Talk:Aurelia gens

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Since, I'm guessing from the article, Aurelii means 'the golden', is 'the Aurelii' just another one of those examples of an erroneous double 'the' (like 'the hoi polloi')? If not, can someone who knows more than me make the inital sentence read a bit better? mat_x 13:55, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC)

The name of the gens was "Aurelii;" therefore, they are "the Aurelii." Even though Aurelii means "the golden," Romans would still have used the Latin equivalent of "the" when referring to them. So, in short, the "the" is not an error. Kuralyov 06:29, 14 Nov 2004 (UTC)

There is no exact equivalent of "the" in Latin. Latin nouns didn't require articles such as "a", "an", and "the". But we do require them in English (and most other languages, including those based on Latin), so when writing in English we use these words to refer to people, even if their names are Latin and we follow Latin conventions for gender and number. However, "Aurelii" doesn't mean "the golden" precisely. There's no such adjective as aureleus in Latin. The adjective meaning "golden" is aureus, and there's no "the" in it (or anywhere else in Latin). We add such things only when translating names into other languages (such as English). Aurelius could be derived from aureus or from a more obscure word. When I had an article on names from the original Pauly-Wissowa translated, it mentioned a possible nomen Auselius as the archaic form of Aurelius, in which case it would seem to be connected with the sun (although that word might share a common root with aureus). P Aculeius (talk) 16:48, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

Was Marcus Aurelius Really One of the Aurelii?

I've traced out several generations of the emperor Marcus Aurelius' ancestors, and I don't see any evidence for calling him one of the Aurelii. His name at birth was Marcus Annius Caitilius Serverus, and at marriage he took the name Marcus Annius Verus--i.e., nothing Aurelian in either of them. His father was named Marcus Annius Verus, as was his paternal grandfather, and his paternal great-grandfather before that. His mother Domitia was of the Lucillus family.

It looks to me like he included the name Aurelius in the name he took on as emperor purely as a way of honoring his predecessor, adoptive father, and uncle *by maaariage only,* Antoninus Pius, who was clearly an Aurelian. (Antoninus Pius was born Titus Aurelius Fulvus, as were his father and grandfather before him.) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Unauthvu (talk • contribs) 22:55, 22 February 2007 (UTC).

Marcus Aurelius was adopted into the family of Antoninus Pius, who, as the previous post notes, was born Titus Aurelius Fulvus, and this made Marcus Aurelius legally a member of the gens Aurelia. Of course, Antoninus was adopted by Hadrian, who was adopted by Trajan, who was adopted by Nerva... and so was Marcus Aurelius' cousin, Lucius Verus. By this point, figuring out what gens somebody in the imperial household belonged to was so confused that their children might have multiple nomina or even different nomina... and that assumes that we know their full legal names, which for obvious reasons weren't always used. So for convenience we treat descendants, whether adopted or not, as members of the gens Aurelia, at least to the extent that they seemed to use Aurelius as a nomen, or one of their nomina. But we can also place the ones who were actually born into another gens with those pages as well. P Aculeius (talk) 16:48, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

Marcus Aurelius was from the gens Annia by birth. He was adopted by Antoninus Pius, thus resulting in him being part of the gens Aurelia by adoption. Lupus Bellator (talk) 18:31, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

The Aurelii and the cult of the sun

The Aurelii introduced in Rome the cult of the sun and for holding its rites the state assigned to them a plot of public land. Festus states this p. 120 L second. Interestingly they were of Sabin origin and their name should have been originally Auselii, in the Sabin language ausil meaning the sun (cf. Etr. god Usil) according to Varro Lingua Latina V 68 and Festus loc. cit.Aldrasto11 (talk) 04:01, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

Gens Claudia was also Sabine. Zoetropo (talk) 12:07, 30 January 2015 (UTC)

Era style

Please keep the neutral era tag "BCE" and "CE". I would prefer it in this form. Lupus Bellator (talk) 18:44, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

I have reverted your edit. Please see WP:ERA for why. Cynwolfe (talk) 18:52, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

Aurelia Cotta

The mother of the dictator Gaius Julius Caesar was Aurelia Cotta of the family Aurelia Cotta. I suggest that she be placed under her specific family rather than under "Others". Zoetropo (talk) 12:11, 30 January 2015 (UTC)

Done, but I'm not sure that Cotta can be treated as her cognomen, since it's presumably masculine and agrees with Aurelius. Most Roman women were called solely by their nomina, which makes it difficult to know what surnames they could have used (had they needed to). For that matter, looking over the article on her, and that on her daughter, I note several mentions of "Julia Caesaris." This is not a legitimate form of Roman naming. That phrase simply means "Caesar's Julia." Caesaris was not a surname and ought not to be used as though it were one in these articles. Women's surnames (when used) were the feminine form of their fathers' surnames; if you see a genitive then it's just a descriptor, not a proper name. Unfortunately I don't have time to root out all of these instances right now... perhaps someone with an interest in this family could look for these and clear that up. P Aculeius (talk) 14:01, 30 January 2015 (UTC)