Helvia gens

The gens Helvia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. This gens is first mentioned at the time of the Second Punic War, but the only member of the family to hold any curule magistracy under the Republic was Gaius Helvius, praetor in BC 198. Soon afterward, the family slipped into obscurity, from which it was redeemed by the emperor Pertinax, nearly four centuries later.[1]

Praenomina

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The Helvii of the Republic are known to have used the praenomina Gnaeus, Gaius, and Marcus. In imperial times we also find Lucius and Publius. All of these were amongst the most common praenomina throughout all periods of Roman history.

Branches and cognomina

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The surnames of the Helvii under the Republic included Blasio, Cinna, and Mancia, but several of the family appear without a cognomen.[1] Under the Empire, a number of Helvii are found with the surname Rufus, but it is not apparent whether they constituted a distinct family of the Helvia gens.

Members

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

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, p. 380 ("Helvia Gens").
  2. ^ Livy, xxx. 18.
  3. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 313, 315.
  4. ^ Livy, xxxviii. 20, 21, 22.
  5. ^ Polybius, xxii. 17, § 3. ff.
  6. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 327, 330, 364.
  7. ^ Livy, xxxii. 27, 28, xxxiii. 21, xxxiv. 10, 45.
  8. ^ Fasti Triumphales.
  9. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 331, 333, 341, 345.
  10. ^ Cicero, De Oratore, ii. 66, 68.
  11. ^ Quintilian, vi. 3. § 38.
  12. ^ Pliny the Elder, xxxv. 4.
  13. ^ Cassius Dio, xlvi. 53.
  14. ^ Catullus, Carmina 10, 95, 113.
  15. ^ Courtney, p. 212
  16. ^ Plutarch, "The Life of Brutus", 20; "The Life of Caesar", 68.
  17. ^ Ovid, Ibis, 539–540.
  18. ^ Suetonius, "The Life of Caesar", 50, 85.
  19. ^ Valerius Maximus, ix. 9. § 1.
  20. ^ Appian, Bellum Civile, ii. 147.
  21. ^ Cassius Dio, xliv. 50.
  22. ^ Tacitus, Annales, iii. 21.
  23. ^ CIL XIV, 3472.
  24. ^ Seneca, De Consolatione ad Helviam, 19.
  25. ^ CIL III, 6074.
  26. ^ Cassius Dio, lxvii. 3.
  27. ^ CIL X, 7852.
  28. ^ CIL VI, 1402.
  29. ^ Cooley and Cooley, Pompeii and Herculaneum, pp. 168–177.
  30. ^ a b Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 211 ("Helvius Pertinax").
  31. ^ PIR, H 47.

Bibliography

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  • Polybius, Historiae (The Histories).
  • Fasti Triumphales.
  • Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Oratore.
  • Gaius Valerius Catullus Carmina.
  • Titus Livius (Livy), Ab Urbe Condita (History of Rome).
  • Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid), Ibis.
  • Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac Dictorum Memorabilium (Memorable Facts and Sayings).
  • Lucius Annaeus Seneca (Seneca the Younger), De Consolatione ad Helviam.
  • Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales.
  • Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans.
  • Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder), Naturalis Historia (Natural History).
  • Appianus Alexandrinus (Appian), Bellum Civile (The Civil War).
  • Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (Quintilian), Institutio Oratoria.
  • Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (Suetonius), De Vita Caesarum (Lives of the Caesars, or The Twelve Caesars).
  • Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (Cassius Dio), Roman History.
  • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith (ed.), John Murray, London (1849).
  • Theodor Mommsen et alii, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated CIL), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present).
  • Paul von Rohden, Elimar Klebs, & Hermann Dessau, Prosopographia Imperii Romani (The Prosopography of the Roman Empire, abbreviated PIR), Berlin (1898).
  • T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association (1952).
  • Edward Courtney (ed.), The Fragmentary Latin Poets, Oxford University Press (1993), ISBN 0-19-814775-9.
  • Alison E. Cooley and M.G.L. Cooley, Pompeii and Herculaneum: A Sourcebook, 2nd ed., Routledge, London (2014).