Asinia (gens)


The gens Asinia was a plebeian family at Ancient Rome, which rose to prominence during the first century BC. The first member of this gens mentioned in history is Herius Asinius, commander of the Marrucini during the Social War. The Asinii probably obtained Roman citizenship in the aftermath of this conflict, as they are mentioned at Rome within a generation, and Gaius Asinius Pollio obtained the consulship in 40 BC.

Origin

The Asinii came from Teate, the chief town of the Marrucini, an Oscan-speaking people related to the Samnites. Silius Italicus mentions a certain Herius who lived around the beginning of the Second Punic War, who was said to have been an ancestor of the Asinii. The nomen Asinius is derived from the cognomen Asina, a she-ass, one of a large class of surnames derived from familiar objects and animals. A related but more familiar name was Asellus, borne as a cognomen by the Cornelii and Claudii.

Praenomina

The main praenomina of the Asinii at Rome were Gaius and Gnaeus, to which they sometimes added other names, including Marcus, Lucius, Servius, and Quintus. The earliest of the Asinii bore the Oscan praenomen Herius, which was apparently of long standing amongst their ancestors.

Branches and cognomina

There were two main families of the Asinii at Rome. The earlier of these bore the cognomen Pollio, a surname originally designating a polisher of armour. The sons of Gaius Asinius Pollio, consul in 40 BC, each bore different surnames, including Pollio, Agrippa, Saloninus, Celer, and Gallus, some of which were passed on to their descendants. The Asinii Marcelli were descended from Marcus Asinius Agrippa.
Of these names, Agrippa was an old praenomen that came to be a common surname in the later Republic and under the Empire. Saloninus was derived from the Salonia gens, an ancient but undistinguished family from which this branch of the Asinii may have been descended. Celer, swift, belongs to a large class of surnames describing an individual's habits or physical characteristics. Gallus, a cockerel, is the same type of cognomen as Asina.
The other stirps of the Asinii, with the cognomen Rufus, originally indicating someone with red hair, appears in imperial times, and may well have been related to the Polliones. As with that family, the Asinii Rufi also bore a variety of other surnames, including Bassus, stout, and Quadratus, stocky, as well as names inherited from other gentes, such as Frugi, an agnomen of the Calpurnii, and Nicomachus, a surname of Greek origin.
Other surnames of the Asinii include Dento, indicating someone with prominent teeth, Lepidus, agreeable, and Praetextatus, probably a reference to the toga praetexta, a red-bordered toga worn by magistrates and Roman youths. Lepidus might allude to the bearer's descent from the Aemilii Lepidi, an illustrious family of the Republic. It is unclear how these Asinii might have been related to the two main families of the gens, as is the case with those Asinii who are mentioned without any surnames.

Members

Asinii Polliones, Galli, et Marcelli