Plebeian Claudii are found fairly early in Rome's history. Some may have been descended from members of the family who had passed over to the plebeians, while others were probably the descendants of
freedmen of the gens.[1] In the later Republic,
one of its patrician members voluntarily converted to plebeian status and adopted the spelling "
Clodius".
In his life of the emperor
Tiberius, who was a scion of the Claudii, the historian
Suetonius gives a summary of the gens, and says, "as time went on it was honoured with twenty-eight consulships, five dictatorships, seven censorships, six triumphs, and two ovations." Writing several decades after the fall of the so-called "
Julio-Claudian dynasty", Suetonius took care to mention both the good and wicked deeds attributed to members of the family.[2]
The patrician Claudii were noted for their pride and arrogance, and intense hatred of the commonalty. In his History of Rome,Niebuhr writes,
That house during the course of centuries produced several very eminent, few great men; hardly a single noble-minded one. In all ages it distinguished itself alike by a spirit of haughty defiance, by disdain for the laws, and iron hardness of heart.[3]
During the Republic, no patrician Claudius adopted a member of another gens; the emperor
Claudius was the first who broke this custom, by adopting Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, afterwards the emperor
Nero.[1][4][5]
Origin
According to legend, the first of the Claudii was a
Sabine, by the name of Attius Clausus, who came to Rome with his retainers in 504 BC, the sixth year of the
Republic.[i][6] At this time, the fledgling Republic was engaged in regular warfare with the Sabines, and Clausus is said to have been the leader of a faction seeking to end the conflict. When his efforts failed, he defected to the Romans, bringing with him no fewer than five hundred men able to bear arms, according to
Dionysius.[8]
Clausus, who exchanged his Sabine name for the
LatinAppius Claudius, was enrolled among the patricians, and given a seat in the
Senate, quickly becoming one of its most influential members.[6][7][ii] His descendants were granted a burial site at the foot of the
Capitoline Hill, and his followers allotted land on the far side of the
Anio, where they formed the core of what became the "
Old Claudian" tribe.[6][7][8]
The emperor
Claudius is said to have referred to these traditions in a speech made before the
senate, in which he argued in favor of admitting
Gauls to that body. "My ancestors, the most ancient of whom was made at once a citizen and a noble of Rome, encourage me to govern by the same policy of transferring to this city all conspicuous merit, wherever found."[9] By imperial times, the influence of the Claudii was so great that the poet
Virgil flattered them by a deliberate anachronism. In his Aeneid, he makes Attius Clausus a contemporary of
Aeneas, to whose side he rallies with a host of quirites, or spearmen.[iii][10]
The
nomenClaudius, originally Clausus, is usually said to be derived from the Latin adjective claudus, meaning "lame". As a
cognomen, Claudus is occasionally found in other gentes. However, since there is no tradition that any of the early Claudii were lame, the nomen might refer to some ancestor of Attius Clausus. It could also have been metaphorical, or ironic, and the possibility remains that this derivation is erroneous. The metathesis of Clausus into Claudius, and its common by-form, Clodius, involves the alternation of 'o' and 'au', which seems to have been common in words of Sabine origin. The alternation of 's' and 'd' occurs in words borrowed from Greek: Latin rosa from Greek rhodon; but in this instance clausus or *closus is a Sabine word becoming clod- in Latin. The name could have come from Greek settlers in Latium, but there is no evidence in favor of this hypothesis.[11][12]
Praenomina
The early Claudii favored the praenomina Appius,
Gaius, and Publius. These names were used by the patrician Claudii throughout their history. Tiberius was used by the family of the Claudii Nerones, while Marcus, although used occasionally by the earliest patrician Claudii, was favored by the plebeian branches of the family.[13] According to Suetonius, the gens avoided the praenomen Lucius because two early members with this name had brought dishonor upon the family, one having been convicted of highway robbery, and the other of murder.[1][7] However, the name was used by at least one branch of the Claudii in the final century of the Republic, including one who, as Rex Sacrorum, was certainly patrician. To these names, the plebeian Claudii added Quintus and Sextus, though
Elizabeth Rawson has argued that Quintus was acceptable among the
Pulchri as well.[14]
The praenomen Appius is often said to have been unique to the Claudii, and nothing more than a Latinization of the Sabine Attius. But in fact there are other figures in Roman history named "Appius", and in later times the name was used by plebeian families such as the
Junii and the
Annii. Thus, it seems more accurate to say that the Claudii were the only patrician family at Rome known to have used Appius. As for its Sabine equivalent, Attius has been the subject of much discussion by philologists. The form Attus is mentioned by
Valerius Maximus, who connected it with the bucolic Greek name Atys. Braasch translated it as Väterchen, "little father," and connected it with a series of childhood parental names: "atta, tata, acca," and the like, becoming such names as Tatius (also Sabine) and Atilius.[15]
During the late Republic and early Empire, the Claudii Nerones, who gave rise to the Imperial family, adopted the praenomen Decimus, seldom used by any patrician family. Subsequently they began to exchange traditional praenomina for names that first entered the family as cognomina, such as Nero, Drusus, and Germanicus.
Branches and cognomina
The patrician Claudii bore various surnames, including Caecus, Caudex, Centho, Crassus, Nero, Pulcher, Regillensis, and Sabinus. The latter two, though applicable to all of the gens, were seldom used when there was a more definite cognomen. A few of the patrician Claudii are mentioned without any surname. The surnames of the plebeian Claudii were Asellus, Canina, Centumalus, Cicero, Flamen, Glaber, and Marcellus.[1]
The earliest Claudii bore the surname Sabinus, a common surname usually referring to a Sabine, or someone of Sabine descent, which according to all tradition, the Claudii were.[iv] This cognomen was first adopted by Appius Claudius, the founder of the gens, and was retained by his descendants, until it was replaced by Crassus.[1]
Regillensis or Inregillensis, a surname of the earliest Claudii, is said to be derived from the town of
Regillum, a Sabine settlement, where Appius Claudius lived with his family and retainers before coming to Rome. Its exact location is unknown, but it must have been in the vicinity of Lake Regillus, where one of the most important battles in the early history of the Roman Republic was fought. The same cognomen was borne by a family of the
Postumii, although in this instance the surname is supposed to have been derived from the
Battle of Lake Regillus, in which the victorious Roman general was the dictator
Aulus Postumius Albus.[7][17][18]
Crassus, sometimes given as the diminutive Crassinus, was a common surname usually translated as "thick, solid," or "dull".[19] This cognomen succeeded that of Sabinus as the surname of the main family of the Claudia gens. It was borne by members of the family from the fifth to the third century BC. The other main families of the patrician Claudii were descended from
Appius Claudius Caecus, the last recorded member of the Claudii Crassi, who gave a different cognomen to each of his four sons: Russus (or Rufus), Pulcher, Cento or Centho, and Nero.[13]
Pulcher, the surname of the next major branch of the Claudia gens, means beautiful, although it may be that the cognomen was given ironically.[20] The Claudii Pulchri were an extensive family, which supplied the Republic with several consuls, and survived into imperial times.[13]
The other main branch of the patrician Claudii bore the surname Nero, originally a Sabine praenomen described as meaning, fortis ac strenuus, which roughly translated is "strong and sturdy." It may be the same as the Umbrian praenomen Nerius. This family was distinguished throughout the latter Republic, and gave rise to several of the early emperors, including
Tiberius,
Claudius, and
Nero. An oddity of the names by which these emperors are known today is that several of their ancestors bore the name Tiberius Claudius Nero; of three emperors belonging to the same family, one is known by a praenomen, one by a nomen, and one by a cognomen.[7]
The most illustrious family of the plebeian Claudii bore the surname Marcellus, which is a diminutive of the praenomen Marcus. They gained everlasting fame from the exploits of
Marcus Claudius Marcellus, one of Rome's finest generals, and a towering figure of the
Second Punic War, who was five times consul, and won the spolia opima, defeating and killing the
Gallic king,
Viridomarus, in single combat.[21]
Most of those who used the spelling Clodius were descended from plebeian members of the gens, but one family by this name was a cadet branch of the patrician Claudii Pulchri, which voluntarily went over to the plebeians, and used the spelling Clodius to differentiate themselves from their patrician relatives.[22]
Caecus, the surname of one of the Claudii Crassi, refers to the condition of his blindness, which is well-attested, although it appears that he did not become blind until his old age. Caecus' initial cognomen was Crassus.[23][24] According to one legend, he was struck blind by the gods during his
censorship, after inducing the ancient family of the
Potitii to teach the sacred rites of
Hercules to the public slaves. The Potitii themselves were said to have perished as a result of this sacrilege. However, Claudius was relatively young at the time of his censorship in 312 BC, and was elected consul sixteen years later, in 296.[25]
Caecus' brother, who shared the same praenomen, was distinguished by the cognomen Caudex, literally meaning a "treetrunk", although metaphorically it was an insult, meaning a "dolt." According to
Seneca, he obtained the surname from his attention to naval affairs.[26]
Members
This list includes abbreviated
praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see
filiation.
See also
Clodius for members of the gens who used the alternate spelling of the name primarily or solely.
Gaius Claudius (Ap. f. P. n.) Regillensis, nominated dictator in 337 BC, but immediately resigned after the
augurs pronounced the appointment invalid.[40]
Appius Claudius C. f. Ap. n. Caecus,
censor in 312 BC, and consul in 307 and 296. It was in his hands that the office of censor gained much more power and prestige; he was once dictator, but the year is unknown. Unlike most of his house, Caecus supported several reforms in favour of the plebeians. He is the earliest known Roman writer of prose and verse.
Claudia, the name of five daughters of Appius Claudius Caecus.[43][44][45]
Claudii Pulchri
Publius Claudius Ap. f. C. n. Pulcher, the second son of Appius Claudius Caecus, consul in 249 BC; ignoring the auguries, he attacked the Carthaginian fleet at
Drepana, and was entirely defeated. Recalled to Rome, he nominated
Marcus Claudius Glicia, the son of a freedman, as dictator. He was subsequently impeached and fined.
Gaius Claudius Pulcher, probably the elder son of Gaius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 130 BC.
Appius Claudius Pulcher, probably the younger son of Gaius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 130 BC.
Appius Claudius Ap. f. Ap. n. Pulcher, son of the consul of 143 BC, in 107 he participated in the discussions respecting the agrarian law of Spurius Thorius.[53]
Claudia Ap. f. Ap. n., daughter Appius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 143 BC, was a
Vestal Virgin, and accompanied her father during his triumph.[54][55]
Claudia Ap. f. Ap. n., another daughter of Appius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 143 BC, married
Tiberius Gracchus.[56]
Claudia Ap. f. Ap. n., a third daughter of Appius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 143 BC, married
Quintus Marcius Philippus,[57] and was the mother of Quintus and
Lucius Marcius Philippus; the latter was consul in 91 BC.
Publius Clodius Ap. f. Ap. n. Pulcher, contrived to become tribune of the plebs; he was adopted by a plebeian, and affected the nomen Clodius, obtaining the tribunician power in 58 BC.
Claudia Ap. f. Ap. n., older daughter of the consul of 54 BC, she was wife of
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus
Claudia Ap. f. Ap. n., married, around her father's consulship in 54 BC,
Brutus, who later divorced her without explanation.[61]
Gaius Claudius C. f. Ap. n. Pulcher, adopted by his uncle, Appius, whose praenomen he assumed. He and his brother prosecuted
Titus Annius Milo in 51 BC. He is probably the same Appius Claudius Pulcher who was consul in 38 BC, but that may have been his brother.
Publius Claudius P. f. Ap. n. Pulcher, son of the tribune Clodius and Fulvia; he was a child at the time of his father's death. His life was spent in gluttony and debauchery, and he died young.[62][63][64]
Appius Claudius Ap. f. (Ap./C. n.) (Pulcher), a senator in 25 BC, probably the one of that name whom Augustus condemned for being a lover of Julia.[65]
Tiberius Claudius P. f. Ti. n. Nero, consul in 202 BC, had
Africa as his province; but his fleet was delayed by storms, and he was forced to winter in Sardinia until the expiration of his year of office.[78]
Appius Claudius Nero, praetor in 195 BC, obtained Hispania Ulterior as his province; in 189 he was one of ten envoys sent into
Asia, in order to settle affairs.[79]
Tiberius Claudius (Ti. f. Ti. n.) Nero, praetor in 181 BC, obtained the province of Sicily.[80]
Claudia D. f. Ti. n. Livia, better known as "Livilla", was the niece of Tiberius. She married first,
Gaius Caesar; second, her cousin Drusus, the son of Tiberius, whom she poisoned.
Tiberius Claudius D. f. Ti. n. Drusus, the nephew of Tiberius, would follow his own nephew, Caligula, as "Claudius", the fourth Roman emperor, from AD 41 to 54.
Nero Claudius Ti. f. Ti. n. Drusus, afterward Drusus Julius Caesar or "Drusus the Younger", was the son of Tiberius. He was consul in AD 15 and 21, but was subsequently poisoned by his wife, Livilla, at the bidding of
Sejanus.
Claudia (Ti. f. D. n.) Octavia, daughter of the emperor Claudius and
Valeria Messalina; full-sister of Britannicus; married her step-brother, the emperor Nero; divorced; later banished and supposedly murdered by Nero's orders in 62.
Tiberius Claudius Ti. f. D. n. Germanicus, better known as "Britannicus", was the son and natural heir of the emperor Claudius. His stepmother,
Agrippina, ensured the succession of her own son, the future emperor Nero, by persuading him to poison his stepbrother.
Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus, the emperor Nero, reigned from AD 54 to 68; he was born "Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus", the son of
Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina, but was adopted by Claudius in AD 50, after the emperor had married Nero's mother.
Gaius Claudius (Marcellus), grandfather of Marcus Claudius Marcellus, the consul of 331 BC.
Gaius Claudius C. f. (Marcellus), the father of Marcus Claudius Marcellus.
Marcus Claudius C. f. C. n. Marcellus, consul in 331 BC; he was appointed dictator in order to hold the elections in 327, but was prevented from doing so by the augurs, who apparently objected to a plebeian dictator.[88]
Marcus Claudius (M. f. C. n) Marcellus, consul in 287 BC.[89]
Marcus Claudius M. f. (M. n.) Marcellus, father of the consul of 222 BC.[34][90]
Gaius Claudius M. f. M. n. Marcellus, praetor in 80 BC, and afterwards governor of Sicily; the mildness and justice of his administration was contrasted with that of his predecessor, and subsequently that of
Verres.[102][103]
Marcus Claudius M. f. Marcellus Aeserninus, a young man who appeared as a witness at the trial of Verres, in 70 BC.[104]
Claudius M. f. Marcellus, the brother of Marcellus Aeserninus, he was adopted by one of the Cornelii Lentuli, and became Publius Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus. He fought under Pompeius during the war against the pirates, in 67 BC, and was an orator of considerable merit. For his descendants, see
Cornelia gens.
Gaius Claudius M. f. Marcellus, son of the conspirator, also took part in Catiline's conspiracy, and attempted to instigate a slave revolt at
Capua, but was driven out by
Publius Sestius, and took refuge in
Bruttium, where he was put to death.[106][107]
Marcus Claudius Marcellus, consul in 51 BC, and a respected orator; he joined Pompeius during the Civil War, but was subsequently pardoned by Caesar.
Gaius Claudius C. f. M. n. Marcellus, consul in 50 BC; he supported Pompeius, investing him with the command against Caesar during the Civil War; but he remained at Rome and obtained Caesar's pardon for himself and his cousin, Marcus.
Gaius Claudius M. f. M. n. Marcellus, consul in 49 BC; he was a partisan of Pompeius, and probably died in the Civil War. He is frequently confused with his cousin, who was consul in the preceding year.
Marcus Claudius Marcellus Aeserninus, praetor in 19 AD, he married a Calvisia Flaccilla.[111]
Claudii Caninae
Gaius Claudius Canina, grandfather of Gaius Claudius Canina, the consul of 285 BC.
Marcus Claudius C. f. Canina, the father of Gaius Claudius Canina.
Gaius Claudius M. f. C. n. Canina, consul in 285 and 273 BC.[34][112]
Claudii Aselli
Tiberius Claudius Asellus, a military tribune under Gaius Claudius Nero, the consul in 207 BC, during the Second Punic War; the following year he was praetor, and obtained Sardinia as his province. He was tribune of the plebs in 204.[113][114]
Claudius Quintianus Pompeianus, a young senator, and the son-in-law of Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus and Lucilla; persuaded by Lucilla to attempt to kill her brother, the emperor
Commodus, he failed and was put to death.[124][125][126][127]
Gaius Claudius Cicero, in some manuscripts of Livy, tribune of the plebs in 454 BC; he prosecuted Titus Romilius, the consul of the preceding year, for selling the spoils of the war with the
Aequi without the permission of the soldiers. In other manuscripts his nomen is Calvius.[128]
Gaius Claudius Hortator, appointed magister equitum by the dictator Gaius Claudius Crassus in 337 BC.[40]
Gaius Claudius C. f. Glaber,[viii] praetor in 73 BC, was defeated by
Spartacus. He might have been related to the Claudii Marcelli, as he belonged to the tribus Arniensis, like Marcus Claudius Marcellus, the aedile of 91.[139][140][141][142][143]
Lucius Claudius L. f., a senator in 73 BC, perhaps the father and predecessor of Lucius Claudius, the Rex Sacrorum.[144][145]
Sextus Clodius, a Sicilian rhetorician, under whom Marcus Antonius studied oratory, and who in turn received a large estate in the
Leontine territory.[151][152][153]
Lucius Clodius, praefectus fabrum to Appius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 54 BC; he was tribune of the plebs in 43.[154][155]
Gaius Claudius, probably the descendant of a freedman of the Claudian house, was one of the suite of Publius Clodius Pulcher on his last journey to
Aricia.[156][157]
Publius Clodius M. f., probably the Clodius sent into
Macedonia by
Caesar in 48 BC, and the same as Clodius Bithynicus, who fought on the side of Antonius in the
Perusine War, and was put to death by order of
Octavian in 40.[158][159][160][161]
Appius Claudius C. f., mentioned by Cicero in a letter to
Brutus; he attached himself to the party of Marcus Antonius, who had restored his father. It is uncertain whether he can be identified with either of two persons of this name who were proscribed by the
triumvirs.[162][163]
Sextus Clodius, the accomplice of Publius Clodius Pulcher, after whose death he was exiled; he was restored by Marcus Antonius in 44 BC.
Gaius Claudius, a follower of Marcus Junius Brutus, who ordered him to put
Gaius Antonius to death; afterwards he was sent to
Rhodes in command of a squadron, and after his patron's death, he joined
Cassius Parmensis.[164][165][166]
Tiberius Claudius Thrasyllus, Greek Egyptian astrologer and friend of Tiberius, better known as Thrasyllus of Mendes. Granted Roman citizenship and adopted his patron's name.
Claudius Labeo, a leader of the Batavi, and rival of Civilis, who defeated him during the Batavian revolt.[170]
Claudius Iullus (or possibly Julius or Ioläus), a Roman writer who wrote a work on Phoenicia in Greek, and apparently another on the
Peloponnesus, presumably before the
destruction of Jerusalem.[171] He was probably a freedman.[172][173]
Claudius Iullus, legatus pro praetore in Asia, possibly the same man as the writer.[174]
Appius Claudius Lateranus, a lieutenant of the emperor
Septimius Severus during his expedition against the Arabians and Parthians in AD 195. He was consul in 197.[188][189]
Claudius Tryphoninus, a jurist during the reign of Septimius Severus.[190][191]
Claudius Didymus, a Greek grammarian, who wrote about the mistakes of
Thucydides relating to analogy, a separate work about analogy among the Romans, and an epitome of the works of
Heracleon.[194]
^Various sources give several variations of his original praenomen and nomen, including Attius Clausus,[6]Atta Claudius,[7] and Titus Claudius.[8]
^An alternative tradition, mentioned by Suetonius, asserted that the Claudii came to Rome with the Sabine king
Titus Tatius, during the reign of
Romulus, the founder and first
King of Rome.[7]
^"Lo! Clausus of old Sabine blood, who leads a mighty host, himself a host in might! From whom the Claudian tribe and clan to-day, since Rome was with the Sabine shared, spreads wide through Latium....[10]
^Presumably, the Claudii were proud of their Sabine heritage, and used this surname to assert their ethnic identity.[16]
^The Capitoline Fasti assign him the filiation Ap. f. M. n., apparently making him identical with the consul of 471, but this may be a mistake, as the weight of tradition is against it, and the Fasti are thought to contain numerous errors and later emendations.
^The original name of Germanicus is nowhere attested. Many historians tentatively assumed that, by default, he bore the same name as his father, Nero Claudius Drusus, and this is the form used here. This is not a necessary assumption, however, since the emperor Tiberius named his son after his brother rather than himself. There is also a suggestion that Germanicus's name was Tiberius Claudius Nero, but his younger brother, Claudius, also had the forename Tiberius.[86]
^Some sources identify the legate of 236 BC as Marcus Claudius Clineas. His fate is uncertain; he is said to have been delivered up to the Corsi, who returned him unharmed. According to various authorities he was then imprisoned, banished, or put to death.
^Plutarch and Frontinus call him Clodius, while Appian mixes his name with another praetor, calling him Varinius Glaber.
^Taylor conjectures that he was the son of the homonymous senator of 73, whom she also thinks he was Rex Sacrorum. She suggests that they both belonged to a minor stirps of the patrician Claudii, who filled religious offices that few others sought, since their holders could not hold any other magistracy.
References
^
abcdefDictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 762 ("
Claudia Gens").
^Cicero, In Verrem, ii. 3, 21, iii. 16, 91, iv. 40, 42, ff., Divinatio in Caecilium, 4, De Divinatione, ii. 35, De Legibus, ii. 13, Epistulae ad Familiares, xv. 8, Pro Sulla, 6
^Cicero, In Verrem, iv. 42. Several editions give Marcellus' praenomen as Gaius.
Lucius Annaeus Florus, Epitome de T. Livio Bellorum Omnium Annorum DCC (Epitome of Livy: All the Wars of Seven Hundred Years).
Appianus Alexandrinus (
Appian), Bella Mithridatica (The Mithridatic Wars), Bellum Civile (The Civil War), Bellum Hannibalicum (The War with Hannibal).
Aelius Lampridius, Aelius Spartianus, Julius Capitolinus, Trebellius Pollio, Vulcatius Gallicanus, & Flavius Vopiscus, Historia Augusta (Augustan History).
Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum (The Study of Ancient Coins, 1792–1798).
Jean Foy-Vaillant, Numismata Imperatorum Romanorum Praestantiora a Julio Caesare ad Postumus (Outstanding Imperial Coins from Caesar to Postumus), Giovanni Battista Bernabò & Giuseppe Lazzarini, Rome (1674, 1743).
Barthold Georg Niebuhr, The History of Rome, Julius Charles Hare and Connop Thirlwall, trans., John Smith, Cambridge (1828).
Wilhelm Drumann, Geschichte Roms in seinem Übergang von der republikanischen zur monarchischen Verfassung, oder: Pompeius, Caesar, Cicero und ihre Zeitgenossen, Königsberg (1834–1844).
Wilhelm Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum (Collection of Greek Inscriptions, abbreviated SIG), Leipzig (1883).
Michel Bréal and Anatole Bailly, Dictionnaire étymologique latin, Librairie Hachette, Paris (1885).
Karl Braasch, "Lateinische Personennamen, nach ihrer Bedeutung zusammen gestellt", in Jahresbericht des Königlich Stifts-Gymnasiums in Zeitz, C. Brendel, Zeitz (1892).
Antoine Meillet, Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine, histoire des mots, Klinsieck, Paris (1959).
Lily Ross Taylor, The Voting Districts of the Roman Republic, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor (1960).
D.P. Simpson, Cassell's Latin and English Dictionary, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York (1963).
Setälä, Päivi (1977). Private Domini in Roman Brick Stamps of the Empire: A Historical and Prosopographical Study of Landowners in the District of Rome. Suomalainen tiedeakatemia.
ISBN9789514103032.
Plebeian Claudii are found fairly early in Rome's history. Some may have been descended from members of the family who had passed over to the plebeians, while others were probably the descendants of
freedmen of the gens.[1] In the later Republic,
one of its patrician members voluntarily converted to plebeian status and adopted the spelling "
Clodius".
In his life of the emperor
Tiberius, who was a scion of the Claudii, the historian
Suetonius gives a summary of the gens, and says, "as time went on it was honoured with twenty-eight consulships, five dictatorships, seven censorships, six triumphs, and two ovations." Writing several decades after the fall of the so-called "
Julio-Claudian dynasty", Suetonius took care to mention both the good and wicked deeds attributed to members of the family.[2]
The patrician Claudii were noted for their pride and arrogance, and intense hatred of the commonalty. In his History of Rome,Niebuhr writes,
That house during the course of centuries produced several very eminent, few great men; hardly a single noble-minded one. In all ages it distinguished itself alike by a spirit of haughty defiance, by disdain for the laws, and iron hardness of heart.[3]
During the Republic, no patrician Claudius adopted a member of another gens; the emperor
Claudius was the first who broke this custom, by adopting Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, afterwards the emperor
Nero.[1][4][5]
Origin
According to legend, the first of the Claudii was a
Sabine, by the name of Attius Clausus, who came to Rome with his retainers in 504 BC, the sixth year of the
Republic.[i][6] At this time, the fledgling Republic was engaged in regular warfare with the Sabines, and Clausus is said to have been the leader of a faction seeking to end the conflict. When his efforts failed, he defected to the Romans, bringing with him no fewer than five hundred men able to bear arms, according to
Dionysius.[8]
Clausus, who exchanged his Sabine name for the
LatinAppius Claudius, was enrolled among the patricians, and given a seat in the
Senate, quickly becoming one of its most influential members.[6][7][ii] His descendants were granted a burial site at the foot of the
Capitoline Hill, and his followers allotted land on the far side of the
Anio, where they formed the core of what became the "
Old Claudian" tribe.[6][7][8]
The emperor
Claudius is said to have referred to these traditions in a speech made before the
senate, in which he argued in favor of admitting
Gauls to that body. "My ancestors, the most ancient of whom was made at once a citizen and a noble of Rome, encourage me to govern by the same policy of transferring to this city all conspicuous merit, wherever found."[9] By imperial times, the influence of the Claudii was so great that the poet
Virgil flattered them by a deliberate anachronism. In his Aeneid, he makes Attius Clausus a contemporary of
Aeneas, to whose side he rallies with a host of quirites, or spearmen.[iii][10]
The
nomenClaudius, originally Clausus, is usually said to be derived from the Latin adjective claudus, meaning "lame". As a
cognomen, Claudus is occasionally found in other gentes. However, since there is no tradition that any of the early Claudii were lame, the nomen might refer to some ancestor of Attius Clausus. It could also have been metaphorical, or ironic, and the possibility remains that this derivation is erroneous. The metathesis of Clausus into Claudius, and its common by-form, Clodius, involves the alternation of 'o' and 'au', which seems to have been common in words of Sabine origin. The alternation of 's' and 'd' occurs in words borrowed from Greek: Latin rosa from Greek rhodon; but in this instance clausus or *closus is a Sabine word becoming clod- in Latin. The name could have come from Greek settlers in Latium, but there is no evidence in favor of this hypothesis.[11][12]
Praenomina
The early Claudii favored the praenomina Appius,
Gaius, and Publius. These names were used by the patrician Claudii throughout their history. Tiberius was used by the family of the Claudii Nerones, while Marcus, although used occasionally by the earliest patrician Claudii, was favored by the plebeian branches of the family.[13] According to Suetonius, the gens avoided the praenomen Lucius because two early members with this name had brought dishonor upon the family, one having been convicted of highway robbery, and the other of murder.[1][7] However, the name was used by at least one branch of the Claudii in the final century of the Republic, including one who, as Rex Sacrorum, was certainly patrician. To these names, the plebeian Claudii added Quintus and Sextus, though
Elizabeth Rawson has argued that Quintus was acceptable among the
Pulchri as well.[14]
The praenomen Appius is often said to have been unique to the Claudii, and nothing more than a Latinization of the Sabine Attius. But in fact there are other figures in Roman history named "Appius", and in later times the name was used by plebeian families such as the
Junii and the
Annii. Thus, it seems more accurate to say that the Claudii were the only patrician family at Rome known to have used Appius. As for its Sabine equivalent, Attius has been the subject of much discussion by philologists. The form Attus is mentioned by
Valerius Maximus, who connected it with the bucolic Greek name Atys. Braasch translated it as Väterchen, "little father," and connected it with a series of childhood parental names: "atta, tata, acca," and the like, becoming such names as Tatius (also Sabine) and Atilius.[15]
During the late Republic and early Empire, the Claudii Nerones, who gave rise to the Imperial family, adopted the praenomen Decimus, seldom used by any patrician family. Subsequently they began to exchange traditional praenomina for names that first entered the family as cognomina, such as Nero, Drusus, and Germanicus.
Branches and cognomina
The patrician Claudii bore various surnames, including Caecus, Caudex, Centho, Crassus, Nero, Pulcher, Regillensis, and Sabinus. The latter two, though applicable to all of the gens, were seldom used when there was a more definite cognomen. A few of the patrician Claudii are mentioned without any surname. The surnames of the plebeian Claudii were Asellus, Canina, Centumalus, Cicero, Flamen, Glaber, and Marcellus.[1]
The earliest Claudii bore the surname Sabinus, a common surname usually referring to a Sabine, or someone of Sabine descent, which according to all tradition, the Claudii were.[iv] This cognomen was first adopted by Appius Claudius, the founder of the gens, and was retained by his descendants, until it was replaced by Crassus.[1]
Regillensis or Inregillensis, a surname of the earliest Claudii, is said to be derived from the town of
Regillum, a Sabine settlement, where Appius Claudius lived with his family and retainers before coming to Rome. Its exact location is unknown, but it must have been in the vicinity of Lake Regillus, where one of the most important battles in the early history of the Roman Republic was fought. The same cognomen was borne by a family of the
Postumii, although in this instance the surname is supposed to have been derived from the
Battle of Lake Regillus, in which the victorious Roman general was the dictator
Aulus Postumius Albus.[7][17][18]
Crassus, sometimes given as the diminutive Crassinus, was a common surname usually translated as "thick, solid," or "dull".[19] This cognomen succeeded that of Sabinus as the surname of the main family of the Claudia gens. It was borne by members of the family from the fifth to the third century BC. The other main families of the patrician Claudii were descended from
Appius Claudius Caecus, the last recorded member of the Claudii Crassi, who gave a different cognomen to each of his four sons: Russus (or Rufus), Pulcher, Cento or Centho, and Nero.[13]
Pulcher, the surname of the next major branch of the Claudia gens, means beautiful, although it may be that the cognomen was given ironically.[20] The Claudii Pulchri were an extensive family, which supplied the Republic with several consuls, and survived into imperial times.[13]
The other main branch of the patrician Claudii bore the surname Nero, originally a Sabine praenomen described as meaning, fortis ac strenuus, which roughly translated is "strong and sturdy." It may be the same as the Umbrian praenomen Nerius. This family was distinguished throughout the latter Republic, and gave rise to several of the early emperors, including
Tiberius,
Claudius, and
Nero. An oddity of the names by which these emperors are known today is that several of their ancestors bore the name Tiberius Claudius Nero; of three emperors belonging to the same family, one is known by a praenomen, one by a nomen, and one by a cognomen.[7]
The most illustrious family of the plebeian Claudii bore the surname Marcellus, which is a diminutive of the praenomen Marcus. They gained everlasting fame from the exploits of
Marcus Claudius Marcellus, one of Rome's finest generals, and a towering figure of the
Second Punic War, who was five times consul, and won the spolia opima, defeating and killing the
Gallic king,
Viridomarus, in single combat.[21]
Most of those who used the spelling Clodius were descended from plebeian members of the gens, but one family by this name was a cadet branch of the patrician Claudii Pulchri, which voluntarily went over to the plebeians, and used the spelling Clodius to differentiate themselves from their patrician relatives.[22]
Caecus, the surname of one of the Claudii Crassi, refers to the condition of his blindness, which is well-attested, although it appears that he did not become blind until his old age. Caecus' initial cognomen was Crassus.[23][24] According to one legend, he was struck blind by the gods during his
censorship, after inducing the ancient family of the
Potitii to teach the sacred rites of
Hercules to the public slaves. The Potitii themselves were said to have perished as a result of this sacrilege. However, Claudius was relatively young at the time of his censorship in 312 BC, and was elected consul sixteen years later, in 296.[25]
Caecus' brother, who shared the same praenomen, was distinguished by the cognomen Caudex, literally meaning a "treetrunk", although metaphorically it was an insult, meaning a "dolt." According to
Seneca, he obtained the surname from his attention to naval affairs.[26]
Members
This list includes abbreviated
praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see
filiation.
See also
Clodius for members of the gens who used the alternate spelling of the name primarily or solely.
Gaius Claudius (Ap. f. P. n.) Regillensis, nominated dictator in 337 BC, but immediately resigned after the
augurs pronounced the appointment invalid.[40]
Appius Claudius C. f. Ap. n. Caecus,
censor in 312 BC, and consul in 307 and 296. It was in his hands that the office of censor gained much more power and prestige; he was once dictator, but the year is unknown. Unlike most of his house, Caecus supported several reforms in favour of the plebeians. He is the earliest known Roman writer of prose and verse.
Claudia, the name of five daughters of Appius Claudius Caecus.[43][44][45]
Claudii Pulchri
Publius Claudius Ap. f. C. n. Pulcher, the second son of Appius Claudius Caecus, consul in 249 BC; ignoring the auguries, he attacked the Carthaginian fleet at
Drepana, and was entirely defeated. Recalled to Rome, he nominated
Marcus Claudius Glicia, the son of a freedman, as dictator. He was subsequently impeached and fined.
Gaius Claudius Pulcher, probably the elder son of Gaius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 130 BC.
Appius Claudius Pulcher, probably the younger son of Gaius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 130 BC.
Appius Claudius Ap. f. Ap. n. Pulcher, son of the consul of 143 BC, in 107 he participated in the discussions respecting the agrarian law of Spurius Thorius.[53]
Claudia Ap. f. Ap. n., daughter Appius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 143 BC, was a
Vestal Virgin, and accompanied her father during his triumph.[54][55]
Claudia Ap. f. Ap. n., another daughter of Appius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 143 BC, married
Tiberius Gracchus.[56]
Claudia Ap. f. Ap. n., a third daughter of Appius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 143 BC, married
Quintus Marcius Philippus,[57] and was the mother of Quintus and
Lucius Marcius Philippus; the latter was consul in 91 BC.
Publius Clodius Ap. f. Ap. n. Pulcher, contrived to become tribune of the plebs; he was adopted by a plebeian, and affected the nomen Clodius, obtaining the tribunician power in 58 BC.
Claudia Ap. f. Ap. n., older daughter of the consul of 54 BC, she was wife of
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus
Claudia Ap. f. Ap. n., married, around her father's consulship in 54 BC,
Brutus, who later divorced her without explanation.[61]
Gaius Claudius C. f. Ap. n. Pulcher, adopted by his uncle, Appius, whose praenomen he assumed. He and his brother prosecuted
Titus Annius Milo in 51 BC. He is probably the same Appius Claudius Pulcher who was consul in 38 BC, but that may have been his brother.
Publius Claudius P. f. Ap. n. Pulcher, son of the tribune Clodius and Fulvia; he was a child at the time of his father's death. His life was spent in gluttony and debauchery, and he died young.[62][63][64]
Appius Claudius Ap. f. (Ap./C. n.) (Pulcher), a senator in 25 BC, probably the one of that name whom Augustus condemned for being a lover of Julia.[65]
Tiberius Claudius P. f. Ti. n. Nero, consul in 202 BC, had
Africa as his province; but his fleet was delayed by storms, and he was forced to winter in Sardinia until the expiration of his year of office.[78]
Appius Claudius Nero, praetor in 195 BC, obtained Hispania Ulterior as his province; in 189 he was one of ten envoys sent into
Asia, in order to settle affairs.[79]
Tiberius Claudius (Ti. f. Ti. n.) Nero, praetor in 181 BC, obtained the province of Sicily.[80]
Claudia D. f. Ti. n. Livia, better known as "Livilla", was the niece of Tiberius. She married first,
Gaius Caesar; second, her cousin Drusus, the son of Tiberius, whom she poisoned.
Tiberius Claudius D. f. Ti. n. Drusus, the nephew of Tiberius, would follow his own nephew, Caligula, as "Claudius", the fourth Roman emperor, from AD 41 to 54.
Nero Claudius Ti. f. Ti. n. Drusus, afterward Drusus Julius Caesar or "Drusus the Younger", was the son of Tiberius. He was consul in AD 15 and 21, but was subsequently poisoned by his wife, Livilla, at the bidding of
Sejanus.
Claudia (Ti. f. D. n.) Octavia, daughter of the emperor Claudius and
Valeria Messalina; full-sister of Britannicus; married her step-brother, the emperor Nero; divorced; later banished and supposedly murdered by Nero's orders in 62.
Tiberius Claudius Ti. f. D. n. Germanicus, better known as "Britannicus", was the son and natural heir of the emperor Claudius. His stepmother,
Agrippina, ensured the succession of her own son, the future emperor Nero, by persuading him to poison his stepbrother.
Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus, the emperor Nero, reigned from AD 54 to 68; he was born "Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus", the son of
Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina, but was adopted by Claudius in AD 50, after the emperor had married Nero's mother.
Gaius Claudius (Marcellus), grandfather of Marcus Claudius Marcellus, the consul of 331 BC.
Gaius Claudius C. f. (Marcellus), the father of Marcus Claudius Marcellus.
Marcus Claudius C. f. C. n. Marcellus, consul in 331 BC; he was appointed dictator in order to hold the elections in 327, but was prevented from doing so by the augurs, who apparently objected to a plebeian dictator.[88]
Marcus Claudius (M. f. C. n) Marcellus, consul in 287 BC.[89]
Marcus Claudius M. f. (M. n.) Marcellus, father of the consul of 222 BC.[34][90]
Gaius Claudius M. f. M. n. Marcellus, praetor in 80 BC, and afterwards governor of Sicily; the mildness and justice of his administration was contrasted with that of his predecessor, and subsequently that of
Verres.[102][103]
Marcus Claudius M. f. Marcellus Aeserninus, a young man who appeared as a witness at the trial of Verres, in 70 BC.[104]
Claudius M. f. Marcellus, the brother of Marcellus Aeserninus, he was adopted by one of the Cornelii Lentuli, and became Publius Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus. He fought under Pompeius during the war against the pirates, in 67 BC, and was an orator of considerable merit. For his descendants, see
Cornelia gens.
Gaius Claudius M. f. Marcellus, son of the conspirator, also took part in Catiline's conspiracy, and attempted to instigate a slave revolt at
Capua, but was driven out by
Publius Sestius, and took refuge in
Bruttium, where he was put to death.[106][107]
Marcus Claudius Marcellus, consul in 51 BC, and a respected orator; he joined Pompeius during the Civil War, but was subsequently pardoned by Caesar.
Gaius Claudius C. f. M. n. Marcellus, consul in 50 BC; he supported Pompeius, investing him with the command against Caesar during the Civil War; but he remained at Rome and obtained Caesar's pardon for himself and his cousin, Marcus.
Gaius Claudius M. f. M. n. Marcellus, consul in 49 BC; he was a partisan of Pompeius, and probably died in the Civil War. He is frequently confused with his cousin, who was consul in the preceding year.
Marcus Claudius Marcellus Aeserninus, praetor in 19 AD, he married a Calvisia Flaccilla.[111]
Claudii Caninae
Gaius Claudius Canina, grandfather of Gaius Claudius Canina, the consul of 285 BC.
Marcus Claudius C. f. Canina, the father of Gaius Claudius Canina.
Gaius Claudius M. f. C. n. Canina, consul in 285 and 273 BC.[34][112]
Claudii Aselli
Tiberius Claudius Asellus, a military tribune under Gaius Claudius Nero, the consul in 207 BC, during the Second Punic War; the following year he was praetor, and obtained Sardinia as his province. He was tribune of the plebs in 204.[113][114]
Claudius Quintianus Pompeianus, a young senator, and the son-in-law of Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus and Lucilla; persuaded by Lucilla to attempt to kill her brother, the emperor
Commodus, he failed and was put to death.[124][125][126][127]
Gaius Claudius Cicero, in some manuscripts of Livy, tribune of the plebs in 454 BC; he prosecuted Titus Romilius, the consul of the preceding year, for selling the spoils of the war with the
Aequi without the permission of the soldiers. In other manuscripts his nomen is Calvius.[128]
Gaius Claudius Hortator, appointed magister equitum by the dictator Gaius Claudius Crassus in 337 BC.[40]
Gaius Claudius C. f. Glaber,[viii] praetor in 73 BC, was defeated by
Spartacus. He might have been related to the Claudii Marcelli, as he belonged to the tribus Arniensis, like Marcus Claudius Marcellus, the aedile of 91.[139][140][141][142][143]
Lucius Claudius L. f., a senator in 73 BC, perhaps the father and predecessor of Lucius Claudius, the Rex Sacrorum.[144][145]
Sextus Clodius, a Sicilian rhetorician, under whom Marcus Antonius studied oratory, and who in turn received a large estate in the
Leontine territory.[151][152][153]
Lucius Clodius, praefectus fabrum to Appius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 54 BC; he was tribune of the plebs in 43.[154][155]
Gaius Claudius, probably the descendant of a freedman of the Claudian house, was one of the suite of Publius Clodius Pulcher on his last journey to
Aricia.[156][157]
Publius Clodius M. f., probably the Clodius sent into
Macedonia by
Caesar in 48 BC, and the same as Clodius Bithynicus, who fought on the side of Antonius in the
Perusine War, and was put to death by order of
Octavian in 40.[158][159][160][161]
Appius Claudius C. f., mentioned by Cicero in a letter to
Brutus; he attached himself to the party of Marcus Antonius, who had restored his father. It is uncertain whether he can be identified with either of two persons of this name who were proscribed by the
triumvirs.[162][163]
Sextus Clodius, the accomplice of Publius Clodius Pulcher, after whose death he was exiled; he was restored by Marcus Antonius in 44 BC.
Gaius Claudius, a follower of Marcus Junius Brutus, who ordered him to put
Gaius Antonius to death; afterwards he was sent to
Rhodes in command of a squadron, and after his patron's death, he joined
Cassius Parmensis.[164][165][166]
Tiberius Claudius Thrasyllus, Greek Egyptian astrologer and friend of Tiberius, better known as Thrasyllus of Mendes. Granted Roman citizenship and adopted his patron's name.
Claudius Labeo, a leader of the Batavi, and rival of Civilis, who defeated him during the Batavian revolt.[170]
Claudius Iullus (or possibly Julius or Ioläus), a Roman writer who wrote a work on Phoenicia in Greek, and apparently another on the
Peloponnesus, presumably before the
destruction of Jerusalem.[171] He was probably a freedman.[172][173]
Claudius Iullus, legatus pro praetore in Asia, possibly the same man as the writer.[174]
Appius Claudius Lateranus, a lieutenant of the emperor
Septimius Severus during his expedition against the Arabians and Parthians in AD 195. He was consul in 197.[188][189]
Claudius Tryphoninus, a jurist during the reign of Septimius Severus.[190][191]
Claudius Didymus, a Greek grammarian, who wrote about the mistakes of
Thucydides relating to analogy, a separate work about analogy among the Romans, and an epitome of the works of
Heracleon.[194]
^Various sources give several variations of his original praenomen and nomen, including Attius Clausus,[6]Atta Claudius,[7] and Titus Claudius.[8]
^An alternative tradition, mentioned by Suetonius, asserted that the Claudii came to Rome with the Sabine king
Titus Tatius, during the reign of
Romulus, the founder and first
King of Rome.[7]
^"Lo! Clausus of old Sabine blood, who leads a mighty host, himself a host in might! From whom the Claudian tribe and clan to-day, since Rome was with the Sabine shared, spreads wide through Latium....[10]
^Presumably, the Claudii were proud of their Sabine heritage, and used this surname to assert their ethnic identity.[16]
^The Capitoline Fasti assign him the filiation Ap. f. M. n., apparently making him identical with the consul of 471, but this may be a mistake, as the weight of tradition is against it, and the Fasti are thought to contain numerous errors and later emendations.
^The original name of Germanicus is nowhere attested. Many historians tentatively assumed that, by default, he bore the same name as his father, Nero Claudius Drusus, and this is the form used here. This is not a necessary assumption, however, since the emperor Tiberius named his son after his brother rather than himself. There is also a suggestion that Germanicus's name was Tiberius Claudius Nero, but his younger brother, Claudius, also had the forename Tiberius.[86]
^Some sources identify the legate of 236 BC as Marcus Claudius Clineas. His fate is uncertain; he is said to have been delivered up to the Corsi, who returned him unharmed. According to various authorities he was then imprisoned, banished, or put to death.
^Plutarch and Frontinus call him Clodius, while Appian mixes his name with another praetor, calling him Varinius Glaber.
^Taylor conjectures that he was the son of the homonymous senator of 73, whom she also thinks he was Rex Sacrorum. She suggests that they both belonged to a minor stirps of the patrician Claudii, who filled religious offices that few others sought, since their holders could not hold any other magistracy.
References
^
abcdefDictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 762 ("
Claudia Gens").
^Cicero, In Verrem, ii. 3, 21, iii. 16, 91, iv. 40, 42, ff., Divinatio in Caecilium, 4, De Divinatione, ii. 35, De Legibus, ii. 13, Epistulae ad Familiares, xv. 8, Pro Sulla, 6
^Cicero, In Verrem, iv. 42. Several editions give Marcellus' praenomen as Gaius.
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D.P. Simpson, Cassell's Latin and English Dictionary, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York (1963).
Setälä, Päivi (1977). Private Domini in Roman Brick Stamps of the Empire: A Historical and Prosopographical Study of Landowners in the District of Rome. Suomalainen tiedeakatemia.
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