The gens Maecia was a

plebeian In ancient Rome, the plebeians or plebs were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words "commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of the gro ...

family at

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

. Members of this

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; : gentes ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same ''nomen gentilicium'' and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens, sometimes identified by a distinct cognomen, was cal ...

are rarely mentioned before the time of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

, but in Imperial times they rose to prominence, achieving the

consulship The consuls were the highest elected public officials of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC). Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum''an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspire ...

on at several occasions.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. II, p. 895 ("

Maecia Gens The gens Maecia was a plebs, plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are rarely mentioned before the time of Cicero, but in Roman Empire, Imperial times they rose to prominence, achieving the Roman consul, consulship on at several oc ...

").

Members

* Octavius Maecius, according to some accounts, leader of the allied cavalry in 293 BC, during the

Third Samnite War The First, Second, and Third Samnite Wars (343–341 BC, 326–304 BC, and 298–290 BC) were fought between the Roman Republic and the Samnites, who lived on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains south of Rome and north of the Lucanians, Lucania ...

. He employed a clever ruse to make his forces appear far more substantial than they in fact were, alarming the Samnite army. * Spurius Maecius Tarpa, a contemporary of Cicero, whom

Pompeius Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Roman Republic. ...

hired to select the plays performed at his games in 55 BC. At a later date,

Octavian Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in ...

relied on him for his opinion of drama. * Quintus Maecius, a Roman poet, known only from his twelve

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word derives from the Greek (, "inscription", from [], "to write on, to inscribe"). This literary device has been practiced for over two millennia ...

s in the ''Greek Anthology'', which are some of the finest in the collection. * Marcus Maecius Rufus, proconsul of Bithynia, and consul ''suffectus'' during the reign of

Vespasian Vespasian (; ; 17 November AD 9 – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolida ...

. * Lucius Maecius Postumus, consul ''suffectus'' in AD 98. * Lucius Roscius Aelianus Maecius Celer, consul ''suffectus'' in AD 100. * Marcus Maecius Celer, consul ''suffectus'' in AD 101. * Maecius Marullus, named by the ''

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, Caesar (title), designated heirs and Roman usurper, usurpers from 117 to 284. S ...

'' as the father of the emperor

Gordian I Gordian I (; 158 – April 238) was Roman emperor for 22 days with his son Gordian II in 238, the Year of the Six Emperors. Caught up in a rebellion against the Emperor Maximinus Thrax, he was defeated in battle and committed suicide after ...

. * Quintus Maecius Laetus, consul in AD 215; he had previously been consul in an uncertain year. *

Marcus Pomponius Maecius Probus Marcus Pomponius Maecius Probus (c. 195 – after 228) was a Consul in 228 AD. He was the son of Marcus Maecius Probus and his wife Pomponia Arria. In the genealogical reconstruction by C. Settipani, he married and had: * Marcus Maecius Probus ( ...

, consul in AD 228.Julius Capitolinus, "The Lives of the Three Gordians", 2. * Marcus Maecius Memmius Furius Placidus, consul in AD 343. *

Rufius Achilius Maecius Placidus The gens Rufia, occasionally spelled Ruffia, was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are not mentioned in history until imperial times, and they achieved little prominence until the late third century, from which time th ...

, consul in AD 481.

Footnotes

References

{{reflist, 30em

Bibliography

Marcus Tullius Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

, ''

Epistulae ad Familiares ''Epistulae ad Familiares'' (''Letters to Friends'') is a collection of letters between Ancient Rome, Roman politician and orator Cicero, Marcus Tullius Cicero and various public and private figures. The letters in this collection, together wit ...

''. * Quintus Horatius Flaccus (

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

), '' Satirae'' (Satires), '' Ars Poëtica'' (The Art of Poetry). *

Julius Capitolinus The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the sim ...

, "The Lives of the Three Gordians", in the ''

''. *

Jan Gruter Jan Gruter or Gruytère, Latinized as Janus Gruterus (3 December 1560 – 20 September 1627), was a Flemish-born philologist, scholar, and librarian. Life Jan Gruter was born in Antwerp. His father was Wouter Gruter, who was a merchant a ...

, ''Inscriptiones Antiquae Totius Orbis Romani'', Heidelberg (1603). *

Johann Albert Fabricius Johann Albert Fabricius (11 November 1668 – 30 April 1736) was a German classical scholar and bibliographer. Biography Fabricius was born in Leipzig, son of Werner Fabricius, director of music in the church of St. Paul at Leipzig, who was the ...

, ''Bibliotheca Graeca, sive Notitia Scriptorum Veterum Graecorum'' (The Greek Library, or Knowledge of Ancient Greek Writers), Christian Liebezeit & Theodor Christoph Felginer, Hamburg (1718). * ''Analecta Veterum Poetarum Graecorum'' (Fragments by Ancient Greek Poets),

Richard François Philippe Brunck Richard François Philippe Brunck (30 December 1729 – 12 June 1803) was a French people, French classical scholar. Biography Brunck was born in Strasbourg, France, educated at the Jesuits' College in Paris, and took part in the Seven Years' Wa ...

, ed., Bauer and Treuttel, Strasbourg (1772–1776). * ''Anthologia Graeca sive Poetarum Graecorum Lusus, ex Recensione Brunckii'' (The Greek Anthology, or Works of the Greek Poets, or the Collection of Brunck), Friedrich Jacobs, ed., Dyck, Leipzig (1794). * ''Poëtarum Latinorum Reliquiae'' (Surviving Works of Latin Poets), M. Augustus Weichert, ed., B. G. Teubner, Leipzig (1830). * ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' is a biographical dictionary of classical antiquity, edited by William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith and originally published in London by John Taylor (English publisher), Tayl ...

'',

William Smith William, Willie, Will, Bill, or Billy Smith may refer to: Academics * William Smith (Master of Clare College, Cambridge) (1556–1615), English academic * William Smith (antiquary) (c. 1653–1735), English antiquary and historian of University C ...

, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). * Paul Gallivan,
The ''Fasti'' for A. D. 70–96
, in ''

Classical Quarterly The Classical Association (CA) is an educational organisation which aims to promote and widen access to the study of classical subjects in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1903, the Classical Association supports and advances classical learning ...

'', vol. 31 (1981). Roman gentes

Members

Footnotes

See also

References

Bibliography