The gens Aurelia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, which flourished from the third century BC to the latest period of the Empire. The first of the Aurelian gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Aurelius Cotta in 252 BC. From then to the end of the Republic, the Aurelii supplied many distinguished statesmen, before entering a period of relative obscurity under the early emperors. In the latter part of the first century, a family of the Aurelii rose to prominence, obtaining patrician status, and eventually the throne itself. A series of emperors belonged to this family, through birth or adoption, including Marcus Aurelius and the members of the Severan dynasty.Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 436 ("Aurelia Gens").
In 212, the Constitutio Antoniniana of Caracalla (whose full name was Marcus Aurelius Antoninus) granted Roman citizenship to all free residents of the Empire, resulting in vast numbers of new citizens who assumed the nomen Aurelius, in honour of their patron, including several emperors: seven of the eleven emperors between Gallienus and Diocletian (Claudius Gothicus, Quintillus, Probus, Carus, Carinus, Numerian and Maximian) bore the name "Marcus Aurelius". So ubiquitous was the name in the latter centuries of the Empire that it suffered abbreviation, as Aur., and it becomes difficult to distinguish members of the Aurelian gens from other persons bearing the name.Salway, "What's in a Name?", pp. 133–136.
Origin The nomen Aurelius is usually connected with the Latin adjective aureus, meaning "golden", in which case it was probably derived from the color of a person's hair. However, Festus reports that the original form of the nomen was Auselius, and that the medial 's' was replaced by 'r' at a relatively early period; the same process occurred with the archaic nomina Fusia, Numisia, Papisia, Valesia, and Vetusia, which became Furia, Numeria, Papiria, Valeria, and Veturia in classical Latin. According to Festus, Auselius was derived from a Sabine word for the sun.Paulus, Epitome de Sex. Pompeio Festo, p. 23.Chase, p. 124.
Praenomina All of the praenomina used by the chief families of the Aurelii were common throughout Roman history. The Aurelii of the Republic primarily used Gaius, Lucius, Marcus, and Publius, to which the Aurelii Orestides added Gnaeus. The Aurelii Fulvi of imperial times used Titus, Marcus, and Lucius, while the Aurelii Symmachi used Quintus and Lucius.
Branches and cognomina
There were three main stirpes of the Aurelii in republican times, distinguished by the cognomina Cotta (also spelled Cota), Orestes, and Scaurus. Cotta and Scaurus appear on coins, together with a fourth surname, Rufus, which does not occur among the ancient writers. A few personal cognomina are also found, including Pecuniola, apparently referring to the poverty of one of the Aurelii during the First Punic War.
Cotta, the surname of the oldest and most illustrious branch of the Aurelii under the Republic, probably refers to a cowlick, or unruly shock of hair; but its derivation is uncertain, and an alternative explanation might be that it derives from a dialectical form of cocta, literally "cooked", or in this case "sunburnt".Chase, pp. 109, 110. Marcus Aurelius Cotta, moneyer in 139 BC, minted an unusual denarius, featuring Hercules in a biga driven by centaurs, presumably alluding to some mythological event connected with the gens, but the exact symbolism is unknown. The Aurelii Cottae were prominent from the First Punic War down to the time of Tiberius, after which they faded into obscurity. The last of this family appearing in history include Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus, a friend of Tiberius, who squandered his family fortune through reckless prodigality, and his son, who received a stipend from Nero in order to maintain his household in a manner befitting his illustrious forebears.Tacitus, Annales, vi. 7; xiii. 34. The Cottae were related to Julius Caesar and Augustus through Aurelia Cotta, who was Caesar's mother.
The Aurelii Scauri were a relatively small family, which flourished during the last two centuries of the Republic. Their surname, Scaurus, belongs to a common class of cognomina derived from an individual's physical features, and referred to someone with swollen ankles.Horace, Satirae, i. 3.Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, pp. 735 ("Scaurus"), 738 ("Aurelius Scaurus").
Orestes, the surname of a family that flourished for about a century toward the end of the Republic, was a Greek name, and belonged to a class of surnames of foreign origin, which appear during the middle and late Republic.Chase, pp. 114, 115. In Greek mythology, Orestes was the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, and avenged his father's murder by slaying his own mother, and after escaping the judgment of the Erinyes, became king of Mycenae. The circumstances by which the name became attached to a branch of the Aurelii are unclear, but perhaps allude to some heroic deed, or military service in Greece.Wiseman, "Legendary Genealogies", p. 157.
The Aurelii Fulvi, who rose to prominence in imperial times, originally came from Nemausus in Gallia Narbonensis.Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, pp. 210–212 ("Antoninus Pius"), vol. II, p. 189 ("Fulvus"). Titus Aurelius Fulvus, the first of the family to attain the consulship, was made a patrician about AD 73 or 74.Jones, The Emperor Domitian, p. 52. In the second century, the Aurelii Fulvi obtained the Empire itself, when the consul's grandson, Titus Aurelius Fulvus, was adopted as the successor to Hadrian, becoming the emperor Antoninus Pius. Most of the emperors who followed were born or adopted into the gens, through the end of the Severan dynasty. The surname Fulvus was a common surname, referring to someone with yellowish, yellow-brown, tawny, or strawberry blond hair.New College Latin & English Dictionary, s. v. fulvus.
The Aurelii Galli were a family that achieved notability during the second century, attaining the consulship on at least three occasions. Their surname, Gallus, had two common derivations, referring either to a cockerel, or to a Gaul. In the latter case, it might indicate that the first of this family was of Gallic descent, that he was born in Gaul, that he had performed some noteworthy deed in Gaul, or that in some manner he resembled a Gaul.Chase, pp. 113, 114.
The Aurelii Symmachi were one of the last great families of the western empire, holding the highest offices of the Roman state during the fourth and fifth centuries. The Symmachi were regarded as members of the old Roman aristocracy, and acquired a reputation for their wisdom and learning.Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum, v. 147.
Members
Aurelii Cottae Gaius Aurelius L. f. C. n. Cotta, consul in 252 and 248 BC, during the First Punic War, he fought against the Carthaginians in Sicily, taking the towns of Himera and Lipara, and receiving a triumph for his victories in the former year. He was censor in 241, and magister equitum to the dictator Gaius Duilius in 231.Zonaras, viii. 14, 16.Orosius, iv. 9.Cicero, Academica Priora, ii. 26.Frontinus, Strategemata, iv. 1. §§ 22, 31.Valerius Maximus, ii. 7. § 4.Fasti Capitolini, ; 1940, 59, 60.Broughton, vol. I, pp. 212, 215, 219, 226. Gaius Aurelius C. f. L. n. Cotta, legate of the consul Claudius Marcellus in 216 BC.Livy, xxiii. 16.Broughton, vol. I, p. 251. Marcus Aurelius C. f. L. n. Cotta, plebeian aedile in 216 BC. In 212, during the Second Punic War, he served under the consul Appius Claudius Pulcher at Puteoli. He was appointed decemvir sacrorum in 203, and the following year was an ambassador to Philip V of Macedon. He died in 201.Livy, xxiii. 30, xxv. 22, xxix. 38, xxx. 26, 42, xxxi. 3, 5, 50.Broughton, vol. I, pp. 249, 270, 272 (note 7), 313, 315 (note 7), 318, 321, 322 (note 3). Gaius Aurelius C. f. C. n. Cotta, praetor urbanus in 202 BC, and consul in 200, carried on the war against the Gauls in Italy. When the enemy was defeated by the praetor Lucius Furius Purpureo, Cotta distracted himself by raiding and plundering the countryside.Livy, xxx. 26, 27, xxxi. 5, 6, 10, 11, 21, 22, 47, 49.Zonaras, ix. 15.Orosius, iv. 20.Broughton, vol. I, pp. 316, 320, 323. Marcus Aurelius M. f. C. n. Cotta, served as the legate of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus during the war against Antiochus III in 189 BC. He brought Antiochus' ambassadors and other representatives of the east to Rome, where he gave his report to the senate.Livy, xxxvii. 52.Broughton, vol. I, p. 363. Lucius Aurelius C. f. C. n. Cotta, military tribune in 181 BC, was one of the commanders of the third legion in the war against the Ligures, together with Sextus Julius Caesar.Livy, xl. 27.Broughton, vol. I, p. 385. Lucius Aurelius L. f. C. n. Cotta, as tribune of the plebs in 154 BC, attempted to use his sacrosanctity as tribune to evade his creditors. Consul in 144 BC, he was denied the command against Viriathus through the influence of Scipio Aemilianus, who subsequently accused him of various crimes. Cotta was acquitted, chiefly out of spite against Scipio.Valerius Maximus, vi. 4. § 2, 5. § 4; viii. 1. § 11.Cicero, Pro Murena, 28, Pro Fonteio, 13, Brutus, 21, Divinatio in Caecilium, 21.Tacitus, Annales, iii. 66.Broughton, vol. I, pp. 450, 470. Lucius Aurelius L. f. L. n. Cotta, consul in 119 BC, attempted to prosecute Gaius Marius, then tribune of the plebs, for a law he had proposed to reduce the influence of the optimates in the comitia. Marius threatened to imprison Cotta, and the senate abandoned the consul's scheme.Plutarch, "The Life of Marius", 4.Cicero, De Legibus, iii. 17.Broughton, vol. I, p. 525. Marcus Aurelius (L. f. L. n.) Cotta, in 139 BC. He married Rutilia, the sister of Publius Rutilius Rufus, consul in 105, and their three sons Marcus, Gaius, and Lucius became consuls in 74, 75, and 65 respectively.Cicero, Brutus, 115.Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, p. 263. Aurelia L. f. L. n., the wife of Gaius Julius Caesar, proconsul of Asia early in the first century BC, and mother of the dictator Caesar. Lucius Aurelius (L. f. L. n.) Cotta, in 105 BC and tribune of the plebs circa 103; he tried to obstruct the prosecution of Quintus Servilius Caepio by the tribune Gaius Norbanus, but failed. He was praetor in an uncertain year; Broughton places his praetorship circa 95. Cicero describes him as a mediocre orator, who deliberately presented himself as a rustic.Cicero, De Oratore, ii. 47, iii. 11, 12, Brutus, 36, 74.Broughton, vol. II, pp. 11, 12 (note 1). Marcus Aurelius M. f. L. n. Cotta, consul in 74 BC, received the province of Bithynia during the war with Mithradates. He was defeated, and lost his entire fleet, for which he blamed his quaestor, Publius Oppius, whom Cicero defended. Cotta himself was later condemned for extortion in his province, on the accusation of Gaius Papirius Carbo.Livy, Epitome, 93.Eutropius, vi. 6.Sallust, Historiae, fragmenta, iv.Asconius Pedianus, In Ciceronis in Cornelio, p. 67.Plutarch, "The Life of Lucullus", 5, 6, 8.Cicero, In Verrem, v. 13, Pro Murena, 15, Pro Oppio, fragmenta p. 444 (ed. Orelli).Cassius Dio, xxxvi. 23.Appian, Bella Mithridatica, 71.Valerius Maximus, v. 4. § 4.Broughton, vol. II, pp. 88, 92 (note 1), 111.