Novellia (gens)


The gens Novellia was an obscure plebeian family at Rome. None of its members are known to have held any magistracies, and the gens is best known from an anecdote recorded by Pliny the Elder; however, many Novellii are known from inscriptions.

Origin

It seems probable that the nomen Novellius belongs to a class of gentilicia formed either from diminutives of other names, or from cognomina, using the suffix -ellius. In this case, the nomen is apparently derived from the Oscan praenomen Novius, marking the Novellii as a family of Oscan origin. The greatest number of Novellii known from extant inscriptions lived in Mediolanum and the province of Cisalpine Gaul.

Members