Suilia gens


The gens Suillia, occasionally written Suilia, was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned under the early Empire. The first of the Suillii to obtain the consulship was Publius Suillius Rufus, early in the reign of Claudius.

Origin

The nomen Suillius appears to belong to a class of gentilicia typically formed from cognomina with diminutive endings, such as ', or the double diminutive ', but occasionally formed directly from surnames without these endings. Plutarch derives the name from suillus, a Latin adjective relating to swine, which he notes were, along with other livestock, among the principal measures of value in early Rome. The nomen is easily confused with that of the Suellia gens, with which it might perhaps be identical. Like the Suillii, the Suellii used the cognomen Rufus, although that surname was abundant enough to arise by chance in unrelated families. However, while the epigraphy of the Suellia gens places their origin firmly in Samnium, none of the Suillii are found in that region, although several inscriptions of this gens are from other parts of Italy, including Etruria and Campania.

Praenomina

The main praenomina of the Suillia gens were Publius and Marcus, both among the most common names at all periods of Roman history. In inscriptions we also find Manius, Gaius, Lucius, and Titus.

Branches and cognomina

Only one distinct branch of this family occurs in history, consisting of the descendants of Publius Suillius Rufus, whose surname belongs to a common type of cognomen derived from the physical features of individuals, and originally designating someone with red hair. It is not clear whether this surname was inherited from earlier generations, or passed down to his descendants, as his sons bore the surnames Caesoninus and Nerullinus, presumably alluding to their maternal forebears; however, there appears to have been a Suillius Rufus among the African colonials of this gens, though there is no evidence to show whether he was a descendant of the same stirps, or merely shared a ubiquitous surname.

Members