Cornelius, Aemilius, Fabius, Claudius, Julius, Junius, Sempronius, and Livius were all prominent Romen gens until the first century B.C. What happened to them and why did they fade from prominence in Rome?
Beginning with the conflict between Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Rome experienced intermittent civil wars throughout the first seventy years of the first century B.C. There was Marius Vs. Sulla, Pompey and Metellus Vs. Sertorius, Pompey versus Caesar, Antony and Octavian Vs the assassins of Caesar, and Octavian Vs Antony and Cleopatra. Some of these civil wars, notably Marius Vs. Sulla and Octavius and Antony Vs the assassins of Caesar, were followed by proscriptions, which were generally directed at wealthy aristocratic families. Being proscribed meant that you could be killed by anyone desiring a share of your wealth, and all of your wealth would be confiscated. Your slaves could betray you for the reward.
These civil wars, and proscriptions, in which the aristocrats were obliged to choose sides, were devastating to the Roman aristocratic class, and most of these gens just faded out of history. The first Emperors after the demise of the Republic belonged to the Claudian and Julian dynasty, but, after that dynasty ended, with the death of Emperor Nero, you see little evidence of the previously prominent Roman aristocratic families in the historical record.
Take, for example, the family of Cornelius Scipio. There were Consuls by that name as early as the sixth century B.C., shortly after the founding of the Republic. The family remained prominent throughout the fifth, fourth and third centuries B.C, and produced the brilliant general Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus who defeated the mighty Hannibal at the Battle of Zama in 202 B.C. There were still prominent individuals by that name during the second century B.C. During the first century B.C. we see mentioned the last prominent Scipio-he committed suicide after being defeated by Julius Caesar at the Battle of Thapsus.
With the end of the Republic, there was no longer a “Cursus Honorum” by which the scions of the aristocracy could gain prominence and maintain their grip on public affairs. Political power was concentrated in a single family, and there was no need for the oligarchy. The families that had been at the forefront of the Roman Republic for centuries faded into obscurity.
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