Acilia (gens)

The gens Acilia was a Roman family, or gens that flourished from the middle of the third century BC until at least the fifth century AD, a period of seven hundred years. It was probably of plebeian origin, and the first two branches, or stirpes to appear were certainly plebeian. The first member of the gens to achieve prominence was Gaius Acilius Glabrio, who was quaestor in 203 and tribune of the plebs in 197 BC.

Praenomina

The Acilii were particularly fond of the praenomina Manius, which they used more than any other. They also used the names Gaius, Lucius, Caeso, and Marcus.

Branches and cognomina

The three main branches of the Acilii bore the cognomina Aviola, Balbus, and Glabrio. The Glabriones were the first family to appear in history, and they continued the longest. Both they and the Balbi are were certainly plebeian, as many of them were tribunes of the plebs. A tomb of the Acilii Glabriones was found in Rome in 1888. The Glabriones also had a garden, the Horti Aciliorum, on the Pincian Hill in the 2nd century.

Acilia

Acilia is a neighborhood and a frazione of Rome, Italy, located about half- way between Rome and Ostia, along the Via Ostiense. With a population 66,932 in 2008 it is the third largest Italian frazione after Ostia and Mestre, sometimes considered simply a part, and not a hamlet, of Venice.

History

The name remembers the Roman family of the Acilii, which during the Roman age owned their estates here.

In the years around World War I the zone, once plagued by malaria, was reclaimed. The first modern settlements took place during the 1920s, but only the opening of the Via del mare and of the railway between Rome and Ostia boosted the development of the area.

In 1940 Italian dictator Benito Mussolini inaugurated a settlement designed by the engineer Dario Pater. Here were hosted many inhabitants coming from Borgo, which had lost their homes because of the demolition of the spina.

Today Acilia belongs to the XIII Municipio, the part of Rome that overlooks the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Transport

Acilia is served by a railway station on the suburban line Rome-Lido. Roman terminal of this line is at Roma Porta San Paolo station, very close to Piramide stop (Rome Metro, Line B) and not too far from the station of Roma Ostiense.