The gens Hirria was a minor
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
family, appearing in history during the final century of the
Republic, and in
Imperial times. It is chiefly remembered as the result of Gaius Hirrius, a farmer of
lamprey
Lampreys (sometimes inaccurately called lamprey eels) are an ancient extant lineage of jawless fish of the order Petromyzontiformes , placed in the superclass Cyclostomata. The adult lamprey may be characterized by a toothed, funnel-like s ...
s in the time of
Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...
.
[''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. II, p. 496 ("Gaius Hirrius").]
Members
* Hirrius,
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 vari ...
in 88 BC.
* Gaius Hirrius, possibly a son of the praetor, was the first private person to raise lampreys in seawater stock ponds. He is reported to have spent no less than twelve million sestertii for bait, using the rent from his houses, and to have sold a well-stocked lamprey farm for four hundred thousand sestertii. Although his lampreys were so dear to him that Hirrius often refused to sell them, he is reported to have sent several thousand to Caesar for his triumphal banquets in 46 and 45 BC.
* Gaius Hirrius Postumius, an
Epicurean
Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BC based upon the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism. Later its main opponent became Stoicism.
Few writings by Ep ...
mentioned by
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 esta ...
, may be identical with the farmer of lampreys.
[Cicero, ''De Finibus'', ii. 22. § 70.]
*
Marcus Hirrius Fronto Neratius Pansa
Marcus Hirrius Fronto Neratius Pansa was a Roman senator who held several posts in the emperor's service. He was appointed suffect consul in either AD 73 or 74. Pansa is known primarily through epigraphic inscriptions.
The origins of the gens Ne ...
, administrator of
Lycia and Pamphylia from AD 70 to 72, and
Galatia from 77 to 80.
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 esta ...
, ''
De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum
''De finibus bonorum et malorum'' ("On the ends of good and evil") is a Socratic dialogue by the Roman orator, politician, and Academic Skeptic philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero. It consists of three dialogues, over five books, in which Cicero ...
''.
*
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 ...
, ''Rerum Rusticarum'' (Rural Matters).
* 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 ' ...
), ''
Naturalis Historia
The ''Natural History'' ( la, Naturalis historia) is a work by Pliny the Elder. The largest single work to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day, the ''Natural History'' compiles information gleaned from other ancient authors. ...
'' (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 ...
'',
William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirria (gens)
Roman gentes