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The gens Claudia (Classical Latin: [ˈklawdɪa]), sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain the consulship was Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis, in 495 BC, and from that time its members frequently held the highest offices of the state, both under the Republic and in imperial times.
Plebeian Claudii are found fairly early in Rome's history. Some may have been descended from members of the family who had passed over to the plebeians, while others were probably the descendants of freedmen of the gens.[1]
In his life of the emperor Tiberius, who was a scion of the Claudii, the historian Suetonius gives a summary of the gens, and says, "as time went on it was honoured with twenty-eight consulships, five dictatorships, seven censorships, six triumphs, and two ovations." Writing several decades after the fall of the so-called "Julio-Claudian dynasty", Suetonius took care to mention both the good and wicked deeds attributed to members of the family.[2]
The patrician Claudii were noted for their pride and arrogance, and intense hatred of the commonalty. In his History of Rome, Niebuhr writes,
That house during the course of centuries produced several very eminent, few great men; hardly a single noble-minded one. In all ages it distinguished itself alike by a spirit of haughty defiance, by disdain for the laws, and iron hardness of heart.[3]
During the Republic, no patrician Claudius adopted a member of another gens; the emperor Claudius was the first who broke this custom, by adopting Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, afterwards the emperor Nero.[1][4][5]
According to legend, the first of the Claudii was a Sabine, by the name of Attius Clausus,[6] who came to Rome with his retainers in 504 BC, the sixth year of the Republic. At this time, the fledgling Republic was engaged in regular warfare with the Sabines, and Clausus is said to have been the leader of a faction seeking to end the conflict. When his efforts failed, he defected to the Romans. Clausus was enrolled among the patricians, and exchanged his Sabine name for the Latin Appius Claudius.[7][8]
Tiberius is said to have referred to this tradition, in a speech made before the Roman Senate, in which he argued in favor of admitting Gauls to that body. "My ancestors, the most ancient of whom was made at once a citizen and a noble of Rome, encourage me to govern by the same policy of transferring to this city all conspicuous merit, wherever found." The Claudii were also said to have been granted a tract of land for their dependents on the far side of the Anio,[9] and a burial site at the foot of the Capitoline Hill.[7][10][11]
By imperial times, the influence of the Claudii was so great that the poet Vergilius flattered them by a deliberate anachronism. In his Aeneid, he makes Attius Clausus a contemporary of Aeneas, to whose side he rallies with a host of quirites, or spearmen.[12]
The nomen Claudius, originally Clausus, according to legend, is usually said to be derived from the Latin adjective claudus, meaning "lame". As a cognomen, Claudus is occasionally found in other gentes. This etymology was argued by Antoine Meillet and Karl Braasch. However, since there is no tradition that any of the early Claudii were lame, the nomen might refer to some ancestor of Attius Clausus. It could also have been metaphorical, or ironic, and the possibility remains that this derivation is erroneous.[13][14]
The metathesis of Clausus into Claudius, and its common by-form, Clodius, was discussed in the Dictionnaire Étymologique Latin. The alternation of 'o' and 'au' seems to have been common in Sabine. The alternation of 's' and 'd' occurs in words borrowed from Greek: Latin rosa from Greek rhodos; but in this instance clausus or *closus is a Sabine word becoming clod- in Latin. The name could have come from Greek settlers in Latium, but there is no evidence in favor of this hypothesis.[15]
The Sabine praenomen Attius has been the subject of similar fascination for philologists. The form Attus is mentioned by Valerius Maximus, who connected it with the bucolic Greek name Atys. Braasch translated it as Väterchen, "little father," and connected it with a series of childhood parental names: "atta, tata, acca," and the like, becoming such names as Tatius (also Sabine) and Atilius.[16]
The early Claudii favored the praenomina Appius, Gaius, and Publius. These names were used by the patrician Claudii throughout their history. Tiberius was used by the family of the Claudii Nerones, while Marcus, although used occasionally by the earliest patrician Claudii, was favored by the plebeian branches of the family. According to Suetonius, the gens avoided the praenomen Lucius because two early members with this name had brought dishonor upon the family, one having been convicted of highway robbery, and the other of murder.[1][11]
The patrician Claudii bore various surnames, including Caecus, Caudex, Centho, Crassus, Nero, Pulcher, Regillensis, and Sabinus. The latter two, though applicable to all of the gens, were seldom used when there was a more definite cognomen. A few of the patrician Claudii are mentioned without any surname. The surnames of the plebeian Claudii were Asellus, Canina, Centumalus, Cicero, Flamen, and Marcellus.[1]
The earliest Claudii bore the surname Sabinus, a common surname usually referring to a Sabine, or someone of Sabine descent, which according to all tradition, the Claudii were.[17] This cognomen was first adopted by Appius Claudius, the founder of the gens, and was retained by his descendants, until it was replaced by Crassus.[1]
The surname Regillensis or Inregillensis, also attributed to the first of the Claudii, is more problematic. Regillensis was also a cognomen of the Postumia gens, presumably because Aulus Postumius Albus led the victorious Roman army at the Battle of Lake Regillus in 498 BC. It is entirely possible that Appius Claudius was also a participant in that battle, and assumed the same surname in consequence of this, although he is not mentioned in any surviving accounts of that battle.[18]
Niebuhr has suggested that Regillensis is derived not from Postumius' participation in the battle, but from a place of residence, perhaps a settlement, now lost, in the vicinity of Lake Regillus. This theory is supported by Suetonius, who writes that Claudius came ex Regillis oppido Sabinorum; that is, "from Regillum, a town of the Sabines." This appears to conflict with the tradition that Claudius was a native of Cures, and may simply be speculation on the part of Suetonius, but there is nothing inherently improbable about this theory.[11][19]
Crassus, sometimes given as the diminutive Crassinus, was a common surname usually translated as "thick, solid," or "dull". This cognomen succeeded that of Sabinus as the surname of the main family of the Claudia gens. It was borne by members of the family from the 5th to the 3rd century BC The other main families of the patrician Claudii were descended from Appius Claudius Caecus, a member of this stirps; his sons bore the surnames Crassus, Pulcher, Cento or Centho, and Nero. However, this generation saw the last of the Claudii Crassi.[1][20]
Pulcher, the surname of the next major branch of the Claudia gens, means beautiful, although it may be that the cognomen was given ironically. The Claudii Pulchri were an extensive family, which supplied the Republic with several consuls, and survived into imperial times.[1][20]
The other main branch of the patrician Claudii bore the surname Nero, originally a Sabine praenomen described as meaning, fortis ac strenuus, which roughly translated is "strong and sturdy." It may be the same as the Umbrian praenomen Nerius. This family was distinguished throughout the latter Republic, and gave rise to several of the early emperors, including Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero (by adoption). An oddity of the names by which these emperors are known today is that several of their ancestors bore the name Tiberius Claudius Nero; of three emperors belonging to the same family, one is known by a praenomen, one by a nomen, and one by a cognomen.[11]
The most illustrious family of the plebeian Claudii bore the surname Marcellus, which is a diminutive of the praenomen Marcus. They gained everlasting fame from the exploits of Marcus Claudius Marcellus, one of Rome's finest generals, and a towering figure of the Second Punic War, who was five times consul, and won the spolia opima, defeating and killing the Gallic king, Viridomarus, in single combat.
Most of those who used the spelling Clodius were descended from plebeian members of the gens, but one family by this name was a cadet branch of the patrician Claudii Pulchri, which voluntarily went over to the plebeians, and used the spelling Clodius to differentiate themselves from their patrician relatives.
Caecus, the surname of one of the Claudii Crassi, refers to the condition of his blindness, which is well-attested, although it appears that he did not become blind until his old age. According to one legend, he was struck blind by the gods during his censorship, after inducing the ancient family of the Potitii to teach the sacred rites of Hercules to the public slaves. The Potitii themselves were said to have perished as a result of this sacrilege. However, it should be noted that Claudius was relatively young at the time of his censorship in 312 BC, and was elected consul sixteen years later, in 296.[21]
Caecus' brother, who shared the same praenomen, was distinguished by the cognomen Caudex, literally meaning a "treetrunk", although metaphorically it was an insult, meaning a "dolt." According to Seneca, he obtained the surname from his attention to naval affairs.[22]
See also Clodius for members of the gens who used the alternate spelling of the name primarily or solely.
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