Marcus Agrippa: Right-hand Man of Caesar Augustus (4 page)

16. Agrippa’s Travels, 18–12 BCE

17. Plan of Antiocheia

18. Agrippa’s
Orbis Terrarum
reconstructed as a map

M. Caelius T. f. Lemonia Bononia

This is the official name of a centurion of
Legio
XIIX preserved on an inscription now in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum in Bonn, Germany (
CIL
XIII.8648;
AE
1952). His name embodies the elements of Roman naming practice. It translates as ‘Marcus Caelius, son of Titus, of the voting tribe of Lemonia, from Bononia’. Marcus is his forename (
praenomen
) by which his family and close friends called him. In inscriptions, public records and narrative texts it was abbreviated. The standard abbreviations for common
praenomina
were:

Caelius is his clan or family name (
nomen genticulum
). Many of these clans such as the Claudia and Cornelia were famous old families of Rome with proud traditions. Then follows the filiation or patrymonic of the father’s
praenomen
, whose full name would have been Titus Caelius. (If adopted, that change of affiliation was shown in his name with the addition of
-ianus
at the end of the
nomen genticulum
, as in Agrippianus.) As a Roman citizen his family was associated with one of thirty-five voting tribes: in elections Caelius voted with the Lemonian tribe. The final element is the place of his birth (
origo
) or domicile (
domus
), which is in this case Bononia, modern Bologna in Italy. Together these distinguished this particular Marcus Caelius from another bearing the same name. To clearly tell men apart with the same name, with their warped sense of humour, Romans often adopted a third nickname (
cognomen
) such as Rufus ‘red haired’, Paulus ‘shorty’ or Brutus ‘stupid’. Men who had achieved great victories in war might be granted use of a honourific title (
agnomen
) such as Africanus meaning ‘the African’ (or ‘of Africa’), or Germanicus ‘the German’ (or ‘of Germania’) indicating where it was won.

Through his three marriages, Agrippa would become progenitor to many subsequent members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, whose position he helped to raise.

(by Caecilia Attica)

1. Vipsania Agrippina I, 36 BCE–20 CE, had at least 6 children by 2 husbands (1 by Tiberius, at least 5 by Caius Asinius Gallus).

A. Drusus Iulius Caesar, 13 BCE–23 CE, had 3 children.

I. Iulia Caesaris, 5–43 CE, had at least 1 child.

a. Rubellius Plautus, 33–62 CE, may have had several children.

II. Tiberius Iulius Caesar (?Nero) ‘Gemellus’, 19–37 or 38 CE, died without issue.

III. Germanicus Iulius Caesar (?Nero) II ‘Gemellus’, 19–23 CE, died young.

B. Caius Asinius Pollio, died 45 CE, children unknown.

C. Marcus Asinius Agrippa, died 26 CE.

D. (?Cnaeus) Asinius Saloninus, died 22 CE.

E. Servius Asinius Celer, died before mid-47, had 1 child.

I. Asinia Agrippina.

F. (?Lucius) Asinius Gallus.

(by Iulia Caesaris)

2. Caius Iulius Caesar, 20 BCE–4 CE, died without issue.

3. Vipsania Iulia (Iulia the Younger), 19 BCE–28 CE, had 2 children.