Servilius

The gens Servilia was an illustrious Patrician gens at Rome, which furnished numerous magistrates throughout the history of the Roman Republic. It also had Plebeian branches. According to tradition, the family was one of the noble houses of Alba Longa, which settled at Rome following the destruction of that ancient city by Tullus Hostilius, the third King of Rome.^[1]

The name of the family is a patronymic surname, based on the praenomen Servius, meaning one who keeps safe or preserves. Presumably this was the name of the ancestor of the gens. However, the names preferred by the Servilii were Quintus, Gaius, Publius, Gnaeus, Spurius, and Marcus.^[2][3]

Amongst the more famous of the early Servilii was Gaius Servilius Ahala, who was revered for having saved Rome from tyranny, by killing Spurius Maelius in 439 BC. This tradition, however, is suspect, because in several instances the patricians charged various persons with treason after they became popular with the plebs. Maelius was accused because he had used his own resources to purchase grain and distribute it to the poor.^[4][5]

The Servilii were an important force in the later Republic, as appears in the following (incomplete) family tree:

Stemma Serviliorum

References

1. ^ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, book I
2. ^ Dictionary of Greek & Roman Biography & Mythology
3. ^ George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897)
4. ^ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, book IV
5. ^ Dictionary of Greek & Roman Biography & Mythology

Sources

• Broughton, T. Robert S. (1951). The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association, 3 Volumes. Volume I (509 B.C. - 100 B.C.) ISBN 0-89130-812-2. Volume II (99 B.C. - 31 B.C.) Philological Monographs Number XV, 1952. Volume III (Supplement) ISBN 0-89130-811-3.
• Crawford, Michael H. (1974). Roman Republican Coinage, Cambridge University Press, 2 Volumes. ISBN 0-521-07492-4
• Hornblower, Simon and Spaworth, Antony (1999). The Oxford Classical Dictionary, ISBN 0-19-866172-X
• Münzer, Friedrich (1999). Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families, translated by Thérèse Ridley, Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 0-8018-5990-5