Maria (gens)

The gens Maria was a plebeian family at Rome. Its most celebrated member was Gaius Marius, one of the greatest generals of antiquity, and seven times consul.^[1]

Origin of the gens

The nomen Marius appears to be derived from the Oscan praenomen Marius, in which case the family is probably of Sabine or Sabellic origin.^[1][2]

Praenomina used by the gens

The Marii of the Republic used the praenomina Marcus, Gaius, Lucius, Quintus, and Sextus. Publius and Titus are found in imperial times.^[1]

Branches and cognomina of the gens

The Marii of the Republic were never divided into any families, though in course of time, more especially under the emperors, several of the Marii assumed surnames. On coins we find the cognomina Capito and Trogus, but the identities of the individuals who bore these names is uncertain.^[1]

Members of the gens

This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.

• Quintus Marius, triumvir monetalis early in the 2nd century BC
• Marcus Marius, a native of Sidicinum, and a contemporary of Gaius Gracchus, about whom Aulus Gellius relates a story, showing the gross indignity with which Roman magistrates sometimes treated the most distinguished men among the allies.^[3]
• Gaius Marius, grandfather of the general Marius.
• Gaius Marius C. f., father of the general Marius, married Fulcinia.
• Gaius Marius C. f. C. n., conqueror of the Cimbri and Teutones, consul in 107, 104, 103, 102, 101, 100, and 86 BC.
• Gaius Marius C. f. C. n., adopted son of the general Marius, consul in 82 BC.
• Gaius Marius, a senator, and relative of the general Marius.^[4]
• Marcus Marius Gratidianus, son of the general Marius' sister by Marcus Gratidius, subsequently adopted by the general's brother, Marcus.
• Gaius Marius C. f. Capito, triumvir monetalis in 81 BC.
• Marcus Marius, a quaestor in 76 BC and Sertorius's representative to the court of Mithradates of Pontus.
• Marius, the name assumed by Amatius, who claimed to be a son or grandson of the general Marius, but was put to death by Marcus Antonius.
• Marcus Marius, pleaded the cause of the Valentini before Verres. Cicero describes him as homo disertus et nobilis.^[5]
• Marcus Marius, a close friend and neighbor of Cicero.^[6]
• Lucius Marius, tribune of the plebs with Cato Uticensis, with whom he brought forward a law De Triumphis, in 62 BC.^[7]
• Lucius Marius L. f., supported the prosecution of Marcus Aemilius Scaurus for extortion in 54 BC.^[8][9]
• Sextus Marius, legate of Publius Cornelius Dolabella in Syria, in 43 BC.^[10]
• Gaius Marius C. f. Trogus, triumvir monetalis under Augustus.^[11]
• Titus Marius, a native of Urbinum, rose from the rank of a common soldier to honors and riches, by the favor of Augustus; a tale is told of him by Valerius Maximus.^[12]
• Sextus Marius, a man of immense wealth, condemned to death and thrown from the Tarpeian Rock under the emperor Tiberius, who coveted his riches, in AD 33.^[13][14]
• Publius Marius Celsus, consul in AD 62 and consul suffectus Ex Kal. Jul. in AD 69.
• Marius Maturus, procurator of the Alpes Maritimae during the war between Otho and Vitellius.^[15]
• C. Marius Marcellus Cluvius Rufus, consul suffectus in AD 80.
• Marius Priscus, proconsul of Africa in AD 100, during the reign of Trajan, accused of extortion and cruelty.^[16]
• Marius Secundus, governor of Phoenicia and Egypt under the emperor Macrinus, slain during the chaos that attended the victory of Elagabalus.^[17]
• Lucius Marius Maximus, consul in AD 223 and 232, perhaps the same person as the historian Marius Maximus.^[1]
• Marius Maximus, a historian, perhaps of the early 3rd century, who wrote lives of the emperors from Trajan to Elagabalus, and was regularly cited by the Augustan historians.^{[18][19][20][21][22]}
• Lucius Marius Perpetuus, consul in AD 237.
• Gaius Marius Victorinus, a respected grammarian, rhetorician, and philosopher of the 4th century.
• Marius Mercator, a prominent ecclesiastical writer of the 5th century.
• Marius Plotius Sacerdos, a Latin grammarian, who probably flourished no earlier than the 5th or 6th century.

See also

• List of Roman gentes
• Marius (name)

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
2. ^ George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897).
3. ^ Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae, x. 3.
4. ^ Appianus, Bellum Civile, i. 65, Hispanica, 100.
5. ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, In Verrem, v. 16.
6. ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, vii. 1-4, Epistulae ad Quintum Fratrem, ii. 10.
7. ^ Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac Dictorum Memorabilium libri IX, ii. 8. § 1.
8. ^ Quintus Asconius Pedianus, in Scauro, p. 19, ed. Orelli.
9. ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, ii. 17.
10. ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, xii. 15.
11. ^ Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum, vol. v. p. 250.
12. ^ Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac Dictorum Memorabilium libri IX, vii. 8. § 6.
13. ^ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales, iv. 36, vi. 19.
14. ^ Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History, lviii. 22.
15. ^ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Historiae, ii. 12, 13, iii. 42, 43.
16. ^ Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, Epistulae, ii, 11, 12.
17. ^ Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History, lxxviii. 35.
18. ^ Flavius Vopiscus, Firm., 2.
19. ^ Aelius Spartianus, Hadrian, 2, Geta, 2, Septimius Severus, 15, Elagabalus, 11.
20. ^ Aelius Lampridius, Alexander Severus, 5, 30, 65, Commodus 13, 15.
21. ^ Vulcatius Gallicanus, Avidius Cassius, 6, 9.
22. ^ Julius Capitolinus, Clodius Albinus, 3, 9, 12.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).