The gens Neratia or Naeratia was a plebeian 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 BC ...

, some of whom subsequently became

patricians The patricians (from la, patricius, Greek: πατρίκιος) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom, and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after ...

. The first of the gens to appear in history occur in the time 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 Pr ...

, but they did not rise to prominence until the time 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 ...

, when Marcus Neratius Pansa became the first to obtain 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 ...

. The Neratii married into the Roman imperial family in the fourth century.

Origin

The nomen ''Neratius'' is classified by Chase with a group of names, ending in ''-atius'', either because they were derived from cognomina ending in ''-as'' or ''-atis'', indicating cognomina derived from place names, or from passive participles ending in ''-atus''.

Members

Neratii Pansae et Prisci

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 ...

, probably the adoptive father of Marcellus, was consul ''suffectus'' about AD 75. He had been governor of

Lycia Lycia ( Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; el, Λυκία, ; tr, Likya) was a state or nationality that flourished in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is ...

, and was probably made a patrician in 73 or 74; he passed this status to Marcellus. * Lucius Neratius Priscus, probably the father of the jurist Priscus, and the natural father of Marcellus, was consul ''suffectus'' in AD 87.''PIR'', vol. I, p. 402. * (Marcus Hirrius) Lucius Neratius M. f. Marcellus, consul ''suffectus'' in AD 95, and afterward governor of

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

, was an influential man in the court of

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

. He was consul ''ordinarius'' in 129. * Lucius Neratius L. f. Priscus, a jurist who flourished during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. He wrote several books on the law, from which a number of excerpts are found in the Digest. He was consul ''suffectus'' in AD 97. Trajan is said to have considered him a possible successor. * Lucius Neratius L. f. M. n. Corellius Pansa, consul in AD 122, was the son of Marcellus and his first wife, Corellia Hispulla. * Lucius Neratius L. f. L. n. Priscus, son of the jurist Priscus, was consul ''suffectus'' in an uncertain year.''PIR'', vol. I, p. 403. * Neratia L. f. L. n. Marullina, daughter of the jurist Priscus, married Gaius Fufidius Atticus, and was the mother of Gaius Neratius Fufidius Annianus, Atticus, and Priscus. * Gaius Neratius Fufidius C. f. Annianus.''PIR'', vol. I, p. 402. * Gaius Neratius Fufidius C. f. Atticus. * Gaius Neratius Fufidius C. f. Priscus. * Neratia L. f. L. n. Anteia Rufina, granddaughter of the jurist Priscus.

Neratii Proculi

* Lucius Neratius C. f. C. n. Proculus, a

Roman senator The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...

in the time of

Antoninus Pius Antoninus Pius ( Latin: ''Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius''; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Born into a senatori ...

. He had a distinguished military career, and was consul ''suffectus'', but the year is uncertain. * Neratia C. f. C. n. Procilla, married Gaius Betitius Pietas, and was the mother of Gaius Neratius Proculus Betitius Pius Maximillianus. * Gaius Neratius Proculus Betitius C. f. C. n. Pius Maximillianus.

Others

* Neratia, the wife of Marcus Antistius Labeo, a jurist in the time of

. * Quintus Neratius Proxsimus, a colonist at

Lindum Colonia Lindum Colonia was the Latin name for the settlement which is now the City of Lincoln in Lincolnshire. It was founded as a Roman Legionary Fortress during the reign of the Emperor Nero (58–68 AD) or possibly later. Evidence from Roman tomb ...

in Britain. His rare nomen suggests that he may have received

Roman citizenship Citizenship in ancient Rome (Latin: ''civitas'') was a privileged political and legal status afforded to free individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance. Citizenship in Ancient Rome was complex and based upon many different laws, t ...

from Lucius Neratius Marcellus, the governor of Britain at the end of the first century.Birley, p. 110. * Neratia Aemiliana. * Neratius Gallus. * Neratius Scopius. *

Neratius Cerealis Neratius (or Naeratius) Cerealis ( 328–358) was a Roman senator and politician, ''Praefectus urbi'' and Consul. Biography He was the brother of Galla, wife of Julius Constantius, and half-brother of Vulcacius Rufinus, and probably had a s ...

, urban prefect of Rome in 352–353 AD and consul in 358.Birley, p. 111 (note 47). * (Neratia) Galla, sister of Cerealis, and wife of

Julius Constantius Julius Constantius (died September 337 AD) was a politician of the Roman Empire and a member of the Constantinian dynasty, being a son of Emperor Constantius Chlorus and his second wife Flavia Maximiana Theodora, a younger half-brother of Emperor ...

, brother of the emperor

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I *Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine given name ...

, whom she predeceased. She was the mother of

Constantius Gallus Flavius Claudius Constantius Gallus (326–354) was a statesman and ruler in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire from 351 to 354, as ''Caesar'' under emperor Constantius II (), his cousin. A grandson of emperor Constantius Chlorus () and ...

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

* Titus Livius (

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

), '' Ab Urbe Condita'' (History of Rome). * Dionysius of Halicarnassus, ''Romaike Archaiologia''. * Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus ( Pliny the Younger), '' Epistulae'' (Letters). * Aulus Gellius, ''Noctes Atticae'' (Attic Nights). * Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

), ''Roman History''. * Aelius Lampridius, Aelius Spartianus, Flavius Vopiscus, Julius Capitolinus, Trebellius Pollio, and Vulcatius Gallicanus, ''Historia Augusta'' ( Augustan History). * ''Digesta seu Pandectae'' ( The Digest). * Guilielmus Grotius, ''De Vitae Jurisconsultorum'' (Lives of the Jurists), Felix Lopez,

Lugdunum Batavorum Brittenburg was a Roman ruin site west of Leiden between Katwijk aan Zee and Noordwijk aan Zee, presumably identical to the even older Celtic Lugdunum fortress. The site is first mentioned in 1401, was uncovered more completely by storm erosion ...

(1690). * Sigmund Wilhelm Zimmern, ''Geschichte des Römischen Privatrechts bis Justinian'' (History of Roman Private Law to Justinian), J. C. B. Mohr, Heidelberg (1826). *

Georg Friedrich Puchta Georg Friedrich Puchta (31 August 17988 January 1846) was an important German Legal scholar. Biography Born on 31 August 1798 at Kadolzburg in Bavaria, Puchta came of an old Bohemian Protestant family which had immigrated into Germany to avo ...

, ''Cursus der Institutionen'' (Course of the Institutions), Breitkopf und Härtel, Leipzig (1841–1847). * ''

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). * George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'', vol. VIII (1897). * Paul von Rohden, Elimar Klebs, & Hermann Dessau, ''

Prosopographia Imperii Romani The ', abbreviated ''PIR'', is a collective historical work to establish the prosopography of high-profile people from the Roman empire. The time period covered extends from the Battle of Actium in 31 BC to the reign of Diocletian. The final vol ...

'' (The Prosopography of the Roman Empire, abbreviated ''PIR''), Berlin (1898). * T. Robert S. Broughton, ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', American Philological Association (1952). * Anthony R. Birley, ''The Roman Government of Britain'', Oxford University Press (2005). * {{Refend Roman gentes