Propertia gens
Thegens Propertiawas a minorplebeianfamily atancient Rome.Few members of thisgensare mentioned in history, and none of them ever obtained theconsulship,but a few of them held othermagistraciesinimperial times.The most famous of the Propertii wasSextus Propertius,a celebrated poet of theAugustan age.Many other Propertii are known from inscriptions.[1]
Origin
[edit]The poet Propertius wrote that he was born inUmbria,near the border withEtruria.[1]The Propertii werehomines novi,a family just beginning to make its mark in Roman society, and modern scholars suppose that they were probably ofUmbrianextraction. An Umbrian inscription fromAsisiummentions a certainNerie Propartie,or "Nerius Propertius".[2][3]
Members
[edit]- This list includes abbreviatedpraenomina.For an explanation of this practice, seefiliation.
- Nerius Propertius, named in an inscription from Asisium, dating to the end of the second century BC, or the beginning of the first.[2]
- Titus Propertius, grandfather of Gaius Propertius Postumus, the proconsul.[4]
- Quintus Propertius T. f., father of the proconsul Gaius Propertius Postumus.[4]
- Quintus Propertius Q. f. (T. n.), probably the elder brother of Gaius Propertius Postumus, named in the same sepulchral inscription from Rome.[4]
- Gaius Propertius Q. f. T. n. Postumus, held a number of magistracies, including those ofquaestor,praetor,andproconsulof an uncertain province during the time ofAugustus.[4][5]
- Sextus Propertius,the poet, variously known as Sextus Aurelius Propertius, or Sextus Propertius Nauta, was born in Umbria about the middle of the first century BC, and wrote hiselegiesbetween about 31 and 16 BC.[1]
- Propertius Celer, had been praetor, but in AD 15, he asked to be degraded in the hopes of being relieved of the financial burdens of his rank. The emperorTiberiusinstead sent him a millionsestertiiin order to maintain his household.[6][5]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Bibliography
[edit]- Publius Cornelius Tacitus,Annales.
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology,William Smith,ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).
- Theodor Mommsenet alii,Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum(The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviatedCIL), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present).
- George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", inHarvard Studies in Classical Philology,vol. VIII (1897).
- Paul von Rohden,Elimar Klebs,&Hermann Dessau,Prosopographia Imperii Romani(The Prosopography of the Roman Empire, abbreviatedPIR), Berlin (1898).