Salvia (gens)

The gens Salvia was a minor Roman family toward the end of the Republic. The first of the family known to have held public office at Rome was Publius Salvius Aper, praetorian prefect in 2 BC. About this time, the Salvii achieved equestrian rank, and thereafter held various positions in the Roman state for the next two centuries, before falling back into obscurity. The most illustrious of the Salvii was probably Marcus Salvius Otho, proclaimed emperor in AD 69.[1]

Bust of Emperor Otho from the 16th or 17th century.

Origin

The Salvii were doubtless of Sabellic origin, as their nomen is a patronymic surname derived from the common Oscan praenomen Salvius.[2] They probably spread throughout Italy long before obtaining Roman citizenship; the emperor Otho was descended from an ancient and noble family of Ferentinum, in Etruria.[1]

Members

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

Salvii Othones

• Marcus Salvius Otho, grandfather of the emperor.[3]
• Lucius Salvius M. f. Otho, father the emperor, was consul suffectus from the kalends of July, AD 34.[4]
• Lucius Salvius L. f. M. n. Otho Titianus, the elder brother of the emperor, was consul in AD 52.[5]
• Marcus Salvius L. f. M. n. Otho, emperor from January 15 to April 16, AD 69.[6]
• Lucius Salvius L. f. L. n. Otho Cocceianus, the emperor's nephew, was consul suffectus in AD 82.[7]

Others

• Publius Salvius Aper, praetorian prefect with Quintus Ostorius Scapula in 2 BC.[8]
• Salvius Carus, governor of Crete under Hadrian.[9]
• Gaius Salvius Liberalis Nonius Bassus, consul suffectus in AD 85. He was a member of the Arval Brethren.[10]
• Gaius Salvius Vitellianus, the son of Gaius Salvius Liberalis and Vitellia Rufilla.[11]
• Lucius Octavius Cornelius Publius Salvius Julianus Aemilianus, an eminent jurist, was consul in AD 148.[12]
• Publius Salvius L. f. Julianus, consul in AD 175.[13]
• Salvius Tuscus became a Salian priest in AD 181; he served as quindecimvir in 204.[14]

See also

• List of Roman gentes

References

1. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 700 ("Salvia Gens").
2. Chase, p. 141.
3. Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 108.
4. Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 107.
5. Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 111.
6. Suetonius, "The Life of Otho", 3.
7. Suetonius, "The Life of Domitianus", 10.
8. Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 97.
9. Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 99.
10. Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 105.
11. Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 117.
12. Jolowicz and Nicholas, pp. 384, 385.
13. Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 104.
14. Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 115.

Bibliography

• Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum (Lives of the Caesars, or The Twelve Caesars).
• "Salvia Gens", in the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).
• George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897).
• Paul Rohden and Hermann Dessau, Prosopographia Imperii Romani, Berlin (1898).
• H. F. Jolowicz and Barry Nicholas, Historical Introduction to the Study of Roman Law, Cambridge University Press (3rd edition, 1972).