Pollia (gens)


The gens Pollia was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. The gens must have been very old, as one of the original Servian tribes was named after it, suggesting that the Pollii were important landowners during the Roman monarchy. However, few Pollii are mentioned in history, and none of them attained any of the higher offices of the Roman state. A number of Pollii are known from inscriptions.

Origin

The nomen Pollius seems to be a patronymic surname derived from the old praenomen Paullus, "little", which was little used in historical times, except in its feminine form, Paulla, or as a cognomen, particularly by the great patrician house of the Aemilii. An alternative derivation would be from the surname Pollio, originally referring to one who polished arms. Chase classifies Pollius among those gentilicia which either originated at Rome, or are not known to have come from anywhere else.

Praenomina

The Pollii used a variety of praenomina, especially Publius, Gaius, Marcus, Gnaeus, and Lucius, all of which were very common throughout Roman history. Other names appear occasionally, including Quintus and Numerius, of which the latter was widespread, but uncommon.

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