Hélvia (gens)

A gens Helvia era uma família plebéia da Roma Antiga. Esta gens é mencionada pela primeira vez na época da Segunda Guerra Púnica, mas o único membro da família a ocupar qualquer magistratura curule durante a República foi Caio Hélvio, que foi pretor em 198 a.C. A família caiu na obscuridade depois, da qual foi posteriormente resgatada pelo imperador Pertinax, quase quatro séculos depois.

Praenomina

Sabe-se que os Helvii da República usaram os prenomes Cneu (Gnaeus), Caio(Gaius) e Marco (Marcus). Na época imperial encontramos também Lúcio (Lucius) e Públio (Publius). Todos estes eram os prenomes mais comuns na história romana.

Ramos e Cognomes

Os sobrenomes dos Helvii durante a República incluíam Blasio, Cinna e Mancia, mas vários membros da família aparecem sem cognome. Sob o Império, vários Helvii são encontrados com o sobrenome Rufus, mas não se sabe se constituíam uma família distinta da gens Helvia.

Membros

• Cneu Hélvio (Gnaeus Helvius), era um tribuno militar que foi morto em combate com os Gauleses e Cartagineses perto de Mediolanum in 203 a.C.
• Gaius Helvius, praetor in BC 198, with Cato the Elder, his colleague as plebeian aedile the previous year. He accompanied the consul Sextus Aelius Paetus into Cisalpine Gaul, and received command of one of the consul's armies. Nine years later, in 189, he was legate to the consul Gnaeus Manlius Vulso in Galatia.
• Marcus Helvius Blasio, plebeian aedile in BC 198, and praetor in 197, assigned the province of Hispania Ulterior. On his return home in 195, he was attacked by an army of 20,000 Celtiberi near the town of Illiturgi in Hispania Citerior; his guard of 6,000 defeated the Celtiberi and took the town. He was awarded an ovation, and in 194 was one of the commissioners for founding the colony of Sipontum in Apulia.
• Helvius Mancia, an orator of some cleverness, whose poor appearance was mocked by either Gaius Julius Caesar Strabo, with whom he was engaged in a lawsuit, or (according to Pliny), by Lucius Licinius Crassus, the orator, about 90 BC.
• Helvius Blasio, a friend of Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, for whom he tried to set an example by taking his own life, when Brutus was captured by his enemies.
• Gaius Helvius Cinna, a celebrated poet, friend of Catullus, and tribune of the plebs in 44 BC. He was lynched at Julius Caesar's funeral after being mistaken, on account of his name, for the praetor Lucius Cornelius Cinna, who had just delivered an incendiary speech in support of the dictator's assassins.
• Marcus Helvius Rufus, a soldier who was recognized for his bravery in battle against Tacfarinas. He might be the same person as Marcus Helvius Rufus Civica.
• Marcus Helvius M. f. Rufus Civica, a centurion primus pilus, named in a dedicatory inscription from Varia in Latium, dating from the reign of Tiberius.
• Helvia, the wife of Seneca the Elder, and mother of Seneca the Younger.
• Marcus Helvius Geminus, raised to the patriciate by Claudius, was governor of Macedonia, and proconsular legate of Asia.
• Lucius Helvius Agrippa, proconsular governor of Sardinia from AD 68 to 69.
• Helvia Procula, the wife of Gaius Dillius Vocula, commander of the twenty-second legion. When her husband was slain during the Batavian rebellion in AD 70, Helvia dedicated a monument at Rome commemorating his military and political career.
• Gnaeus Helvius Sabinus, a candidate for aedile of Pompeii shortly before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Over one hundred notices for his election have been found.
• Helvius Successus, father of the emperor Pertinax, was a freedman, who worked as a wool merchant and charcoal-burner at Alba Pompeia.
• Marcus Helvius Clemens Dextrianus, equestrian governor of Raetia during the reign of Commodus.
• Publius Helvius Pertinax, emperor from January to March, AD 193. After an illustrious military and political career, he was proclaimed emperor following the murder of Commodus, and embarked upon a series of reforms; but in his haste he quickly made enemies, and was soon dispatched by the Praetorian Guard.

Veja também

• Lista das gentes romanas

Bibliografia

• Políbio, Historiae (As Histórias).
• Fasti Triunfales .
• Marco Túlio Cícero, De Oratore .
• Caio Valério Catulo Carmina .
• Titus Livius ( Lívio ), Ab Urbe Condita (História de Roma).
• Públio Ovídio Naso ( Ovídio ), Íbis .
• Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac Dictorum Memorabium (Fatos e provérbios memoráveis).
• Lucius Annaeus Seneca ( Sêneca, o Jovem ), De Consolatione ad Helviam .
• Públio Cornélio Tácito, Annales .
• Plutarco, Vidas dos Nobres Gregos e Romanos .
• Gaius Plinius Secundus ( Plínio, o Velho ), Naturalis Historia (História Natural).
• Appianus Alexandrinus ( Appian ), Bellum Civile (A Guerra Civil).
• Marco Fábio Quintiliano ( Quintiliano ), Institutio Oratoria .
• Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus ( Suetônio ), De Vita Caesarum (Vidas dos Césares, ou Os Doze Césares).
• Lúcio Cássio Dio Cocceianus ( Cássio Dio ), História Romana .
• Dicionário de biografia e mitologia grega e romana, William Smith (ed.), John Murray, Londres (1849).
• Theodor Mommsen et alii, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (O Corpo das Inscrições Latinas, abreviado CIL ), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853-presente).
• Paul von Rohden, Elimar Klebs e Hermann Dessau, Prosopographia Imperii Romani (A Prosopografia do Império Romano, abreviado PIR ), Berlim (1898).
• T. Robert S. Broughton, Os Magistrados da República Romana, American Philological Association (1952).
• Edward Courtney (ed.), Os Poetas Latinos Fragmentários, Oxford University Press (1993),ISBN 0-19-814775-9 .
• Alison E. Cooley e MGL Cooley, Pompéia e Herculano: A Sourcebook, 2ª ed. , Routledge, Londres (2014).