Wikipedia:

Valerius

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

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 BC390 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 is 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

Late republic

Early imperial Rome

Late imperial Rome

Other uses of the name Valerius

References


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