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37-451: The nomen Fulvius is evidently of Latin origin, and is derived from the cognomen Fulvus , originally designating someone with yellowish or golden-brown hair. Cicero reports that the Fulvii originally came to Rome from Tusculum , where some of them remained in his era. According to tradition, they obtained their sacra from Hercules after the completion of his twelve labours . By

74-436: A Roman citizen as a member of a gens . A gens , which may be translated as "race", "family", or "clan", constituted an extended Roman family, all of whom shared the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. Particularly in the early Roman Republic , the gens functioned as a state within the state, observing its own sacred rites and establishing private laws, which were binding on its members although not on

111-400: A defect of vision, but Horace indicates that Paetus describes a lesser distortion than Strabo , giving as an example a father referring to his son as Paetus , although he was called Strabo , since his eyesight was not that poor. The slight distortion indicated by Paetus was even considered endearing, and it was an epithet of Venus , with much the same meaning as the modern proverb, "love

148-407: A fuller, based on a Lucius Natta, supposedly the brother-in-law of Publius Clodius Pulcher . Cicero mentions this Natta on two occasions, but does not mention his gentile name. Servius calls him Pinarius Natta, in a passage of uncertain genuineness, but the only known wife of Clodius was Fulvia ; thus it has been speculated that her brother could have been Lucius Fulvius Natta, although that surname

185-641: A member of a Roman gens , and in its later form, as an indicator of status, the nomen continued to be used for several decades after the collapse of Imperial authority in the west. The last datable example of a nomen gentilicium belongs to a Julia Rogatiana, who died at Volubilis in AD 655. In the east, nomina such as Flavius continued until the early 8th century; Flavius Basilius was Pagarch of Aphrodito in Egypt in 710. Ronald Syme Sir Ronald Syme , OM , FBA (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989)

222-413: A new Rome. A posthumous work (edited for publication by A. Birley), Anatolica (1995), is devoted to Strabo and deals with the geography of southern Armenia and mainly eastern parts of Asia Minor. His shorter works are collected in the seven volumes of Roman Papers (1979–1991), the first two volumes of which are edited by E. Badian , and the remainder by Anthony Birley . Syme's doctoral students at

259-598: Is also regarded as authoritative. His four books and numerous essays on the Historia Augusta , including the publication Emperors and Biography: Studies in the Historia Augusta, firmly established the fraudulent nature of that work; he famously dubbed the anonymous author "a rogue grammarian". Allen M. Ward stated in The Classical World , Vol. 65, No. 3 (Nov., 1971), pp. 100–101, that: "No one interested in

296-399: Is blind". As the cognomen of Curvus was superseded by that of Paetinus , so the latter was in turn superseded by Nobilior , meaning "very noble". This name seems to have been first assumed by the consul of 255 BC, perhaps with the implication that he was more noble than the other Fulvii; his descendants dropped the name of Paetinus . Centumalus is a cognomen of obscure meaning. From

333-479: Is lacking. Sir Ronald's work at Unesco is referred to in the autobiographical works of a collaborator, Jean d'Ormesson . After being elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1944, Syme was appointed Camden Professor of Ancient History at Brasenose College, Oxford , in 1949, a position which he held until his retirement in 1970. Syme was also appointed fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford , from 1970 until

370-494: Is otherwise unknown in the Fulvia gens. Ronald Syme argued that it was possible that Natta was a maternal half-brother of Fulvia, from her an earlier marriage of her mother to a Pinarius Natta. Drumann, however, provides reason to suppose that Clodius was married twice, and that his first wife was Pinaria; in which case Natta was not the brother of Fulvia. Nomen gentilicium The nomen gentilicium (or simply nomen )

407-496: Is the first cognomen of the Fulvii to occur in history, and belongs to a large class of surnames derived from a person's physical characteristics. Members of this family subsequently bore the surnames Paetinus and Nobilior , which displaced Curvus . Paetinus , derived from Paetus , was a common surname originally referring to someone with a slight cast in the eye. Pliny the Elder mentions it alongside Strabo , which also indicated

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444-455: Is to modify the shape of familiar names. Several instances have been detected. As consul in 258, the HA produces 'Nemmius Fuscus' (or 'Memmius Fuscus'). Regarding the HA authors' identity, Syme states: "From time to time the deceiver lowers the mask. For example, when scourging the follies and fraudulence of other biographers (whom he invents), notably 'Adius Junius Cordus'. The prime revelation occurs in

481-508: Is widely considered a masterly and controversial analysis of Roman political life in the period following the 44 BCE assassination of Julius Caesar . Inspired by the rise of fascist regimes in Germany and Italy, and following Tacitus in both literary style and pessimistic insight, the work challenged prevailing attitudes concerning the last years of the Roman Republic . Syme's main conclusion

518-438: The nomen was the middle of the tria nomina ("three names"), after the praenomen and before the cognomen . For women , the nomen was often the only name used until the late Republic. For example, three members of gens Julia were Gaius Julius Caesar and his sisters Julia Major and Julia Minor ("Julia the elder" and "Julia the younger"). The nomen gentilicium , or "gentile name" designated

555-655: The Gaisford Prize for Greek Prose for translating a section of Thomas More 's Utopia into Platonic prose, and the following year won the Prize again (for Verse) for a translation of part of William Morris 's Sigurd the Volsung into Homeric hexameters . His first scholarly work was published by the Journal of Roman Studies in 1928. In 1929 he became a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford , where he became known for his studies of

592-781: The Roman army and the frontiers of the Empire . During the Second World War , he worked as a press attaché in the British Embassies of Belgrade (where he acquired a knowledge of Serbo-Croatian ) and Ankara , later taking a chair in classical philology at Istanbul University . His refusal to discuss the nature of his work during this period led some to speculate that he worked for the British intelligence services in Turkey , but proof for this hypothesis

629-455: The H.A. or Roman history of the third century A.D. can ignore this book." On the content of the book itself, Peter White writes: "Syme recovers portions, though miserably small portions, of the true history of the emperors from Severus Alexander to Diocletian. There are still other essays that escape this enumeration. Among them are two of the best in the book, an investigation of the patterns by which personal names have been faked and an expose of

666-487: The Republic was a pretence on which he had built a monarchy based on personal relationships and the ambition of Rome's political families. In The Roman Revolution Syme first used, with dazzling effect, the historical method of prosopography —tracing the linkages of kinship, marriage, and shared interest among the various leading families of republican and imperial Rome . By stressing prosopographical analysis, Syme rejected

703-509: The beginning of the First Punic War . They were presumably descended from the same family as the other Fulvii of the Republic, but the exact manner of the relationship is unclear, unless perhaps they were descended from a younger son of Marcus Fulvius Curvus Paetinus, consul in 305 BC. The surname Bambalio , belonging to one of the Fulvii of Tusculum, alluded to his tendency to stammer. To this list, some scholars append Nacca , or Natta ,

740-467: The community as a whole. Although the other peoples of Italy also possessed nomina (plural of nomen ), the distinction between Romans and the non-Roman peoples of Italy disappeared as various communities were granted the Roman franchise and, after the Social War (91–87 BC) , that was extended to most of Italy. Possession of the nomen gentilicium then identified a man as a Roman citizen. The nomen

777-470: The duration of an Empire links directly to the character of the men who are in charge of the imperial administration, in particular that of the colonies. In his own words, the "strength and vitality of an empire is frequently due to the new aristocracy from the periphery". This book is currently out of print. Syme's biography of Sallust (1964), based on his Sather Lectures at the University of California ,

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814-556: The exordium of the Vita Aureliani . The Prefect of the City, after friendly and encouraging discourse on the high themes of history and veracity, tells the author to write as his fancy dictates. All the classical historians were liars, and he can join their company with a clear conscience..." – "Well then, write as you will. You will be safe in saying whatever you wish, since you will have as comrades in falsehood those authors whom we admire for

851-529: The filiation of Gnaeus Fulvius Maximus Centumalus, the consul of 298 BC, and the first of this surname, it appears probable that he was the brother of Marcus Fulvius Paetinus, the consul of the preceding year, in which case the Centumali were also descended from the Fulvii Curvi. Flaccus , meaning "flabby", or "flop-eared", was the name of a prominent family of the Fulvia gens, which first appears in history around

888-551: The force of ideas in politics, dismissing most such invocations of constitutional and political principle as nothing more than "political catchwords". In this bleak cynicism about political ideas and political life, The Roman Revolution strongly resembled another controversial historical masterwork, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III , published in 1930 by the specialist in eighteenth-century British political history, Sir Lewis B. Namier . Syme's next great work

925-601: The late 1980s, where an annual lecture was established in his memory. Syme was knighted in 1959. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences the same year. He received the Order of Merit in 1976. He continued his prolific writing and editing until his death at the age of 86. The work for which Syme is chiefly remembered, The Roman Revolution (1939),

962-478: The latter part of the fourth century BC, they had joined the nobiles through the patronage of the Fabii , who supported the successful candidacy of Lucius Fulvius Curvus for the consulship. The earliest branch of the Fulvii used the praenomina Lucius , Marcus , and Quintus , which they occasionally supplemented with other names, including Gaius , Gnaeus , and Servius . Lucius disappears early, and

999-592: The procedures by which the biographer concocted the first five lives of pretenders and heirs apparent." Syme gives 10 ways to decipher fictitious names in a chapter called 'Bogus Names'. He states: IX. Perverted names. One example is clear. Using Suetonius, the author changed 'Mummia' to 'Memmia' (Alex. 20. 3, cf. above). That is a mere trifle in the devices of the HA. If an author is anxious to be plausible, he may try to convey an impression of novelty (and hence of authenticity) by names that look original because different. Thus 'Avulnius' and 'Murrentius' (Aur. 13. I). One trick

1036-667: The single most thorough study of a major historian ever published. In 1958, Oxford University Press published Colonial Élites. Rome, Spain and the Americas , which presents the three lectures that Syme offered at McMaster University in January 1958 as part of the Whidden Lectures . Syme compares the three empires that have endured for the longest periods of time in Western History: Rome , Spain , and Britain . Syme considers that

1073-487: The style of their histories."(Aur. 2. 2) His History in Ovid (1978) places the great Roman poet Ovid firmly in his social context. Syme's The Augustan Aristocracy (1986) traces the prominent families under Augustus as a sequel to The Roman Revolution . Syme examined how and why Augustus promoted bankrupt patrician families and new politicians simultaneously to forge a coalition in government that would back his agenda for

1110-465: Was a New Zealand -born historian and classicist . He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Roman Empire since Edward Gibbon . His great work was The Roman Revolution (1939), a masterly and controversial analysis of Roman political life in the period following the assassination of Julius Caesar . Syme

1147-481: Was a hereditary name borne by the peoples of Roman Italy and later by the citizens of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire . It was originally the name of one's gens (family or clan) by patrilineal descent. However, as Rome expanded its frontiers and non-Roman peoples were progressively granted citizenship and concomitant nomen , the latter lost its value in indicating patrilineal ancestry. For men,

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1184-488: Was an essential element of Roman nomenclature throughout Roman history, but its usefulness as a distinguishing element declined precipitously following the Constitutio Antoniniana , which effectively granted the nomen "Aurelius" to vast numbers of newly-enfranchised citizens. Countless other "new Romans" acquired the nomina of important families in this manner during imperial times. In the 4th century, Aurelius

1221-854: Was born to David and Florence Syme in Eltham, New Zealand in 1903, where he attended primary and secondary school; a bad case of measles seriously damaged his vision during this period. He moved to New Plymouth Boys' High School (a house of which bears his name today) at the age of 15, and was head of his class for both of his two years. He continued to the University of Auckland and Victoria University of Wellington , where he studied French language and literature while working on his degree in Classics . He then attended Oriel College, Oxford , between 1925 and 1927, gaining First Class honours in Literae Humaniores ( ancient history and philosophy). In 1926, he won

1258-466: Was his definitive two-volume biography of Tacitus (1958), his favourite among the ancient historians. The work's forty-five chapters and ninety-five appendices make up the most complete study of Tacitus yet produced, backed by an exhaustive treatment of the historical and political background—the Empire's first century—of his life. Syme blended biographical investigation, historical narrative and interpretation, and literary analysis to produce what may be

1295-559: Was not used by the later Fulvii. The Fulvii Centumali mentioned in history bore Gnaeus and Marcus exclusively, while the Flacci depended on Marcus and Quintus , supplemented by Gnaeus , Servius , and Gaius . Fulvii with other praenomina occur toward the end of the Republic. The Fulvii of the Republic bore a variety of cognomina, including Bambalio , Centumalus , Curvus , Flaccus , Gillo , Nobilior , Paetinus , and Veratius or Neratius . Curvus , which means "bent" or "crooked,"

1332-417: Was surpassed in number by Flavius , and other names became quite common, including Valerius , Claudius , Fabius , Julius and Junius . Those names no longer had any utility in indicating one's patrilineal ancestry and became largely perfunctory. They could be changed to indicate rank or status, and even abbreviated, much as praenomina had been. Both in its original form, identifying an individual as

1369-416: Was that the structure of the Republic and its Senate were inadequate for the needs of Roman rule; Augustus merely did what was necessary to restore order in public life, but was a dictatorial figure whose true nature was cloaked by the panegyrics written to honour him in his last years and after his death. "The Roman constitution", Syme wrote, "was a screen and a sham"; Octavian 's supposed restoration of

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