Acilia gens

The gens Acilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, that flourished from the middle of the third century BC until at least the fifth century AD, a period of seven hundred years. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Gaius Acilius, who was quaestor in 203 and tribune of the plebs in 197 BC.

Praenomina

The Acilii were particularly fond of the praenomen Manius, which they used more than any other. They also used the names Gaius, Lucius, Caeso, and Marcus.

Branches and cognomina

The three main branches of the Acilii bore the cognomina Aviola, Balbus, and Glabrio. They were certainly plebeian, as many of them were tribunes of the plebs. They also had a garden, the , on the Pincian Hill in the 2nd century. A tomb of the Acilii Glabriones was found in Rome in 1888. The surname Glabrio is derived from the adjective , "smooth", and probably referred to someone who was bald. Dondin-Payre suggests that, interpreted as "hairless" or "depilated", Glabrio had the further connotation of "effeminate".

The Acilii Balbi, like the Glabriones, were definitely plebeian. The surname Balbus was quite common at Rome, and originally given to one who stammered. A coin of this family depicts the head of Pallas within a laurel wreath on the obverse, and on the reverse, a quadriga bearing Jupiter and Victoria.

Members

Acilii Glabriones

Lucius Acilius, grandfather of the consul of 191 BC.
Gaius Acilius L. f., father of the consul of 191 BC.
Manius Acilius M'. f. C. n. Glabrio, as a young man in 181 BC, dedicated the temple of Pietas that has been vowed by his father during the War against Antiochus. He was curule aedile in 166, and celebrated the Megalensian Games. In 154, Glabrio was elected consul suffectus in the place of Lucius Postumius Albinus, who had died.
Manius Acilius M'. f. Glabrio, tribune of the plebs in 122 BC, and author of the lex Acilia de Repetundis.
Manius Acilius M'. f. M'. n. Glabrio, presided over the impeachment of Verres while praetor urbanus circa 70 BC. He was consul in 67 BC, and subsequently had the conduct of the Third Mithridatic War, where his inaction and missteps greatly strengthened Mithridates' position, and was replaced by Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus.
Marcus Acilius M'. f. Glabrio, consul suffectus ex Kal. Jul. in 33 BC.
Marcus Acilius Memmius Glabrio, a Roman senator during the time of Tiberius, served as curator of the banks and channels of the Tiber. He possibly could be the son or grandson of Manius Acilius Glabrio, consul in 33 BC; or perhaps the natural son of one of the Memmii who was adopted into the Acilii Glabriones.
Acilius Glabrio, consul suffectus during the reign of Nero, was the father of Manius Acilius Glabrio, consul in AD 91.
Manius Acilius Glabrio, consul in AD 91, with the future emperor Trajan. Glabrio endeavoured to gain the favour of Domitian through feats of courage, but was instead banished, and subsequently put to death by the emperor.
Manius Acilius M'. f. Glabrio, consul in AD 124.
Manius Acilius M'. f. M'. n. Glabrio, son of M'. Acilius Glabrio Gnaeus Cornelius Severus, consul suffectus around AD 173, and consul ordinarius in 186.
Acilia Gavinia Frestana, daughter of Cleobulus, and granddaughter of Manius Acilius Faustinus, the consul of AD 210.
Acilius Glabrio, named in a list of senators who contributed 400,000 sesterces for the construction of a building, c. 291 AD.
Acilius Glabrio Sibidius signo Spedius, legate in the province of Achaia, governor of Campania, and vicar of Gaul. Father of Glabrio Faustus.
Anicius Acilius Glabrio Faustus, thrice praefectus urbi of Rome, consul in AD 438, and praetorian prefect of Italy in 442.
Rufius Achilius Maecius Placidus, a grandson of Anicius Glabrio Faustus, was consul in AD 481.
Anicius Acilius Aginantius Faustus, another grandson of Anicius Faustus, was consul in AD 483.
Manius Acilius M. f. L. n. Balbus, consul in 114 BC.

Acilii Aviolae

Acilius Aviola, legate in Gallia Lugdunensis under Tiberius in AD 21, he quashed a rebellion of the Andecavi and Turonii. He might be the same person as Gaius Calpurnius Aviola, consul suffectus in AD 24, and the same Aviola whose tragic death is related by Pliny the Elder and Valerius Maximus.
Manius Acilius C. f. Aviola, consul in AD 54, and proconsul of Asia from 65 to 66.
Manius Acilius Aviola, consul suffectus in AD 82.
Manius Acilius Aviola, consul in AD 122.

Others

Gaius Acilius, quaestor in 203 and tribune of the plebs in 197 BC. He proposed the establishment of five colonies to repopulate coastal areas that had been deserted during the Second Punic War. As an old man in 155, he served as interpreter to a delegation of Greek envoys, and he wrote a history of Rome, which is now lost.
Marcus Acilius Caninus, one of Caesar's lieutenants during the Civil War, and proconsul of Sicily during the African War. He is probably the Acilius whom Cicero on two occasions defended.
Acilius Buta, a man of praetorian rank, who lived during the time of Tiberius, is said by Seneca the Younger to have squandered a vast inheritance.
Acilia, the wife of Marcus Annaeus Mela, and mother of the poet Lucan.
Publius Acilius Attianus, guardian of the young Hadrian, under whom he later served as praetorian prefect.
Gaius Acilius Priscus, consul in AD 132.
Marcus Acilius Vibius Faustinus, one of the Salii Palatini, who left the priestly college in AD 170.
(Acilius) Aureolus, an officer who became a usurper during the reign of Gallienus.
Acilius Severus, consul in AD 323, and prefect of Rome from 325 to 326.
Acilius Severus, a Christian writer of the mid-fourth century.

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

Polybius, Historiae (The Histories).
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Brutus, Cato Maior de Senectute, De Officiis, Epistulae ad Atticum, Epistulae ad Familiares, In Verrem, Philippicae, Pro Lege Manilia.
Pseudo-Asconius, Commentarius in Oratorio Ciceronis in Verrem (Commentary on Cicero's In Verrem), ed. Orelli.
Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust), Historiae (The Histories).
Gaius Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Civili (Commentaries on the Civil War).
Titus Livius (Livy), History of Rome.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Romaike Archaiologia (Roman Antiquities).
Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac Dictorum Memorabilium (Memorable Facts and Sayings).
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (Seneca the Younger), Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius).
Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder), Naturalis Historia (Natural History).
Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (Pliny the Younger), Epistulae (Letters).
Sextus Julius Frontinus, Strategemata (Stratagems).
Decimus Junius Juvenalis, Satirae (Satires).
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales.
Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans.
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum (Lives of the Caesars, or The Twelve Caesars).
Lucius Annaeus Florus, Epitome de T. Livio Bellorum Omnium Annorum DCC (Epitome of Livy: All the Wars of Seven Hundred Years).
Appianus Alexandrinus (Appian), Bella Mithridatica (The Mithridatic Wars), Syriaca (The Syrian Wars).
Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae (Attic Nights).
Herodianus, History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus.
Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (Cassius Dio), Roman History.
Aelius Lampridius, Aelius Spartianus, Flavius Vopiscus, Julius Capitolinus, Trebellius Pollio, and Vulcatius Gallicanus, Historia Augusta (Augustan History).
Julius Obsequens, Liber de Prodigiis (The Book of Prodigies).
Eutropius, Breviarium Historiae Romanae (Abridgement of the History of Rome).
Sextus Aurelius Victor, De Viris Illustribus (On Famous Men).
Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, Saturnalia.
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (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).
Hermann Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae (Select Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated ILS), Berlin (1892–1916).
August Pauly, Georg Wissowa, et alii, Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft, J. B. Metzler, Stuttgart (1894–1980).
T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association (1952).
Fergus Millar, The Emperor in the Roman World, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York (1977).
Paul Gallivan, "Who Was Acilius?", in Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, vol. 27, p. 622 (1978).
Werner Eck, "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69/70 bis 138/139", in Chiron, vol. 12, pp. 357–359 (1982), "Zu lateinischen Inschriften aus Caesarea in Iudaea/Syria Palaestina", in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, vol. 113, pp. 129–143 (1996).
Hagith Sivan, "A Late Gallic Branch of the Acilii Glabriones? Notes on Ausonius' 'Professores' 24 (Peiper)", in Mnemosyne, Fourth Series, vol. 44, pp. 435–439 (1991).
Olli Salomies, Adoptive and Polyonymous Nomenclature in the Roman Empire, Societas Scientiarum Fennica, Helsinki, vol. 97, pp. 149 ff (1992).
Monique Dondin-Payre, Exercise du Pouvoir et Continuité Gentilice: les Acilii Glabriones, Rome: École Française de Rome (1993).
John C. Traupman, The New College Latin & English Dictionary, Bantam Books, New York (1995).
Alan Cameron, "Anician Myths", in Journal of Roman Studies, vol. 102 (2012).