Denarius issued by Gaius Coelius Caldus in 104 BC. The obverse depicts a head of
Roma, the reverse
Victoria driving a biga.[1]
The gens Coelia, occasionally written Coilia, was a
plebeian family at
ancient Rome. The Coelii are frequently confounded with the
Caelii, with some individuals called Caelius in manuscripts, while they appear as Coelius or Coilius on coins. The first of this
gens who obtained the
consulship was
Gaius Coelius Caldus in 94 BC.[2]
Praenomina
The Caelii mentioned in history used the
praenominaLucius, Gaius, and Marcus, all of which were amongst the most common names at Rome.
This list includes abbreviated
praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see
filiation.
Early Coelii
Lucius Coelius, commanded as a
legate in
Illyricum during the war against
Perseus, in 169 BC, and was defeated in his attempt to take the town of
Uscana.[7][8]
Lucius Coelius Antipater, a jurist and historian during the latter half of the second century BC.
Gaius (Coelius) Antipater, a legate of
Gaius Norbanus in 82 BC, was among the officers murdered at a banquet by their colleague,
Albinovanus. He was probably related to the historian, since their cognomen is otherwise unknown during Republican times.[9][10]
Lucius Coelius C. f. C. n. Caldus, septemvir
epulo.[14][15]
Gaius Coelius L. f. C. n. Caldus,
quaestor under
Cicero in
Cilicia in 50 BC; when Cicero departed the province, he left the administration in the hands of Caldus.[16][17]
Coelius Caldus, taken prisoner by the Germans following the defeat of
Publius Quinctilius Varus in AD 9, killed himself rather than be subjected to the torture he anticipated.[18]
Coelia Concordia, a Virgo Vestalis Maxima, or head of the
Vestals, erected in 385 a statue to
Vettius Agorius Praetextatus, whose wife later honored her in equal fashion. She is the last Vestal attested epigraphically.[22][23]
^Eck, Werner; Fehér, Bence; Kovács, Péter (2013). "Die Fasti consulares der Regierungszeit des Antoninus Pius. Eine Bestandsaufnahme seit Géza Alföldys Konsulat und Senatorenstand". Studia Epigraphica in Memoriam Géza Alföldy. Antiquitas. Reihe 1, Abhandlungen zur alten Geschichte (in German). Bonn: R. Habelt. pp. 69–90.
ISBN978-3-7749-3866-3.
George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII, pp. 103–184 (1897).
T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association (1952–1986).
Attilio Degrassi, Inscriptiones Latinae Liberae Rei Publicae, (Free Latin Inscriptions of the Republic, abbreviated ILLRP), La Nuova Italia, Florence (1957–1963).
D.P. Simpson, Cassell's Latin and English Dictionary, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York (1963).