Velia (gens)


The gens Velia was a minor plebeian family at Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the latter part of the first century AD. The first of the Velii to obtain the consulship was Decimus Velius Fidus in AD 144.

Origin

The Velii share their nomen with the Velian Hill, a spur of the Palatine in the heart of Rome, and also with the town of Velia in Lucania. Since the Velii are not mentioned until imperial times, they may have come from and taken their name from the town, which received the Roman franchise under the lex Julia of 90 BC.

Branches and cognomina

The only distinct family of the Velii bore the cognomen Rufus, "red", one of a large class of surnames deriving from a person's physical appearance. This cognomen would probably have been given to an ancestor of the Velii who had red hair. The other cognomina borne by the Velii appear to have been personal surnames, including Celer, swift, Fidus, faithful, and Longus, tall, alluding to the traits or characteristics of an individual, while Senex refers to an old man, and Cerealis, a devotee of Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, or to the grain with which she was associated.

Members