Rufia gens


The gens Rufia, occasionally spelled Ruffia, was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are not mentioned in history until imperial times, and they achieved little prominence until the late third century, from which time the family rose in importance, gaining the consulship on a number of occasions from the time of Constantine the Great to that of Justinian, and frequently holding the post of praefectus urbi.

Origin

The nomen Rufius is derived from the common Latin surname Rufus, red, originally given to someone with red hair. It is frequently confounded with Rufrius, presumably from the related ruber, reddish or ruddy. Chase classifies Rufius among those gentilicia that either originated at Rome, or cannot be shown to have come from anywhere else.

Branches and cognomina

The Rufii used a variety of personal cognomina, which was typical of Roman nomenclature in imperial times. The only distinct family name seems to have been Festus, joyous or festive, which appears among the Rufii for several centuries. The nomen Caeionius, apparently a variation of Ceionius, suggests that some of the Rufii were probably descended from the Ceionii, and acquired the nomen Rufius through a female line, although this is uncertain given the variability of Roman nomenclature under the Empire, in which nomina could be rearranged for political reasons, to emphasize family connections. Avienus, which appears multiple times among the Rufii from the fourth to the sixth century, was probably acquired in this way; it was the nomen of an obscure plebeian family, while another of the family bore Postumius, the nomen of one of Rome's great patrician houses; it occurs twice more among the Rufii a century later, once in the derivative form Postumianus, although whether the latter were descended from the earlier Postumius is unknown. Volusianus, derived from the ancient gens Volusia, was also passed down for several generations.

Members