Persia (gens)


The gens Persia was a minor plebeian family at Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned during the Second Punic War, but they only occasionally occur in history. The most illustrious of the family was the satirist Aulus Persius Flaccus, who lived during the middle part of the first century.

Origin

The Persii Flacci are known to have been from Volaterrae in Etruria, and a number of other Persii are found in inscriptions from Volaterrae, as well as the neighboring city of Populonia. It therefore appears that the Persii were originally an Etruscan family, some of whom had settled at Rome by the third century BC. One of the Persii living in Dalmatia bore the surname Etruscus, further indicating that the family claimed Etruscan descent.

Praenomina

The chief praenomina of the Persii were Aulus, Gaius, and Lucius, all of which were common names throughout Roman history. A few other names are known from inscriptions, including Marcus, Quintus, and Titus, but they do not seem to have been regular praenomina of this gens.

Branches and cognomina

The only families of the Persii known to have been distinguished by their surnames bore the cognomina Flaccus and Severus. Flaccus, a common surname that translates as "flabby", "droopy", or "flop-eared", was borne by the family of the poet. Severus, also a common surname, meaning "serious" or "stern", belonged to another family of Volaterrae. Of the other surnames found among the various Persii, Hybrida was used of the merchant Persius, because his father was Roman and his mother Greek; Etruscus signified the Etruscan descent of its bearer; and Lepidus, more famous from a family of the Aemilii, referred to someone who was pleasant or agreeable.

Members