Editing Clodius

{{Short description|Historiography of the Roman name, with list of historic and legendary examples}}
{{other uses}}
[[File:Silver denarius of Clodius Macer 68 CE.jpg|thumb|[[Denarius]] issued for the anti-[[Nero]]nian rebel [[Lucius Clodius Macer|Clodius Macer]] in 68 AD]]
'''Clodius''' is an alternate form of the [[ancient Rome|Roman]] ''[[Roman naming conventions|nomen]]'' [[Claudia gens|Claudius]], a [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician]] ''[[gens]]'' that was traditionally regarded as [[Sabine]] in origin. The alternation of ''o'' and ''au'' is characteristic of the Sabine dialect. The [[grammatical gender|feminine form]] is '''Clodia'''.

==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>

==Imperial era==
[[File:Rilievo funerario di p. clodius philonicus, 70-100 dc..JPG|thumb|Funerary [[relief sculpture|relief]] for Publius Clodius Philonicus, 70–100 AD]]
People using the name ''Clodius'' during the period of the [[Roman Empire]] include:
* [[Gaius Clodius Licinus]], consul ''suffectus'' in AD 4.
* [[Gaius Clodius Vestalis]], possible builder of the [[Via Clodia]]
* [[Publius Clodius Thrasea Paetus]], senator and philosopher during the reign of [[Nero]]
* [[Lucius Clodius Macer]], a ''[[legatus]]'' who revolted against Nero
* [[Publius Clodius Quirinalis]], from [[Arelate]] in [[Gaul]], teacher of [[rhetoric]] in time of [[Nero]]
* Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus, commonly known as [[Clodius Albinus]], rival emperor 196–197
* Marcus Clodius Pupienus Maximus, known as [[Pupienus]], co-emperor 238
* [[Titus Clodius Pupienus Pulcher Maximus]],  son of emperor Pupienus and suffect consul c. 235

===Clodii Celsini===
The Clodii Celsini continued to practice the [[ancient Roman religion|traditional religions of antiquity]] in the face of [[Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism|Christian hegemony]] through at least the 4th century, when Clodius Celsinus Adelphius (see below) [[Religious conversion|converted]].<ref>Bernice M. Kaczynski, "Faltonia Betitia Proba: A Virgilian Cento in Praise of Christ," in ''Women Writing Latin'' (Routledge, 2002), vol. 1, p. 132 [https://books.google.com/books?id=rjzBMLaT_lcC&dq=Clodius+Celsinus&pg=PA132 online.]</ref> Members of this branch include:
* [[Quintus Fabius Clodius Agrippianus Celsinus]], [[proconsul]] of [[Caria]] in 249 and the son of Clodius Celsinus (b. ''ca.'' 185); see for other members of the family.
* [[Clodius Celsinus Adelphius]], ''[[praefectus urbi]]'' in 351.
* [[Quintus Clodius Hermogenianus Olybrius]], consul 379

==See also==
* [[Clodio]] the Longhair, a chieftain of the [[Salian Franks]], sometimes called "Clodius I"
*''[[Leges Clodiae]]'', legislation sponsored by Clodius Pulcher as tribune

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Selected bibliography==
<!--works most important in the article's conception-->
*Tatum, W. Jeffrey. ''The Patrician Tribune: P. Clodius Pulcher''. Studies in the History of Greece and Rome series. University of North Carolina Press, 1999. Limited preview [https://books.google.com/books?id=YHGYYaHLgfgC&q=intitle:patrician+intitle:tribune online.] Hardcover {{ISBN|0-8078-2480-1}}.

==Further reading==
<!--works not used in the preparation of this article; please removed from this section if cited in notes-->
* Fezzi, L. ''Il tribuno Clodio''. Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2008. {{ISBN|88-420-8715-7}}.

[[Category:Ancient Roman prosopographical lists]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman names]]
[[Category:Clodii| ]]