achieve prominence was Lucius Atius, a military tribune
Military tribune
A military tribune was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion...
in 178 BC. Several of the Atii served in the Civil War
Caesar's civil war
The Great Roman Civil War , also known as Caesar's Civil War, was one of the last politico-military conflicts in the Roman Republic before the establishment of the Roman Empire...
between Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
and Pompeius
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
. The gens Attia
Attia (gens)
The gens Attia was a plebeian family at Rome, which may be identical with the gens Atia, sometimes spelled with a double t. The gens is known primarily from two individuals: Publius Attius Atimetus, a physician to Augustus, and another physician of the same name, who probably lived later during...
may be identical with this family, although the individuals known by that name lived nearly a century after the more notable Atii, and are not known to have been related.
Origin of the gens
The gensGens
In ancient Rome, a gens , plural gentes, referred to a family, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a stirps . The gens was an important social structure at Rome and throughout Italy during the...
does not appear to have been of any great antiquity, and none of its members ever attained the consulship
Roman consul
A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...
; but, since Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
was connected with it on his mother's side, the flattery of the poets derived its origin from Atys, the son of Alba, and father of Capys. Atys was the sixth king of Alba Longa
Alba Longa
Alba Longa – in Italian sources occasionally written Albalonga – was an ancient city of Latium in central Italy southeast of Rome in the Alban Hills. Founder and head of the Latin League, it was destroyed by Rome around the middle of the 7th century BC. In legend, Romulus and Remus, founders of...
, an ancient city in Latium
Latium
Lazio is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy, situated in the central peninsular section of the country. With about 5.7 million residents and a GDP of more than 170 billion euros, Lazio is the third most populated and the second richest region of Italy...
, traditionally founded by Ascanius
Ascanius
Ascanius is the son of the Trojan hero Aeneas and a legendary king of Alba Longa. He is a character of Roman mythology, and has a divine lineage, being the son of Aeneas, who is son of Venus and the hero Anchises, a relative of Priam; thus Ascanius has divine ascendents by both parents, being...
, the son of Aeneas
Aeneas
Aeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...
, and the mother city of Rome.
Praenomina used by the gens
The Atii are known to have used several of the most common praenominaPraenomen
The praenomen was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the dies lustricus , the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the birth of a boy...
at Rome, including Lucius
Lucius (praenomen)
Lucius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. The feminine form is Lucia . The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gentes Lucia and Lucilia, as well as the cognomen Lucullus...
, Marcus
Marcus (praenomen)
Marcus is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. The feminine form is Marca or Marcia. The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Marcia, as well as the cognomen Marcellus...
, Gaius
Gaius (praenomen)
Gaius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. The feminine form is Gaia. The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Gavia...
, Publius
Publius (praenomen)
Publius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and was very common at all periods of Roman history. It gave rise to the patronymic gens Publilia, and perhaps also gens Publicia. The feminine form is Publia...
, and Quintus
Quintus (praenomen)
Quintus is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was common throughout all periods of Roman history. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gentes Quinctia and Quinctilia. The feminine form is Quinta...
.
Branches and cognomina of the gens
The cognominaCognomen
The cognomen nōmen "name") was the third name of a citizen of Ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. The cognomen started as a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary. Hereditary cognomina were used to augment the second name in order to identify a particular branch within...
of the Atii are Balbus, Rufus, and Varus. The Atii Balbi were from the city of Aricia
Ariccia
Ariccia is a town and comune in the Province of Rome, central Italy. It is in the Alban Hills of the Lazio region and could be considered an extension of Rome's southeastern suburbs...
. The Venetian scholar Paulus Manutius
Paulus Manutius
Paulus Manutius was a Venetian printer with a humanist education, the third son of the famous printer Aldus Manutius and his wife Maria Torresano. Aldus died when the boy was two, and his grandfather and two uncles, the Asolani, carried on the Aldine Press...
conjectured that the family of the Labieni belonged to the Atia gens, which opinion has been followed by most modern writers. However, Spanheim
Ezekiel, Freiherr von Spanheim
Ezekiel, Freiherr von Spanheim was a Swiss diplomat and scholar.-Life:He was the eldest son of Friedrich Spanheim the Elder, born at Geneva...
pointed out that there was no authority for this. As Labienus is not found as the cognomen of any person named Atius, nor in any other gens, it is probably the nomen of a separate gens.
Members of the gens
- Lucius Atius, the first tribuneMilitary tribuneA military tribune was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion...
of the second legion in the war with the IstriIstriaIstria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
, in 178 BC. - Marcus Atius Balbus, father of the praetor of 62 BC.
- Marcus Atius M. f. BalbusMarcus AtiusMarcus Atius Balbus was the son and heir of an elder Marcus Atius Balbus and Pompeia. Pompeia was a sister to consul Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, father of triumvir Pompey. The family of the elder Balbus came from a Roman senatorial family plebs status from Aricia . ‘Balbus’ in Latin means stammer...
, praetor in 62 BC, grandfather of AugustusAugustusAugustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
. - Atia M. f. M. n., the second wife of Gaius OctaviusGaius OctaviusGaius Octavius was an ancestor to the Roman Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. He was the father of the Emperor Augustus, step-grandfather of the Emperor Tiberius, great-great grandfather of the Emperor Caligula, great-grandfather of the Emperor Claudius, and great-great-great grandfather of...
, and mother of AugustusAugustusAugustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
. - Quintus Atius Varus, commander of the cavalry under Gaius Fabius, one of Caesar'sJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
legatesLegatusA legatus was a general in the Roman army, equivalent to a modern general officer. Being of senatorial rank, his immediate superior was the dux, and he outranked all military tribunes...
in GaulGaulGaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
, and probably the same Q. Varus who served under Caesar during the Civil WarCaesar's civil warThe Great Roman Civil War , also known as Caesar's Civil War, was one of the last politico-military conflicts in the Roman Republic before the establishment of the Roman Empire...
. - Gaius Atius, a partisan of Gnaeus PompeiusPompeyGnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
, who had possession of SulmoSulmonathumb|150px|Celestine V's hermitage and the remains of the Shrine of Hercules Curinus.thumb|150px|Palazzo SS. Annunziata and Museo Civicothumb|150px|Church of SS...
, but surrendered to Caesar when the populace opened the gates to forces under Marcus AntoniusMark AntonyMarcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...
, in 49 BC. - Publius Atius Varus, a zealous partisan of Pompeius during the Civil War, fell at the Battle of MundaBattle of MundaThe Battle of Munda took place on March 17, 45 BC in the plains of Munda, modern southern Spain. This was the last battle of Julius Caesar's civil war against the republican armies of the Optimate leaders...
. - Atius Rufus, one of the officers in Pompeius' army in Greece, in 48 BC, accused Lucius AfraniusLucius Afranius (consul)Lucius Afranius was an ancient Roman legatus and client of Pompey the Great. He served with Pompey during his Iberian campaigns against Sertorius in the late 70s BC, and remained in his service right through to the Civil War. He died after the Battle of Thapsus in 46 BC.-Early career:Lucius...
of treachery on account of his defeat in HispaniaHispaniaAnother theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
in the preceding year.