Cilnia (gens)


The gens Cilnia was an Etruscan family during the time of the Roman Republic. The gens is best known from Gaius Cilnius Maecenas, a trusted friend and advisor of Augustus, who was famous for his immense wealth and patronage of the arts.

Origin of the gens

The Cilnii hailed from the Etruscan town of Arretium, where they were amongst the local nobility, and may perhaps have held the kingly dignity in ancient times. Their nomen was originally written Cfelne or Cfenle, which was subsequently Latinized as Cilnius, much as the Etruscan Lecne became Licinius. The Cilnii were driven from their native town by an opposing party in 301 B.C., but were restored by the Romans, and ever afterwards were supporters of Roman interests.

Branches and cognomina of the gens

The only family of the Cilnii to achieve prominence bore the cognomen Maecenas, sometimes found as Maecaenas or Maecoenas. They claimed descent from Lars Porsena, the legendary king of Clusium, who played a prominent role in the early history of the Roman Republic. The name may be derived from a place, perhaps the same where the wines called the vina Maecenatiana were produced. On Etruscan funerary urns, the names of Cilnius and Maecenas occur separately, but never together, from which Müller concludes that these families did not unite until a later period. At Rome, the family was considered part of the equestrian order. The surnames Paetinus and Proculus are also known to have belonged to members of the Cilnii.

Members of the gens