Aquillia (gens)

The gens Aquillia or Aquilia was a family at Rome with both patrician and plebeian branches. This gens was of great antiquity. Two of the Aquillii are mentioned among the Roman nobles who conspired to bring back the Tarquins, and a member of the house, Gaius Aquillius Tuscus, was consul in 487 BC.

The nomen Aquilius or Aquillius is probably derived from aquila, an eagle. On coins and inscriptions the name is almost always written Aquillius, but in manuscripts generally with a single l. The oldest branch of the family bore the cognomen Tuscus, suggesting that the gens may have been of Etruscan origin, although the nomen of the gens is indisputably Latin, and the name Tuscus could have been acquired in other ways.

The oldest families of the Aquillii bore the praenomina Gaius, Lucius, and Marcus, which were the three most common names at all periods of Roman history. However, one family, which rose to considerable prominence in the final century of the Republic, preferred the less-common praenomen Manius.

The cognomina of the Aquillii under the Republic are Corvus, Crassus, Florus, Gallus, and Tuscus.

Tuscus, the oldest surname of the gens, means "Etruscan", and this branch of the family was certainly patrician. Corvus refers to a raven. This surname is more famous from the gens Valeria. The Aquilii Flori first appear during the First Punic War, although they must have existed since the fourth century BC, and flourished at least until the time of Augustus. Gallus may refer to a cock, or to a Gaul. Crassus, a surname common in many gentes, may be translated as "thick," "dull," "simple," or "crude."

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