The gens Maria was a
plebeian family of
Rome. Its most celebrated member was
Gaius Marius, one of the greatest generals of antiquity, and seven times
consul.[1][2]
Origin
As a
nomen, Marius is probably derived from the
OscanpraenomenMarius, in which case the family may be of
Sabine or
Sabellic background, although in this form the name is Latinized, and the family cannot be proven to have originated anywhere other than Rome.[1][3]
The Marii of the
Republic were never divided into any families, though in course of time, more especially under the
emperors, several of the Marii assumed surnames. The only
cognomen found on coins is Capito.[1]
Members
This list includes abbreviated
praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see
filiation.
Marcus Marius, a native of Sidicinum, and a contemporary of
Gaius Gracchus, about whom
Aulus Gellius relates a story, showing the gross indignity with which Roman magistrates sometimes treated the most distinguished men among the allies.[5]
Gaius Marius, grandfather of the general Marius.[6]
Gaius Marius C. f., father of the general Marius, married Fulcinia.[7][6]
Gaius Marius C. f. Capito, triumvir monetalis in 81 BC. A partisan of
Sulla, the appearance of his cognomen on his coins served to distinguish and distance him from the late Gaius Marius and his supporters.[15][16]
Gaius Marius Marcellus, a legate in the time of Augustus.[33]
Titus Marius C. f. Siculus, a native of
Urbinum, rose from the rank of a common soldier to honors and riches, by the favor of Augustus; a tale is told of him by
Valerius Maximus.[34][35]
Marius Nepos, a man of praetorian rank, was expelled from the senate by Tiberius in AD 17, due to the enormity of his debts.[36][28]
Quintus Marius Celsus, praetor peregrinus in AD 31.[35]
Aulus Marius Celsus, consul suffectus ex Kal. Jul. in 69. Under
Nero, he commanded the fifteenth legion in
Pannonia, and joined
Corbulo against the Parthians in AD 64. He faithfully served both
Galba and
Otho during the year of the four emperors, and was rewarded for his fidelity when
Vitellius allowed him to take up the consulship granted him by Otho.[41]
Lucius Marius Maximus, consul in AD 223 and 232, perhaps the same person as the historian Marius Maximus.
Marius Maximus, a historian, perhaps of the early third century, who wrote lives of the emperors from Trajan to Elagabalus, and was regularly cited by the
Augustan historians.[46]
Marcus Marius M. f. Titius Rufinus, consul suffectus in an uncertain year, during the reign of
Severus Alexander.[45]
Maria Aurelia (or Aureliana) Violentilla, daughter of one of the Marii Perpetui, married
Quintus Egnatius Proculus, consul suffectus about AD 219.[47]
Maria T. f. Casta, wife of Lucius Maesius Rufus, a military tribune with the
fifteenth legion in
Syria.[47]
Lucius Marius L. f. Vegetinus Marcianus Minicianus Myrtilianus, legate of the
twenty-second legion in
Hispania Baetica, was consul suffectus in an uncertain year.[45]
Lucius Marius L. f. L. n. Vegetinus Lucanus Tiberenus, son of Minicianus and Claudia Artemidora, died at the age of six months and twenty-one days.[45]
Maria L. f. L. n. Rufina, daughter of Minicianus and Claudia Artemidora, died aged four months and seven days.[47]
^Generally found with the surname Trogus, based on Eckhel's reading of the abbreviation Tro on his coins; but this probably identified him as a member of the tribus Tromentina.
References
^
abcDictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 949 ("Maria Gens").
^Gilman, Daniel (1905). The New International Encyclopædia. New York: Mead and Company.
^Flavius Vopiscus, "The Life of Firmus", 2; Aelius Spartianus, "The Life of Hadrian", 2, "The Life of Geta", 2, "The Life of Septimius Severus", 15, "The Life of Elagabalus", 11; Aelius Lampridius, "The Life of Alexander Severus", 5, 30, 65, "The Life of Commodus 13, 15"; Vulcatius Gallicanus, "The Life of Avidius Cassius", 6, 9; Julius Capitolinus, "The Life of Clodius Albinus", 3, 9, 12.
Quintus Asconius Pedianus, Commentarius in Oratio Ciceronis Pro Scauro (Commentary on Cicero's Oration Pro Scauro), Commentarius in Oratio Ciceronis
In Toga Candida (Commentary on Cicero's Oration In Toga Candida).
Appianus Alexandrinus (
Appian), Bellum Civile (The Civil War), Hispanica (The Spanish Wars).
Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (
Cassius Dio), Roman History.
Aelius Lampridius, Aelius Spartianus, Flavius Vopiscus, Julius Capitolinus, Trebellius Pollio, and Vulcatius Gallicanus, Historia Augusta (
Augustan History).
Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum (The Study of Ancient Coins, 1792–1798).
Eutropius, Breviarium Historiae Romanae (Abridgement of the History of Rome).