The gens Viria was a
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
family of the second and third centuries, possibly of northern Italian origin. The first member to ascend the ''
cursus honorum
The ''cursus honorum'' (; , or more colloquially 'ladder of offices') was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The ''c ...
'' was
Virius Lupus
Virius Lupus ( – after 205) (possibly Lucius Virius Lupus) was a Roman soldier and politician of the late 2nd and early 3rd century.
Biography
Virius Lupus was the first member of the ''gens Virii'' to attain high office in the Roman Em ...
, who attained the
consulship
A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...
in the late second century. It is possible that the family was elevated to
patrician status around that time. The family's influence reached its apex during the third century.
[Mennen, ''Power and Status in the Roman Empire'', pp. 130–134.]
Members
*
Víria Acte, a first-century Hispano-Roman businesswoman.
* Gaius Virius Alcimus, along with Titus Statilius Hermes, built a first-century sepulchre at
Palmyra
Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early secon ...
, for themselves and their families, with a dedicatory inscription dating from AD 56 or 57. His wife, Viria Phoebe, appears with him in a funerary bust.
* Viria Phoebe, the wife of Gaius Virius Alcimus, was a first-century Palmyrene woman.
*
Virius Lupus
Virius Lupus ( – after 205) (possibly Lucius Virius Lupus) was a Roman soldier and politician of the late 2nd and early 3rd century.
Biography
Virius Lupus was the first member of the ''gens Virii'' to attain high office in the Roman Em ...
,
consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...
''suffectus'' some time before AD 196, was ''
legatus Augusti pro praetore
A ''legatus Augusti pro praetore'' (literally: "envoy of the emperor – acting for the praetor") was the official title of the governor or general of some Imperial provincess of the Roman Empire during the Principate era, normally the larger ones ...
'' of
Germania Inferior
Germania Inferior ("Lower Germania") was a Roman province from AD 85 until the province was renamed Germania Secunda in the fourth century, on the west bank of the Rhine bordering the North Sea. The capital of the province was Colonia Agripp ...
''circa'' 196, and
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
of
Britannia
Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Grea ...
in 197.
*
Lucius Virius Agricola
Lucius ( el, Λούκιος ''Loukios''; ett, Luvcie) is a male given name derived from ''Lucius'' (abbreviated ''L.''), one of the small group of common Latin forenames (''praenomina'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius derives from L ...
, consul in AD 230.
*
Lucius Virius Lupus Iulianus Lucius Virius Lupus Iulianus (fl. 3rd century AD) was a Roman military officer and senator who served as '' consul ordinarius'' in 232 alongside Lucius Marius Maximus.
Biography
Probably the son of Virius Lupus, suffect consul before AD 196, and ...
, consul ''ordinarius'' in AD 232, and subsequently governor of
Coele Syria, had risen from the posts of cavalry commander and triumvir of prisons, and served as governor of
Lycia et Pamphylia prior to his consulship.
*
Virius Orfitus, consul in AD 270, and ''
praefectus urbi
The ''praefectus urbanus'', also called ''praefectus urbi'' or urban prefect in English, was prefect of the city of Rome, and later also of Constantinople. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, a ...
'' in 273 or 274.
[''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. III, p. 44 ("Orfitus", No. 11).]
*
Virius Lupus
Virius Lupus ( – after 205) (possibly Lucius Virius Lupus) was a Roman soldier and politician of the late 2nd and early 3rd century.
Biography
Virius Lupus was the first member of the ''gens Virii'' to attain high office in the Roman Em ...
, consul ''suffectus'' sometime before AD 275, and consul ''ordinarius'' in 278, had been governor of
Caelimontium, ''curator'' of
Laurentum
Laurentum was an ancient Roman city of Latium situated between Ostia and Lavinium, on the west coast of the Italian Peninsula southwest of Rome. Roman writers regarded it as the original capital of Italy, before Lavinium assumed that role after ...
, and ''
praeses
''Praeses'' (Latin ''praesides'') is a Latin word meaning "placed before" or "at the head". In antiquity, notably under the Roman Dominate, it was used to refer to Roman governors; it continues to see some use for various modern positions.
...
'' of Coele Syria, subsequently becoming governor of that province in the 260s. He also served as governor of
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
, ''iudici sacrarum cognition'' of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
, and a priest of ''
dei solis''.
*
Virius Gallus
Virius Gallus was a senator of the Roman Empire who was appointed consul in AD 298.
Biography
A member of the aristocratic '' gens Viria'', Gallus’ early senatorial career is unknown. He was appointed '' consul posterior'' alongside Anicius Fau ...
, consul in AD 298.
* Virius Nepotianus, consul in AD 301.
* Virius Nepotianus, consul in AD 336 and father of the emperor
Nepotianus.
*
Virius Nicomachus Flavianus
Virius Nicomachus Flavianus (334–394 AD) was a grammarian, a historian and a politician of the Roman Empire.
A pagan and close friend of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, he was Praetorian prefect of Italy in 390–392. Under the usurper Eugenius (3 ...
, consul in AD 394.
*
Virius Nicomachus Flavianus
Virius Nicomachus Flavianus (334–394 AD) was a grammarian, a historian and a politician of the Roman Empire.
A pagan and close friend of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, he was Praetorian prefect of Italy in 390–392. Under the usurper Eugenius (3 ...
, ''praefectus urbi'' in AD 408.
See also
*
List of Roman gentes
The gens (plural gentes) was a Roman family, of Italic or Etruscan origins, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same '' nomen'' and claimed descent from a common ancestor. It was an important social and legal structure in early ...
References
{{reflist
Bibliography
* ''
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/ biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 ...
'',
William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).
* René Cagnat ''et alii'', ''
L'Année épigraphique
''L'Année épigraphique'' (''The Epigraphic Year'', standard abbreviation ''AE'') is a French publication on epigraphy (i.e the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing). It was set up by René Cagnat, as holder of the chair of 'Epigraphy an ...
'' (The Year in Epigraphy, abbreviated ''AE''), Presses Universitaires de France (1888–present).
*
A. H. M. Jones &
J. R. Martindale
John Robert Martindale (born 1935) is a British academic historian, specializing in the later Roman and Byzantine empires.
Martindale's major publications are his magnum opus, the three volumes of ''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'', beg ...
, eds., ''
The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire
''Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire'' (abbreviated as ''PLRE'') is a work of Roman prosopography published in a set of three volumes collectively describing many of the people attested to have lived in the Roman Empire from AD 260, the date ...
'' (abbreviated ''PLRE''), Cambridge University Press (1971–1992).
* Inge Mennen, ''Power and Status in the Roman Empire, AD 193–284'', Brill (2011).
Roman gentes