Thegens Anicia(or theAnicii) was aplebeianfamily atancient Rome,mentioned first towards the end of the fourth century BC. The first of the Anicii to achieve prominence under theRepublicwasLucius Anicius Gallus,who conducted the war against theIllyriansduring theThird Macedonian War,in 168 BC.
Anoblefamily bore this name in theimperial era,and may have been descended from the Anicii of the Republic.[1]
Origin
editThe Anicii may have been from theLatintown ofPraeneste.The earliest of the family to hold anycurule magistracyat Rome bore the surnamePraenestinus.[2]
Praenomina
editThe Anicii are known to have used thepraenominaLucius,Quintus,Marcus,Gnaeus,Titus,andGaius.[1]
Branches and cognomina
editThe only major branch of the family during the Republic used thecognomenGallus,which may refer to acock,or to aGaul.The surnamePraenestinus,found in earlier times, may indicate that the family originated at the city of Praeneste. It was probably a personal cognomen, as it does not appear in later times.[1]
During the imperial age, in the fourth century, a Roman family bearing thenomenAniciusrose to great prominence. The historianEdward Gibbonwrites:
From the reign ofDiocletianto the final extinction of the Western empire, that name shone with a lustre which was not eclipsed, in the public estimation, by the majesty of the Imperial purple. The several branches, to whom it was communicated, united, by marriage or inheritance, the wealth and titles of theAnnian,thePetronian,and the Olybrian houses; and in each generation the number of consulships was multiplied by an hereditary claim. The Anician family excelled in faith and in riches: they were the first of theRoman senatewho embraced Christianity; and it is probable thatAnicius Julian,who was afterwards consul andpraefect of the city,atoned for his attachment to the party ofMaxentius,by the readiness with which he accepted the religion ofConstantine.
Their ample patrimony was increased by the industry ofProbus,the chief of the Anician family; who shared withGratianthe honors of the consulship, and exercised, four times, the high office ofPraetorian praefect.His immense estates were scattered over the wide extent of the Roman world; and though the public might suspect or disapprove the methods by which they had been acquired, the generosity and magnificence of that fortunate statesman deserved the gratitude of his clients, and the admiration of strangers. Such was the respect entertained for his memory, that the two sons of Probus, in their earliest youth, and at the request of the senate, were associated in the consular dignity; a memorable distinction, without example, in the annals of Rome.
"The marbles of the Anician palace," were used as a proverbial expression of opulence and splendor; but the nobles and senators of Rome aspired, in due gradation, to imitate that illustrious family.[3]
A branch of the family transferred to theEastern Roman Empire,establishing itself inConstantinople(whereAnicia Juliana,daughter of Western emperorAnicius Olybrius,was a patron of the arts) and rising in prestige: the scholar and philosopherBoëthiuswas a member of this family, as wasAnicius Faustus Albinus Basilius,the last person other than theEmperorhimself to hold the office of consul, in 541. In the West, on the other side, the Anicii were supporters of the independence of the Western Empire from the Eastern one; they were, therefore, supporters of theOstrogothic kings of Italy,and such celebrated by the kingTheodahad.[4]
In the later Middle Ages, theFrangipani familyclaimed descent from the Anicii. However, since the first mention of the Frangipanis dates only from 1014, the veracity of this claim has been questioned by historians.
Members
edit- This list includes abbreviatedpraenomina.For an explanation of this practice, seefiliation.
Anicii of the Republic
edit- Quintus Anicius Praenestinus,curule aedilein 304 BC.[5]
- Marcus or Lucius Anicius Gallus, grandfather of Lucius Anicius Gallus, consul in 160 BC.[6][7]
- Lucius Anicius (L.? n.) Gallus, father of Lucius, the consul of 160.[6][7]
- Lucius Anicius L. f. L.? n. Gallus,aspraetorperegrinusin 168 BC, during theMacedonian War,triumphed overGentius,king ofIllyria.He was consul in 160.[6][7][8]
- Gnaeus Anicius, alegateofLucius Aemilius Paullusin 168 BC, during theThird Macedonian War.[9]
- Titus Anicius, commissioned byCiceroto purchase a house in the suburbs for him.[10]
- Gaius Anicius, asenator,and a friend and neighbor of Cicero, who gave him a letter of introduction toQuintus CornificiusinAfrica.[11]
Imperial Anicii
edit- Publius Anicius P.f. Maximus, prefect underDomitius Ahenobarbusin Antioch.[12][13]
- Gaius Anicius Cerialis,consul in AD 65.[14]
- Anicius Maximus, proconsul ofBithyniac. 110.[15]
- Quintus Anicius Faustus,consul in AD 198.
- Anicius Faustus Paulinus, legate ofMoesia Inferiorin 230.[16]
- Sextus Cocceius Anicius Faustus Paulinus, proconsul of Africa underGallienus.[17]
- Anicius Sex.f. Faustus,consul II in AD 298, andpraefectus urbiof Rome in 299–300.
- Amnius Anicius Julianus,consul in AD 322, andpraefectus urbiof Rome in 326–329.
- Sextus Anicius Paulinus,consul in AD 325, andpraefectus urbiof Rome in 331–333.
- Amnius Manius Caesonius Nicomachus Anicius PaulinussignoHonorius,consul in AD 334 andpraefectus urbiof Rome in 334–335.
- Anicius Auchenius Bassus,praefectus urbiof Rome in AD 382 and 383.
- Tyrrenia Anicia Juliana,the daughter of Auchenius Bassus, marriedQuintus Clodius Hermogenianus Olybrius,consul in AD 379.
- Anicia Faltonia Proba,a poet, who marriedSextus Claudius Petronius Probus,consul in AD 371.[1]
- Pontius Meropius Anicius Paulinus,poet, governor and senator, was consul in AD 377.
- Anicius Hermogenianus Olybrius,consul in AD 395.[1]
- Anicius Probinus,consul with his brother Hermogenianus Olybrius in AD 395.
- Anicius Petronius Probus,consul in AD 406.[1]
- Anicia Proba,daughter ofSextus Claudius Petronius Probus.
- Demetrias,daughter of Hermogenianus.
- Anicius Auchenius Bassus,consul in AD 408.[1]
- Aurelius Anicius Symmachus,praefectus urbiof Rome, AD 418–420.
- Anicius Auchenius Bassus,consul in AD 431.
- Petronius Maximus,consul in AD 433 and 443, was proclaimed emperor in 455.
- Anicius Probus,mentioned as avir illustrisin AD 459.
- Anicius Olybrius,proclaimed emperor in AD 472.
- Anicia Juliana,the daughter of Olybrius.
- Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius,consul in AD 510, an eminent scholar and philosopher.
- Symmachus,son of Boëthius, was consul in AD 522, with his brother, the younger Boëthius.[1]
- Boëthius,son of the elder Boëthius, was consul with his brother, Symmachus, in AD 522.[1]
- Anicius Maximus,consul in AD 523.
- Anicius Olybrius,consul in AD 526.
- Anicius Faustus Albinus Basilius,consul in AD 541, was the last person other than theByzantine emperorto hold this title.
- Germanus,cousin and general ofJustinian I,died in AD 550.
- Anicius Gregorius, laterPope Gregory I,praefectus urbiof RomecircaAD 573, served as Pope from 590 to 604.
See also
editNotes
edit- ^abcdefghiDictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology,William Smith,Editor.
- ^Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton,The Magistrates of the Roman Republic(1952).
- ^Edward Gibbon,The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,Chapter 31[1]
- ^Carmelo Capizzi,Anicia Giuliana, la committente (c. 463-c. 528),Jaca Book, 1997,ISBN88-16-43504-6,pp. 18-19.
- ^T. Robert S. Broughton,The Magistrates of the Roman Republic(1952).
- ^abcFasti Capitolini.
- ^abcFasti Triumphales.
- ^Broughton, vol. I, pp. 428, 444.
- ^Titus Livius,Ab Urbe Conditaxliv. 46.
- ^Marcus Tullius Cicero,Epistulae ad Quintum Fratremiii. 1. § 7.
- ^Marcus Tullius Cicero,Epistulae ad Quintum Fratremii. 19,Epistulae ad Familiaresvii. 26, xii. 21.
- ^CILIII, 6809
- ^PIR2A 604
- ^PIR2A 594
- ^PIR2A 603
- ^PIR2A 595
- ^CILVIII, 1437
Sources
edit
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Smith, William,ed. (1870).Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.{{cite encyclopedia}}:Missing or empty|title=(help)