Ovidia (gens)


The gens Ovidia was a plebeian family of ancient Rome. Only a few members of this gens are mentioned in history, of whom the most famous is unquestionably the poet Publius Ovidius Naso, but others are known from inscriptions.

Origin

In his Tristia, Ovid explains that he was descended from an ancient family of equestrian rank, but only moderate wealth. He was born at Sulmo, in the country of the Paeligni, an Oscan-speaking people of central Italy, related to the Sabines and Samnites. The nomen Ovidius would seem to belong to a class of gentilicia formed from other names using the common name-forming suffix -idius, in which case it might be a patronymic surname based on the Oscan praenomen Ovius. Alternatively, the name might have been derived from a cognomen Ovis, referring to a sheep. Chase also mentions a nomen Ofidius, an orthographic variant of Aufidius, derived from the river Aufidus; Ovidius could perhaps be another orthography.

Praenomina

The praenomina found most frequently among the Ovidii are Lucius and Gaius, although they also used Quintus, Marcus, Publius, and in at least one instance, Titus. These were the most common names throughout Roman history.

Branches and cognomina

The only important surname of the Ovidii was Naso, borne by the poet. This was a relatively common cognomen, describing someone with a large or prominent nose, although it is not known whether Ovid himself had such a feature, or whether the surname was originally bestowed upon one of his ancestors.

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