The Aurelii Symmachi were an aristocratic

senatorial A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the eld ...

family ''(

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same Roman naming conventions#Nomen, nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (p ...

)'' of the late Roman Empire. The family received its first offices at the beginning of the 3rd century under emperor

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa (Roman province), Africa. As a young man he advanced thro ...

. It further increased its prestige, reaching its peaks in the 4th and 5th centuries. Among the most important members of this family were: *

Aurelius Valerius Tullianus Symmachus Aurelius Valerius Symmachus Tullianus ( 330–337) was a Roman senator and aristocrat. He was appointed consul in 330 by the emperor Constantine. Writing between 334 and 337 (probably 337), the author Firmicus Maternus noted Tullianus for his aus ...

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

in 330 **

Lucius Aurelius Avianius Symmachus Lucius Aurelius Avianius Symmachus Phosphorius (died 376) was an aristocrat of the Roman Empire, and father of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus. Biography A member of the aristocratic family of the Symmachi, he was the son of Aurelius Valerius Tullianu ...

, ''

praefectus urbi The ''praefectus urbanus'', also called ''praefectus urbi'' or urban prefect in English, was prefect of the city of Rome, and later also of Constantinople. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, and ...

'' in 364-365, son of Aurelius Valerius Tullianus Symmachus *

Quintus Aurelius Symmachus Quintus Aurelius Symmachus signo Eusebius (, ; c. 345 – 402) was a Roman statesman, orator, and man of letters. He held the offices of governor of proconsular Africa in 373, urban prefect of Rome in 384 and 385, and consul in 391. Symmachus s ...

, c.340–c.402, orator, consul in 391. He was considered the best Latin orator of his age, similar to

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

) by his contemporaries. He was the most influential of the Symmachi **

Quintus Fabius Memmius Symmachus Quintus Fabius Memmius Symmachus (383/384 – after 402) was a politician of the Roman empire, member of the influential family of the Symmachi. Biography He was son of the orator and politician Quintus Aurelius Symmachus and of Rusticiana; ...

, son of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus **

Aurelius Anicius Symmachus Aurelius Anicius Symmachus ( 415–420) was a politician of the Western Roman Empire belonging to the Roman families of the Anicii and of the Symmachi. In 415 he was proconsul of Africa and between 24 December 418 and January 420 he was ''praefectu ...

, nephew of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus *** Quintus Aurelius Symmachus the Younger, consul in 446, son of Quintus Fabius Memmius Symmachus ****

Quintus Aurelius Memmius Symmachus Quintus Aurelius Memmius Symmachus (died 526) was a 6th-century Roman aristocrat, an historian and a supporter of Nicene Christianity. He was a patron of secular learning, and became the consul for the year 485. He supported Pope Symmachus in the ...

, consul in 485, son of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus the Younger **** Three daughters of Quintus Aurelius Memmius Symmachus: Saint Galla, Proba, and Rusticiana, the first wife of Boethius **** Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, adopted son of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus the Younger The family had a noteworthy interest in literature, and its members were patrons, editors and historians. *

wrote a few epigrams on members of the Constantinian administration and another unknown literary work *

wrote many letters, edited in ten volumes, five orations, three panegyrics and 49 relations for his office, among which the most famous is the third, written in order to request the restoration of the

Altar of Victory The Altar of Victory () was located in the Roman Senate House (the Curia) and bore a gold statue of the goddess Victory. The altar was established by Octavian (later Augustus) in 29 BC to commemorate the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra at the Battl ...

; in the last part of his life he dedicated himself to

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

. *

Quintus Aurelius Symmachus (consul 446) Quintus Aurelius Symmachus (''floruit'' 446) was an aristocrat of the Western Roman Empire. He was appointed consul by the western court, together with general Flavius Aetius, in 446. Biography Aurelius Symmachus was a member of the Symmachi f ...

, to whom Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius dedicated his ''De differentiis vel societatibus graeci latinique verbi''. *

wrote a ''Roman History'' in seven books (now lost), which was used as a source by

Jordanes Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Goths, Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history (''Romana ...

for his ''Romana''; he also helped the publication of the ''Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis'' by Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius, even editing directly the work.''Aurelius Memmius Symmachus v.c. emendabam vel distinguebam meum Ravennae cum Macrobio Plotino Euexodio'', «I, Aurelius Memmius Symmachus, ''

vir clarissimus The constitution of the late Roman Empire was an unwritten set of guidelines and principles passed down, mainly through precedent, which defined the manner in which the late Roman Empire was governed. As a matter of historical convention, the late ...

'', corrected and put punctuation to my copy in Ravenna together with Macrobius Plotinus Eudoxius, ''vir clarissimus''» (Hedrick, Charles W., ''History and Silence'', University of Texas Press, 2000, , p. 183). Priscian dedicated him some of his works.

References

Bibliography

* Arnold Hugh Martin Jones, John Robert Martindale, John Morris, "Q. Fabius Memmius Symmachus 10", ''

The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...

'', Cambridge University Press, 1971, {{ISBN, 0-521-20159-4, pp. 1046-1047. * John Martindale, John Morris, ''The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'', vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, 1980, pp. 1044–1046. Ancient Roman prosopographical lists Roman stirpes