Lucius Vipsanius (father of Agrippa)
Lucius Vipsanius | |
---|---|
Known for | Father of Marcus Agrippa |
Children | Lucius Vipsanius Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Vipsania Polla |
Lucius Vipsanius was the father of the
Attestation
The only surviving direct attestations to Lucius are in inscriptions honoring his son Marcus where his filiation is present. For example on the Pantheon, Rome an engraving reads "M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIVM·FECIT": "M[arcus] Agrippa L[ucii] f[ilius] co[n]s[ul] tertium fecit" meaning "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, made [this building] when consul for the third time".[3][a]
Seneca the Elder makes indirect reference to Lucius when mentioning that Marcus often omitted his nomen "Vipsanius" from his name due to embarrassment for his father's low rank,[4] although many modern historians doubt the veracity of Seneca's claim and believe Marcus simply followed a trend common at the time to exclude nomina. Seneca's claim may have been influenced by negative propaganda.[5]
In the past some historians such as Peter Schreiner Frandsen attempted to identify Lucius with a rhetorician named Vipsanius Atticus mentioned by Seneca the Elder as a student of Apollodorus of Pergamon.[9] This theory proposes based on the cognomen Atticus that Marcus was on his father's side in some way related to his father-in-law Titus Pomponius Atticus. This theory is flawed as Pomponius cognomen was not hereditary but derived from his personal relation to the region of Attica (near Athens). Both Meyer Reinhold and Jean-Michel Roddaz reject the theory in their respective books.[10][11]
Cassius Dio mentions Lucius in his indices,[12] but says nothing about him.[10] The lack of further references to him makes Roddaz confident in believing that Lucius was not known in Rome at the time of Marcus career and that Lucius may even have died before his son rose to fame.[10]
Background and possible career
The family of Lucius Vipsanius probably originated in the
Frandsen conjectured based on his identification of Lucius with the rhetor Atticus that Lucius was a teacher of the teenage Octavius just as Apollodorus had been, thus explaining how Marcus and the future emperor met each other and became friends. Reinhold rejects this theory,[17] as does Jonathan August Weichert and Rudolf Daniel.[18]
Elaine Fantham has noted that Lucius seems to have been an obscure enough figure that despite it being well known that Marcus's family was of ignoble descent no specific allegations of his father holding a vulgar occupation were leveled against him. She notes this as odd since other persons of far more prestigious status faced such accusations in Rome.[3] Roddaz noted the same, stating that Agrippa overall received less slander from contemporary enemies than Augustus other close confidantes because his father was so unknown.[19]
Family
Lucius married a woman of unknown name and had at least three children, besides Marcus he had a daughter nicknamed Polla, and another son of uncertain name but who is often called Lucius due to being older than Marcus,[b] but Reinhold has pointed out that it's possible that Lucius had other sons and the one brother of Marcus mentioned in ancient sources may not have been his oldest.[20] Marcus second son with his second wife Julia was named Lucius Caesar, probably after his grandfather.[21] Through the children from Marcus second marriage Lucius was great-grandfather of Roman emperor Caligula and empress Agrippina, as well as great-great-grandfather of emperor Nero.
Some modern writers such as Fantham
Cultural depictions
Notes
- ca. 118-126, replaced a much smaller temple built by Marcus when he was consul for the third time.
- ^ Per Roman naming conventions the eldest son almost always shared the father's praenomen (first name) during the Republican period.
References
- ^ ISBN 2-7283-0000-0
- ^ a b Reinhold, Meyer (1933). Marcus Agrippa: A Biography. W.F. Humphrey Press. p. 7.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-134-32344-9.
- ISBN 2-7283-0000-0
- ISBN 2-7283-0000-0
- ^ Lucius Annaeus Seneca (1935), De Beneficiis, pp. 188–189 – via Loeb Classical Library
- ^ https://repositorio.bc.ufg.br/tede/bitstream/tede/11727/3/Disserta%C3%A7%C3%A3o%20-%20Dyeenmes%20Proc%C3%B3pio%20de%20Carvalho%20-%202021.pdf 206-207
- ^ Daniel, Rudolf (1933). M. Vipsanius Agrippa Eine Monographie : Inaugural-Dissertation (in German). M. und H. Marcus. p. 1.
- ^ Smith, William, ed. (1880). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. J. Murray. p. 415.
- ^ ISBN 2-7283-0000-0
- ^ Reinhold, Meyer (1933). Marcus Agrippa: A Biography. W.F. Humphrey Press. pp. 10–11, 42.
- ^ Dio, Index 48 and 53
- ISBN 2-7283-0000-0
- ISBN 978-3-11-026722-8.
- ^ Stern, Gaius (2006). Women, Children, and Senators on the Ara Pacis Augustae A Study of Augustus' Vision of a New World Order in 13 BC. University of California, Berkeley. p. 3.
- ISBN 2-7283-0000-0
- ^ Reinhold, Meyer (1933). Marcus Agrippa: A Biography. W.F. Humphrey Press. p. 10.
- ^ Daniel, Rudolf (1933). M. Vipsanius Agrippa Eine Monographie : Inaugural-Dissertation (in German). M. und H. Marcus. p. 2.
- ISBN 2-7283-0000-0
- ^ Reinhold, Meyer (1933). Marcus Agrippa: A Biography. W.F. Humphrey Press. p. 11.
- ^ Reinhold, Meyer (1933). Marcus Agrippa: A Biography. W.F. Humphrey Press. p. 103.
- ^ Reinhold, Meyer (1933). Marcus Agrippa: A Biography. W.F. Humphrey Press. p. 10.