The gens Maecia was a

plebeian In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words " commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of ...

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 ...

. Members of 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 ...

are rarely mentioned before the time of

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 ...

, but in Imperial times they rose to prominence, achieving 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 ...

on at several occasions.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. II, p. 895 (" Maecia Gens").

Members

* Octavius Maecius, according to some accounts, leader of the allied cavalry in 293 BC, during the

Third Samnite War The First, Second, and Third Samnite Wars (343–341 BC, 326–304 BC, and 298–290 BC) were fought between the Roman Republic and the Samnites, who lived on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains south of Rome and north of the Lucanian tribe. ...

. He employed a clever ruse to make his forces appear far more substantial than they in fact were, alarming the Samnite army. * Spurius Maecius Tarpa, a contemporary of Cicero, whom

Pompeius Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...

hired to select the plays performed at his games in 55 BC. At a later date,

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 ...

relied on him for his opinion of drama. * Quintus Maecius, a Roman poet, known only from his twelve

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

s in the ''

Greek Anthology The ''Greek Anthology'' ( la, Anthologia Graeca) is a collection of poems, mostly epigrams, that span the Classical and Byzantine periods of Greek literature. Most of the material of the ''Greek Anthology'' comes from two manuscripts, the ''Pa ...

'', which are some of the finest in the collection. * Marcus Maecius Rufus, proconsul of Bithynia, and consul ''suffectus'' during the reign of

Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...

. * Lucius Maecius Postumus, consul ''suffectus'' in AD 98. * Lucius Roscius Aelianus Maecius Celer, consul ''suffectus'' in AD 100. * Marcus Maecius Celer, consul ''suffectus'' in AD 101. * Maecius Marullus, named by the ''

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the sim ...

'' as the father of the emperor

Gordian I Gordian I ( la, Marcus Antonius Gordianus Sempronianus Romanus; 158 – April 238 AD) was Roman emperor for 22 days with his son Gordian II in 238, the Year of the Six Emperors. Caught up in a rebellion against the Emperor Maximinus Thrax, he ...

. *

Quintus Maecius Laetus Quintus Maecius Laetus was a Roman '' eques'' who flourished during the reign of the emperor Septimius Severus and his sons. He was appointed to a series of imperial offices, including ''praefectus'' or governor of Roman Egypt, and praetorian prefe ...

, consul in AD 215; he had previously been consul in an uncertain year. *

Marcus Pomponius Maecius Probus Marcus Pomponius Maecius Probus (c. 195 – after 228) was a Consul in 228 AD. He was the son of Marcus Maecius Probus and his wife Pomponia Arria. In the genealogical reconstruction by C. Settipani, he married and had: * Marcus Maecius Probus ( ...

, consul in AD 228.Julius Capitolinus, "The Lives of the Three Gordians", 2. * Marcus Maecius Memmius Furius Placidus, consul in AD 343. * Rufius Achilius Maecius Placidus, consul in AD 481.

Footnotes

References

{{reflist, 30em

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 ...

, ''

Epistulae ad Familiares ''Epistulae ad Familiares'' (''Letters to Friends'') is a collection of letters between Roman politician and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero and various public and private figures. The letters in this collection, together with Cicero's other letters ...

''. * Quintus Horatius Flaccus (

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

), '' Satirae'' (Satires), '' Ars Poëtica'' (The Art of Poetry). *

Julius Capitolinus The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the sim ...

, "The Lives of the Three Gordians", in the ''

''. *

Jan Gruter Jan Gruter or Gruytère, Latinization of names, Latinized as Janus Gruterus (3 December 1560 – 20 September 1627), was a Southern Netherlands, Flemish-born philologist, scholar, and librarian. Life Jan Gruter was born in Antwerp. His fat ...

, ''Inscriptiones Antiquae Totius Orbis Romani'', Heidelberg (1603). *

Johann Albert Fabricius Johann Albert Fabricius (11 November 1668 – 30 April 1736) was a German classical scholar and bibliographer. Biography Fabricius was born at Leipzig, son of Werner Fabricius, director of music in the church of St. Paul at Leipzig, who was the ...

, ''Bibliotheca Graeca, sive Notitia Scriptorum Veterum Graecorum'' (The Greek Library, or Knowledge of Ancient Greek Writers), Christian Liebezeit & Theodor Christoph Felginer, Hamburg (1718). * ''Analecta Veterum Poetarum Graecorum'' (Fragments by Ancient Greek Poets),

Richard François Philippe Brunck Richard François Philippe Brunck (30 December 1729 – 12 June 1803) was a French people, French classical scholar. Biography Brunck was born in Strasbourg, France, educated at the Jesuits' College in Paris, and took part in the Seven Years' Wa ...

, ed., Bauer and Treuttel, Strasbourg (1772–1776). * ''Anthologia Graeca sive Poetarum Graecorum Lusus, ex Recensione Brunckii'' (The Greek Anthology, or Works of the Greek Poets, or the Collection of Brunck), Friedrich Jacobs, ed., Dyck, Leipzig (1794). * ''Poëtarum Latinorum Reliquiae'' (Surviving Works of Latin Poets), M. Augustus Weichert, ed., B. G. Teubner, Leipzig (1830). * ''

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). * Paul 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 (1981). Roman gentes

Members

Footnotes

See also

References

Bibliography