Valerius Totally Explained

Everything about Valerius totally explained

Valerius originally was a Roman nomen of the gens Valeria, one of the oldest patrician families of the city. The name was in use throughout Roman history. Later it became also a given name. Possible Latin forms include, in the nominative:

Valerius, male singular
Valeria, female singular
Valerii, male plural
Valerianus, male adoptive

History

The Valeria gens was one of the most ancient and most celebrated at Rome; and no other Roman gens was distinguished for so long a period, although a few others, such as the Cornelia gens, produced a greater number of illustrious men. The Valerii are universally admitted to have been of Sabine origin, and their ancestor Volesus or Volusus is said to have settled at Rome with Titus Tatius.
   One of the descendants of this Volesus, P. Valerius, afterwards surnamed Publicola, plays a distinguished part in the story of the expulsion of the kings, and was elected consul in the first year of the republic, 509 BC. From this time forward down to the latest period of the empire, for nearly a thousand years, the name occurs more or less frequently in the Fasti, and it was borne by the emperors Maximinus, Maximianus, Maxentius, Diocletian, Constantius, Constantine the Great and others.
   The Valeria gens enjoyed extraordinary honours and privileges at Rome. Their house at the bottom of the Velia was the only one in Rome of which the doors were allowed to open back into the street. In the Circus Maximus a conspicuous place was set apart for them, where a small throne was erected, an honour of which there was no other example among the Romans. They were also allowed to bury their dead within the walls, a privilege which was also granted to some other gentes; and when they'd exchanged the older custom of interment for that of burning the corpse, although they didn't light the funeral pile on their burying-ground, the bier was set down there, as a symbolical way of preserving their right. Niebuhr, who mentions these distinctions, conjectures that among the gradual changes of the constitution from a monarchy to an aristocracy, the Valeria gens for a time possessed the right that one of its members should exercise the kingly power for the Tides, to which tribe the Valerii must have belonged, as their Sabine origin indicates; but on this point, as on many others in early Roman history, it's impossible to come to any certainty.
   The Valerii in early times were always foremost in advocating the rights of the plebeians, and the laws which they proposed at various times were the great charters of the liberties of the second order.

Branches of the gens Valeria

The earliest branches of Poplicola, Potitus, and Volusus appear to be derived from Publius Valerius Poplicola, an early republican hero. The other branches appear only from the mid-fourth century, starting with Corvus or Corvinus, apparently descended from another great Valerian consul. The Messalla or Messala branch, so prominent in imperial Rome, is a sub-branch of this. The origins of the Flaccus branch is less certain; the first consul by that name appears in 261 BC, but a Potitus had been nicknamed Flacus (with one "c") some decades earlier circa 331 BC. In late republican Rome, the branches of Messalla (or Messala) and Flaccus were the best-known and most influential.

The Valerii Messalla (or Valerii Messala)

Among the branches of the Valerii, there were those who bore the cognomen Messalla. Messalla was originally assumed by Manius Valerius Maximus Corvinus Messalla after his relief of Messana in Sicily from blockade by the Carthaginians in the second year of the first Punic War, 263 BC.(Macrob. Sat. i. 6 ; Sen. Brev. Vit. 13.) They appear for the first time on the consular Fasti in 263 BC, and for the last in 506; during these nearly eight centuries, they held twenty-two consulships and three censorships.(Sidon. Apollin. Carm. ix. 302 ; Rutil. L c.; Symmach. Ep. vii. 90.)
The cognomen Messalla, frequently written Messala, appears with the agnomens Barbatus, Niger or Rufus, with the nomens Ennodius, Pacatus, Silius, Thrasia Priscus or Vipstanus, and with the praenomens Potitus and Volesus, and was itself originally, and when combined with Corvinus, an agnomen, as M. Valerius Maximus Corvinus Messalla, i. e. of Messana.

Notable members of the gens Valeria

The gens Valeria produced many consuls and censors, mostly in the early republic. Several authors notably Valerius Maximus also bear the name of Valerius, but their antecedents are mostly unknown.

Early republic

Publius Valerius Publicola, consul 509 BC, four times consul in the early Republic.

Marcus Valerius Volusi f. (Volusus?), consul 505 BC

Lucius Valerius M.f. Potitus (Publicola), consul 483 BC, 470 BC

Publius Valerius P.f. Poplicola, consul 475 BC, 460 BC

Marcus Valerius M'. f. Maximus Lactuca, consul 456 BC

Lucius Valerius Potitus, consul 449 BC

Gaius Valerius Potitus, consular tribune 415 BC

Lucius Valerius Potitus, consular tribune 414 BC

Gaius Valerius L.f. Potitus Volusus, consul 410 BC

Lucius Valerius L.f. Potitus, consul 393 BC-392 BC, 390 BC, possibly consular tribune 391 BC; possibly the same man who was consular tribune 379 BC in his fifth term.

Lucius Valerius Publicola, consular tribune 388 BC

Titus Valerius, consular tribune 385 BC-382 BC

Lucius Valerius, consular tribune 379 BC, possibly Lucius Valerius L.f. Potitus who had already been consul three times; said to have been this man's fifth term.

Publius Valerius, consular tribune in 379 BC in his third term, and 376 BC in his fourth term, per Varro

Gaius Valerius, consular tribune 374 BC

Publius Valerius, consular tribune 374 BC

Marcus Valerius L.f. Poplicola, consul 355 BC, 353 BC

Publius Valerius P.f. Poplicola, 352 BC

Marcus Valerius Corvus, consul several times in 4th century BC, starting in 348 BC as a young man, then 346 BC, 343 BC, and 335 BC. His last consulship was said to be in 300 BC, with a suffect consulship in 299 BC. He was also dictator in 342 BC and 301 BC. The range of years for his consulship and alleged accomplishments are not impossible, if he was elected consul while in his early twenties. However, it's more likely that the later consulships were attributable to his son, and were confused and exaggerated by later family members including Valerius Antias.

Gaius Valerius L.f. Potitus (Flacus), consul 331 BC, possible progenitor of the Valerii Flacci branch.

Marcus Valerius M.f. Maximus Corvinus (Corrinus?), consul 312 BC, 289 BC per Varro; possibly he was the consul in 300 BC and suffect consul in 299 BC and also dictator in 301 BC (the third dictator year), rather than his father.

Marcus Valerius Maximus Rullianus, dictator 301 BC in fourth dictator year

Middle republic

Marcus. Valerius Maximus (Potitus?), consul 286 BC

Publius Valerius Laevinus, consul 280 BC

Manius Valerius Maximus Corvinus Messalla, consul 263 BC

Lucius Valerius M.f. Flaccus, consul 261 BC, the first of several consuls cognominated Flaccus or "torpid".

Quintus Valerius Q.f. Falto, consul 239 BC

Publius Valerius Q.f. Falto, consul 238 BC

Publius Valerius L.f. Flaccus, consul 227 BC

Marcus Valerius M'.f. Maximus Messala, consul 226 BC

Marcus Valerius Laevinus, consul 210 BC

Lucius Valerius P.f. Flaccus, consul 195 and censor 183 BC with Cato the Elder

Marcus Valerius M.f. Messalla, consul 188 BC

Gaius Valerius M.f. Laevinus, suffect consul 176 BC

Marcus Valerius Messalla, consul 161 BC

Lucius Valerius Flaccus, consul 152 BC

Late republic

Lucius Valerius Flaccus, consul 131 BC

Lucius Valerius Flaccus, consul 100 BC (ally of Gaius Marius)

Gaius Valerius Flaccus, consul 93 BC

Valerius Aedituus, poet circa 100s BC

Quintus Valerius Soranus, scholar and poet whom Pliny the Elder says was punished for speaking the 'secret name of Rome' outside of a religious ritual (a highly impious act).

Valerius Antias, annalist 1st century BC

Lucius Valerius Flaccus, suffect consul 86 BC (after death of Marius)

Valeria Messala, fourth wife and widow of the dictator Sulla

Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger, consul 61 BC

Marcus Valerius Messalla Rufus, consul 53 BC

Marcus Valerius Messalla, suffect consul 32 BC

Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, consul and suffect consul 31 BC

Publis Valerius Cato, scholar and poet 1st century BC

Early imperial Rome

Marcus Valerius Messala Barbatus, husband of Domitia Lepida

Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus, consul 3 BC

Valerius Maximus, historian 1st century

Lucius Valerius Messalla Volesus, possible consul 5

Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus, consul 20

Decimus Valerius Asiaticus, consul in 35 and 46

Valeria Messalina, died 48, third wife of the Emperor Claudius

Potitus Valerius Corvus Rufus Sulla, consul in 100

Volsus Valerius Valus Sulla Valerianus, praetor in 132

Poplicola Valerius Sulla Felix

Phillipus Valerius Sulla Felix

Phillipus Valerius Sulla Felix Cassianus, consul in 193

Marcus Valerius Martialis (Martial), poet 1st century

Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, consul 58

Gaius Calpetanus Rantius Quirinalis Valerius Festus, suffect consul 71

Gaius Valerius Flaccus, poet 1st century

Lucius Valerius Licinianus, advocate 1st century

Valerius Probus, grammarian 1st century

Marcus Valerius Bradua Mauricus, consul 191

Lucius Valerius Messalla Thrasea Priscus, consul 196

Lucius Valerius Messalla Apollinaris, consul 214

Publius Valerius Comazon Eutychianus, consul 220

Lucius Valerius Maximus, consul 233

Valerius Maximus, consul 253

Lucius Valerius Maximus, consul 256

Late imperial Rome

Imp. Caesar Marcus Aurelius Valerius Claudius Augustus (Claudius II), Roman emperor

Imp. Caesar Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Augustus (Diocletian), emperor

Imp. Caesar Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Augustus (Maximian), emperor

Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus Caesar (Galerius), emperor

Flavius Valerius Constantinus Caesar (Constantius Chlorus), emperor

Flavius Valerius Severus, short-lived emperor circa 306

Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius (Maxentius), emperor 306-312

Marcus Valerius Romulus, consul 309

Flavius Julius Valerius Crispus (Crispus)

Flavius Galerius Valerius Licinianus Licinius (Licinius), emperor

Imp. Caesar Flauius Valerius Constantinus Augustus (Constantine I), emperor

Imp. Caesar Galerius Valerius Maximinus Augustus (Maximinus), emperor

Julius Valerius Alexander Polemius, scholar 4th century

Julius Valerius Majorianus (Majorian), emperor 457-461

Other uses of the name Valerius

Adriaen Valerius, who composed or compiled an anthology of Dutch patriotic songs during the Eighty Years' War against the Habsburg suzerains

Valeria of Milan, a first or second century Christian martyr

Valerius of Trèves, a 4th century bishop of Trier

Valerius of Saragossa, bishop of Zaragoza in 290-315.

Valerius II, bishop of Zaragoza (Spain) in circa 380.Further Information

Get more info on 'Valerius'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://valerius.totallyexplained.com">Valerius Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.