The gens Cilnia was an
Etruscan __NOTOC__
Etruscan may refer to:
Ancient civilization
*The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy
*Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization
**Etruscan architecture
**Etruscan art
**Etruscan cities
** Etrusca ...
family at
ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
, from the late
Republic
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
into imperial times. This
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 ...
is best known from
Gaius Cilnius Maecenas
Gaius Cilnius Maecenas ( – 8 BC) was a friend and political advisor to Octavian (who later reigned as emperor Augustus). He was also an important patron for the new generation of Augustan poets, including both Horace and Virgil. During the rei ...
, a trusted friend and advisor of
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
, who was famous for his immense wealth and patronage of the arts. At least two of the Cilnii obtained the
consulship
A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...
under the
Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
.
[''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. I, p. 748 ("Cilnii").]
Origin
The Cilnii hailed from the Etruscan city of
Arretium
Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level. ...
, where they were amongst the local nobility, and had once held the title of
Lucumo
Lucumo, in Etruscan lauchme or lauchume, was a title of Etruscan rulers, equivalent to the Latin ''rex'', or "king". In Roman sources, it is frequently mistaken for a personal name, particularly in the case of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth ...
, or king. Their
nomen was originally written ''Cfelne'' or ''Cfenle'', which was subsequently Latinized as ''Cilnius'', much as the Etruscan ''Lecne'' became ''
Licinius
Valerius Licinianus Licinius (c. 265 – 325) was Roman emperor from 308 to 324. For most of his reign he was the colleague and rival of Constantine I, with whom he co-authored the Edict of Milan, AD 313, that granted official toleration to C ...
''. The Cilnii supported Roman interests in
Etruria
Etruria () was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what are now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and northern and western Umbria.
Etruscan Etruria
The ancient people of Etruria
are identified as Etruscan civiliza ...
, and were expelled from Arretium in 301 BC, but regained their position with Roman aid.
Branches and cognomina
The only family of the Cilnii to achieve prominence under the Republic bore the
cognomen
A ''cognomen'' (; plural ''cognomina''; from ''con-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became here ...
''Maecenas'', sometimes found as ''Maecaenas'' or ''Maecoenas''. They claimed descent from
Lars Porsena
Lars Porsena (or Porsenna; Etruscan: ) was an Etruscan civilization, Etruscan king (lar) known for his Roman-Etruscan Wars#War with Clusium in 508 BC, war against the city of Rome. He ruled over the city of Clusium (Etruscan language, Etruscan: ; ...
, the legendary king of
Clusium
Clusium ( grc-gre, Κλύσιον, ''Klýsion'', or , ''Kloúsion''; Umbrian:''Camars'') was an ancient city in Italy, one of several found at the site. The current municipality of Chiusi (Tuscany) partly overlaps this Roman walled city. The Roman ...
, who played a prominent role in the early history of the Roman Republic. The name may be derived from a place, perhaps the same where the wines called the ''vina Maecenatiana'' were produced. On Etruscan funerary urns, the names of ''Cilnius'' and ''Maecenas'' occur separately, but never together, from which Müller concludes that these families did not unite until a later period. At Rome, the family was part of the
equestrian order
The ''equites'' (; literally "horse-" or "cavalrymen", though sometimes referred to as "knights" in English) constituted the second of the property-based classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the senatorial class. A member of the equestrian o ...
. Other surnames were borne by the Cilnii of Imperial times, including ''Paetinus'', a diminutive of ''Paetus'', originally given to someone bleary-eyed, and ''Proculus'', an ancient
praenomen
The ''praenomen'' (; plural: ''praenomina'') was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the bi ...
that had fallen out of use, but was revived as a common surname. It seems to have been a diminutive of ''procus'', a prince or nobleman, although by the time of
Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...
a popular etymology held that it originally designated a child born when his father was far from home.
Members
* Gaius Cilnius Maecenas, an
eques, who was instrumental in putting down the conspiracy of the tribune
Marcus Livius Drusus in 91 BC; he was probably the grandfather, or perhaps the father, of the famous Maecenas.
*
Gaius Cilnius Maecenas
Gaius Cilnius Maecenas ( – 8 BC) was a friend and political advisor to Octavian (who later reigned as emperor Augustus). He was also an important patron for the new generation of Augustan poets, including both Horace and Virgil. During the rei ...
, a friend and supporter of
Octavian
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
, afterwards the emperor Augustus, whose trusted advisor he became.
* Gaius Cilnius P. f. Paetinus,
praetor
Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...
and
legate
Legate may refer to:
*Legatus, a higher ranking general officer of the Roman army drawn from among the senatorial class
:*Legatus Augusti pro praetore, a provincial governor in the Roman Imperial period
*A member of a legation
*A representative, ...
under
Tiberius
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...
.
*
Gaius Cilnius Proculus, consul ''suffectus'' for the last four months of AD 87.
* Lucius Cilnius Secundus, commander of an
auxilia
The (, lit. "auxiliaries") were introduced as non-citizen troops attached to the citizen legions by Augustus after his reorganisation of the Imperial Roman army from 30 BC. By the 2nd century, the Auxilia contained the same number of inf ...
ry cohort stationed in
Moesia Superior
Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...
around AD 93.
* Gaius Cilnius C. f. Proculus, consul ''suffectus'' in AD 100, probably for the months of May and June. He is thought to be the son of Gaius Cilnius Proculus, the consul of 87.
[Brian W. Jones]
"Dalmatia Again"
''Classical Philology
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
'', 71 (1976), pp. 256-257
See also
*
List of Roman gentes
The gens (plural gentes) was a Roman family, of Italic or Etruscan origins, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same '' nomen'' and claimed descent from a common ancestor. It was an important social and legal structure in early ...
References
Bibliography
*
Marcus Tullius 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 ...
, ''
Pro Cluentio
''Pro Cluentio'' is a speech by the Roman orator Cicero given in defense of a man named Aulus Cluentius Habitus Minor.
Cluentius, from Larinum in Samnium, was accused in 69 BC by his mother Sassia of having poisoned his stepfather, Statius Abbiu ...
''.
*
Marcus Terentius Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...
, ''De Lingua Latina'' (On the Latin Language).
* Gaius Plinius Secundus (
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...
), ''
Historia Naturalis'' (Natural History).
* ''
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 p ...
'',
William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).
*
Theodor Mommsen
Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th cent ...
''et alii'', ''
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
The ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (''CIL'') is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw ...
'' (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated ''CIL''), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present).
*
Karl Otfried Müller
Karl Otfried Müller ( la, Carolus Mullerus; 28 August 1797 – 1 August 1840) was a German scholar and Philodorian, or admirer of ancient Sparta, who introduced the modern study of Greek mythology.
Biography
He was born at Brieg (modern Brze ...
, ''Die Etrusker'', Albert Heitz, Stuttgart (1877).
*
Hermann Dessau
Hermann Dessau (6 April 1856, Frankfurt am Main – 12 April 1931, Berlin) was a German ancient historian and epigrapher. He is noted for a key work of textual criticism published in 1889 on the ''Historia Augusta'', which uncovered reasons to ...
, ''
Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae
''Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae'', standard abbreviation ''ILS'', is a three-volume selection of Latin inscriptions edited by Hermann Dessau. The work was published in five parts serially from 1892 to 1916, with numerous reprints. Supporting mat ...
'' (Select Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated ''ILS''), Berlin (1892–1916).
* George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'', vol. VIII, pp. 103–184 (1897).
* Paul A. Gallivan, "The ''Fasti'' for A.D. 70–96", in ''
Classical Quarterly
The Classical Association is a British learned society in the field of classics, aimed at developing classical study and promoting its importance in education.
Constitution
The association was founded on 19 December 1903, and its objects are de ...
'', vol. 31, pp. 186–220 (1981).
{{Refend
Roman gentes