The gens Salvia was a minor plebeian Roman family of the late Republic, which came to prominence under the early Empire. The first of the family known to have held public office at Rome was Publius Salvius Aper, praetorian prefect in 2 BC. About this time, the Salvii achieved equestrian rank, and thereafter held various positions in the Roman state for the next two centuries, before falling back into obscurity. Lucius Salvius Otho was raised to patrician rank by the emperor Claudius, but the most illustrious of the Salvii was his son, Marcus, who was proclaimed emperor in AD 69.Suetonius, "The Life of Otho", 1.Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 700 ("Salvia Gens").
Origin The Salvii were doubtless of Sabellic origin, as their nomen is a patronymic surname derived from the common Oscan praenomen Salvius.Chase, p. 141. They probably spread throughout Italy long before obtaining Roman citizenship; the emperor Otho was descended from an ancient and noble family of Ferentinum, in Etruria.
Members
Salvii Othones Marcus Salvius Otho, grandfather of the emperor.Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 108. Marcus Salvius Otho, moneyer and uncle of the emperor Otho. Lucius Salvius M. f. Otho, father of the emperor, was consul from the kalends of July, AD 34.Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 107. Salvia, sister of Otho and fiancé of Drusus Caesar Lucius Salvius L. f. M. n. Otho Titianus, the elder brother of the emperor, was consul in AD 52.Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 111. Marcus Salvius L. f. M. n. Otho, emperor from January 15 to April 16, AD 69.Suetonius, "The Life of Otho", 3. Lucius Salvius L. f. L. n. Otho Cocceianus, the emperor's nephew, was consul in AD 82.Suetonius, "The Life of Domitianus", 10.
Others Salvius, praefectus sociorum in 168 BC Salvius, praetor urbanus in around 76/74 BC and possibly the author of the Interdictum Salvianum Salvius, a centurion of the and one of the murderers of Pompey in 48 BC. Salvius, tribune of the plebs in 43 BC and the first man to be killed during the proscriptions by the Second Triumvirate Salvia Titisenia, a mistress of Octavian. Salvia Postuma, funded the building of an arch at Pola in Venetia and Histria, dating from the late first century BC. She was the husband of Lucius Sergius, and their son was Lucius Sergius Lepidus.Sergius. Strachan stemma. Publius Salvius Aper, praetorian prefect with Quintus Ostorius Scapula in 2 BC. Aper is not known to have been related to the contemporary Othones.Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 97. Salvius Carus, governor of Crete under Hadrian.Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 99. Gaius Salvius Liberalis Nonius Bassus, consul suffectus in AD 85. He was a member of the Arval Brethren.Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 105. Gaius Salvius Vitellianus, the son of Gaius Salvius Liberalis and Vitellia Rufilla.Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 117. Lucius Octavius Cornelius Publius Salvius Julianus Aemilianus, an eminent jurist, was consul in AD 148.Jolowicz and Nicholas, pp. 384, 385. Publius Salvius L. f. Julianus, consul in AD 175.Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 104. Salvius Tuscus became a Salian priest in AD 181; he served as quindecimvir in 204.Prosopographia Imperii Romani, S 115.
See also List of Roman gentes Salvidia gens Salvidiena gens
References
Bibliography
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum (Lives of the Caesars, or The Twelve Caesars). "Salvia Gens", in the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).
George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897). Paul Rohden and Hermann Dessau, Page 11, Prosopographia Imperii Romani, Berlin (1898). H. F. Jolowicz and Barry Nicholas, Historical Introduction to the Study of Roman Law, Cambridge University Press (3rd edition, 1972).