Aelia gens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aelia was an ancient Roman gens, plebeian, of which the family names and surnames are Catus, Gallus, Gracilis, Lamia, Ligur, Paetus, Staienus, Stilo and Tubero. On coins this gens is also written Ailia, but Allia seems to be a distinct gens.
The only family-names and surnames of the Aelia gens upon coins are Bala, Lamia, Paetus and Sejanus. Of Bala nothing is known. Sejanus is the name of the favorite of Tiberius, who was adopted by one of the Aelii. The first member of this gens who obtained the consulship was Publius Aelius Paetus, in 337 BC. Under the empire the Aelian name became still more celebrated. It was the name of the emperor Hadrian, and consequently of the Antonines, whom he adopted.[1]
It is doubtful to which family Publius Aelius belonged who was one of the first plebeian quaestors in 409 BC.[2]
[edit] Notable Aelii
- Tiberius Plautius Silvanus Aelianus, consul in 45 and 74 AD.
[edit] References
- ^ Smith, William (1867), “Aelia gens”, in Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, Boston, pp. 27-28
- ^ Livy, iv. 54
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).
