Domitia gens

The gens Domitia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus, consul in 332 BC. His son, Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus Maximus, was consul in 283, and the first plebeian censor. The family produced several distinguished generals, and towards the end of the Republic, the Domitii were looked upon as one of the most illustrious gentes.[1][2][3][4]

Praenomina

The praenomen most associated with the Domitii was Gnaeus. The Domitii Calvini also used Marcus, while the Ahenobarbi used Lucius.

Branches and cognomina

During the time of the Republic, we meet with only two branches of this gens, the Ahenobarbi and Calvini, and with the exception of a few unknown personages mentioned in isolated passages of Cicero, there is none without a cognomen.[1]

Calvinus, the name of the oldest family of the Domitii, is derived from the Latin adjective calvus, meaning "bald." The lengthened form, Calvinus is a diminutive, generally translated as "baldish", although it could also refer to the descendants of someone who had borne the surname Calvus. Such names belong to a common class of cognomina derived from a person's physical features.[1][5]

The family named Ahenobarbus was so called from the red hair which many of its members had. To explain this name, which signifies, "Red-Beard" (literally, "Bronze-Beard"), and to assign a high antiquity to their family, it was said that the Dioscuri announced to one of their ancestors the victory of the Romans over the Latins at Lake Regillus (498 BC), and, to confirm the truth of what they said, that they stroked his black hair and beard, which immediately became red.[6][7][8][9][5][10]

Members

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

Domitii Calvini

Domitii Ahenobarbi

Others

  • Marcus Domitius P. f., a senator, sent as an ambassador in Crete in 113 BC. He might have been one of the Calvini, as the Ahenobarbi did not use the praenomen Marcus.[85][86]
  • Domitius Marsus, a Latin poet of the Augustan age. He or one of his ancestors probably belonged to the Marsic nation, and was adopted into the noble house of the Domitii.[87]
  • Domitius Celer, an intimate friend of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, by whom he had been sent into Syria. After the death of Germanicus, Domitius persuaded Piso to return to that province.[88]
  • Domitius Pollio, whose daughter was selected to replace the deceased Vestal Virgin Occia.[89]
  • Gnaeus Domitius Afer, a noted orator of the first century, and consul suffectus in AD 39.
  • Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, consul in AD 39, and one of the greatest of Roman generals. Under Claudius, he obtained the command of the armies in Germania, and enjoyed much success before being recalled by a jealous emperor. Subsequently, he was sent against the Parthians, winning major victories in 54 and 58. However, the suspicious Nero ordered his death in 67.
  • Domitius Balbus, a wealthy man of praetorian rank, whose will was forged in AD 61.[90]
  • Domitius Silus, the husband of Atria Galla, a woman of low birth but great physical beauty. Gaius Calpurnius Piso lured her away from Silus, whose willingness to part with his wife, along with her brazen infidelity, added to Piso's notoriety.[91]
  • Domitia Decidiana, the wife of Gnaeus Julius Agricola, and mother-in-law of the historian Tacitus.
  • Domitius Caecilianus, an intimate friend of Publius Clodius Thrasea Paetus, who informed him of his condemnation by the senate in AD 67.[92]
  • Domitia, the elder daughter of Corbulo, she married the senator Lucius Annius Vinicianus, who was implicated in a plot against the emperor Nero, and took his own life rather than defend himself.
  • Domitia Longina, the younger daughter of Corbulo. She married Lucius Aelius Plautius Lamia Aemilianus, but was carried off by the future emperor Domitian about AD 69. Their marriage was loveless and both spouses unfaithful. Domitia was Roman empress from 81 to 96. Aware of the conspiracy against her husband, but in fear for her own life, she encouraged the conspirators, and outlived the emperor by many years.[93][94]
  • Lucius Domitius Apollinaris, consul suffectus in 97, and patron of Martial.
  • Domitia Paulina, wife of Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer, and mother of the emperor Hadrian.[95]
  • Aelia Domitia Paulina, sister of the emperor Hadrian.
  • Domitius Labeo, the author of a letter in the Digesta, sometimes thought to have been a jurist. He must have lived in the first part of the second century.[96][97]
  • Domitia Lucilla Major, grandmother of the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
  • Domitius Callistratus, the author of a work on Heracleia, consisting of at least seven books.[98]
  • Gaius Domitius Dexter, consul in AD 196, during the reign of Septimius Severus, who appointed him praefectus urbi.[99]
  • Lucius Domitius Honoratus, governor of Egypt in AD 222.
  • Gnaeus Domitius Annius Ulpianus, an influential jurist of the early third century.
  • Domitius Florus, who had been ejected from the senate through the influence of Plautianus, was restored in the reign of Macrinus, and created tribune of the people.[100]
  • Lucius Domitius Aurelianus, emperor from AD 270 to 275.
  • Lucius Domitius Domitianus, a pretender to the imperial dignity in Egypt during the reign of Diocletian.
  • Lucius Domitius Alexander, proclaimed emperor by his troops during the reign of Maxentius, but swiftly defeated and put to death.
  • Domitius Zenofilus, consul in 333 AD.
  • Domitius Leontius, consul in 344.
  • Domitius Modestus, consul in 372.

Footnotes

  1. Identified as Lucius Domitius in Plutarch and Eutropius, some sources describe him as Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus.

See also

References

  1. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 1061 ("Domitia Gens").
  2. Cicero, Philippicae ii. 29.
  3. Pliny the Elder, vii. 57.
  4. Valerius Maximus, vi. 2. § 8.
  5. Chase, pp. 109, 110.
  6. Suetonius, "The Life of Nero", 1.
  7. Plutarch, "The Life of Aemilius Paullus", 25, "The Life of Coriolanus", 3.
  8. Dionysius, vi. 13.
  9. Tertullian, 22.
  10. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, pp. 83, 84 ("Ahenobarbus").
  11. Livy, viii. 17.
  12. Livy, x. 9, Epitome 13.
  13. Pliny the Elder, xxxiii. 1.
  14. Polybius, ii. 19, 20.
  15. Appian, Bellum Samniticum, 6, Bella Celtica, 11.
  16. Florus, i. 13.
  17. Eutropius, ii. 10.
  18. Fasti Capitolini.
  19. Frontinus, Strategemata, iii. 2. § 1.
  20. Livy, Epitome, 20.
  21. Zonaras, viii. 19 ff.
  22. Plutarch, "The Life of Sertorius", 12.
  23. Livy, Epitome, 90.
  24. Eutropius, vi. 1.
  25. Florus, iii. 22.
  26. Orosius, v. 23.
  27. Broughton, vol. II, pp. 79, 84, 85 (note 4).
  28. Syme, Ronald (1987). "M. Bibulus and Four Sons". Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. Department of the Classics, Harvard University. 91: 185–198. doi:10.2307/311404. JSTOR 311404 via JSTOR.
  29. Livy, xxxiii. 42, xxxiv. 42, 43, 53, xxxv. 10, 20-22, 40, xxxvi. 37.
  30. Valerius Maximus, i. 6. § 5.
  31. Broughton, Vol. I, p. 335.
  32. Livy, xlii. 28, xliv. 18, xlv. 17.
  33. Cicero, De Natura Deorum, ii. 4, De Divinatione, ii. 35.
  34. Valerius Maximus, i. 1. § 3.
  35. Livy, Epitome, 61, 62.
  36. Florus, iii. 2.
  37. Strabo, iv. p. 191.
  38. Cicero, Pro Fonteio, 8, 12, Brutus, 26, Pro Cluentio, 42.
  39. Velleius Paterculus, ii. 10, 39.
  40. Orosius, v. 13.
  41. Suetonius, "The Life of Nerva", 12.
  42. Asconius Pedianus, in Cornelio, p. 81 (ed. Orelli).
  43. Livy, Epitome, 67.
  44. Cicero, Pro Rege Deiotario, 11, Divinatio in Caecilium, 20, In Verrem, ii. 47, Pro Cornelio, 2, Pro Scauro, 1, De Oratore, iii. 24, Brutus, 44.
  45. Valerius Maximus, vi. 5. § 5, ix. 1. § 4.
  46. Cassius Dio, Fragmenta, 100.
  47. Gellius, xv. 11.
  48. Pliny the Elder, xviii. 1.
  49. Macrobius, ii. 11.
  50. Cicero, In Verrem, v. 3.
  51. Valerius Maximus, vi. 3. § 5.
  52. Appian, Bellum Civile, i. 88.
  53. Velleius Paterculus, ii. 26.
  54. Orosius, v. 20.
  55. Livy, Epitome, 89.
  56. Plutarch, "The Life of Pompeius", 10, 12.
  57. Zonaras, x. 2.
  58. Orosius, v. 21.
  59. Cassius Dio, xxxvii. 46, xxxix, xli.
  60. Pliny the Elder, viii. 54.
  61. Horace, Epistulae, i. 19. 47.
  62. Orelli, Onomasticon Tullianum.
  63. Suetonius, "The Life of Nero", 2.
  64. Caesar, De Bello Civili.
  65. Cicero, Epistulae ad Quintum Fratrem, ii. 13.
  66. Cicero, Philippicae, ii. 11, Brutus, 25, Epistulae ad Familiares, vi. 22.
  67. Appian, Bellum Civile, v. 55, 63, 65.
  68. Plutarch, "The Life of Antonius", 70, 71.
  69. Cassius Dio, xlvii. 1.
  70. Velleius Paterculus, ii. 76, 84.
  71. Suetonius, "The Life of Nero", 3.
  72. Tacitus, Annales, iv. 44.
  73. Suetonius, "The Life of Nero", 4.
  74. Cassius Dio, liv. 59.
  75. Velleius Paterculus, ii. 72.
  76. Suetonius, "The Life of Nero", 5, 6.
  77. Tacitus, Annales, iv. 75, vi. 1, 47, xii. 64.
  78. Cassius Dio, lviii. 17.
  79. Tacitus, Annales, xiii. 19, 21.
  80. Suetonius, "The Life of Nero", 34.
  81. Cassius Dio, lxi. 17.
  82. Quintilian, vi. 1. § 50, 3. § 74, x. 1. § 24.
  83. Tacitus, Annales xi. 37 ff, xii. 64 ff.
  84. Suetonius, "The Life of Claudius", 26, "The Life of Nero", 7.
  85. SIG, 712.
  86. Broughton, vol. 1, pp. 536, 537.
  87. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, p. 962 ("Domitius Marsus").
  88. Tacitus, Annales, ii. 77–79.
  89. Tacitus, Annales, ii. 86.
  90. Tacitus, Annales, xiv.40.
  91. Tacitus, Annales, xv. 59.
  92. Tacitus, Annales, xvi.34.
  93. Cassius Dio, lxvii. 3, lxvi. 3, 15.
  94. Suetonius, "The Life of Domitian", 3, 22.
  95. Fausto Zevi, "I consoli del 97 d. Cr. in due framenti gia' editi dei Fasti Ostienses", Listy filologické / Folia philologica, 96 (1973), pp. 125–137
  96. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, pp. 694, 695 ("Domitius Labeo").
  97. Digesta seu Pandectae, 28. tit. 1. s. 27.
  98. Stephanus, Ethnica s.v. Ολυμπη.
  99. Aelius Spartianus, "The Life of Septimius Severus", 8.
  100. Cassius Dio, lxxviii. 22.

Bibliography

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Schmitz, Leonhard (1870). "Domitia Gens". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 1061.
 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William (1870). "Ahenobarbus". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 83.

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