Editing Clodius (section)

==Republican era==

===Publius Clodius Pulcher===
{{main|Publius Clodius Pulcher}}
<!--the footnote at the end of this section is the source for the entire section-->During the [[Roman Republic|Late Republic]], the spelling ''Clodius'' is most prominently associated with [[Publius Clodius Pulcher]], a [[populares|popularis]] politician who gave up his patrician status through [[Roman adoption|an order]] in order to qualify for the office of [[tribune#Plebeian tribune|tribune of the ''plebs'']]. Clodius positioned himself as a champion of the urban ''[[plebs]]'', supporting free grain for the poor and the right of association in guilds (''[[Collegium (ancient Rome)|collegia]]''); because of this individual's ideology, ''Clodius'' has often been taken as a more "plebeian" spelling and a gesture of political solidarity. Clodius's two elder brothers, the [[Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul 54 BC)|Appius Claudius Pulcher]] who was [[Roman consul|consul]] in 54 BC and the [[Gaius Claudius Pulcher (praetor 56 BC)|C. Claudius Pulcher]] who was praetor in 56 BC, conducted more conventional political careers and are referred to in contemporary sources with the traditional spelling.

The view that ''Clodius'' represents a plebeian or politicized form has been questioned by Clodius's chief modern-era biographer. In ''The Patrician Tribune'', W. Jeffrey Tatum points out that the spelling is also associated with Clodius's sisters and that "the political explanation … is almost certainly wrong." A plebeian branch of the ''gens'', the Claudii Marcelli, retained the supposedly patrician spelling, while there is some [[epigraphy|inscriptional]] evidence that the ''-o-'' form may also have been used on occasion by close male relatives of the "patrician tribune" Clodius. Tatum argues that the use of ''-o-'' by the "chic" [[Clodia (wife of Metellus)|Clodia]] was a fashionable affectation, and that Clodius, whose perhaps inordinately loving relationship with his sister was the subject of much gossip and insinuation, was imitating his stylish sibling. The [[Claudia gens#Etymology|linguistic variation of ''o'' for ''au'']] was characteristic of the [[Umbrian language]], of which [[Sabine]] was a branch. Forms using ''o'' were considered archaic or rustic in the 50s BC, and the use of ''Clodius'' would have been either a whimsical gesture of [[pastoral|pastoral fantasy]], or a trendy assertion of [[antiquarianism|antiquarian]] authenticity.<ref>W. Jeffrey Tatum, ''The Patrician Tribune: Publius Clodius Pulcher'' (University of North Carolina Press, 1999), pp. 247–248 [https://books.google.com/books?id=YHGYYaHLgfgC&dq=%22Clodius+or+Claudius%3F%22+inauthor%3ATatum&pg=PA247 online.] The idea that the form ''Clodius'' announced ethnic identity is suggested also by Gary D. Farney, ''Ethnic identity and aristocratic competition in Republican Rome'' (Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 89 [https://books.google.com/books?id=jdFF_Pc7GPMC&dq=Clodius+Claudius+spelling&pg=RA1-PA89 online.]</ref>

===Other Clodii of the Republic===
In addition to Clodius, Clodii from the Republican era include:

* [[Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus]], presumably a "Clodius" before his adoption
* [[Clodius Aesopus]], a tragic actor in the 50s BC who may have been a [[freedman]] of one of the Clodii Pulchri.
* [[Claudia (wife of Octavian)|Claudia]], daughter of Clodius Pulcher and [[Fulvia]], the first wife of emperor Augustus.
* [[Clodia (wife of Metellus)|Clodia]], sister of [[Publius Clodius Pulcher]], sometimes identified in [[Catullus]]' poems as "[[Lesbia]]".

Women of the [[Claudii Marcelli]] branch were often called "Clodia" in the late Republic.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/12853591|title=cadet line of Servilii Caepiones (ver.2)|first=Mark|last=Passehl|access-date=3 December 2021|website=Academia.edu}}</ref>