Thegens Servilia was apatrician family atancient Rome. Thegens was celebrated during the early ages of theRepublic, and the names of few gentes appear more frequently at this period in theconsular Fasti. It continued to produce men of influence in the state down to the latest times of the Republic, and even in theimperial period. The first member of the gens who obtained theconsulship wasPublius Servilius Priscus Structus in 495 BC, and the last of the name who appears in the consular Fasti is Quintus Servilius Silanus, in AD 189, thus occupying a prominent position in the Roman state for nearly seven hundred years.

Like other Roman gentes, the Servilii of course had their ownsacra; and they are said to have worshipped atriens, or copper coin, which is reported to have increased or diminished in size at various times, thus indicating the increase or diminution of the honors of the gens. Although the Servilii were originally patricians, in the later Republic there were alsoplebeian Servilii.^[1][2][3]

According to tradition, the Servilia gens was one of theAlban houses removed to Rome byTullus Hostilius, and enrolled by him among the patricians.^[4] It was, consequently, one of thegentes minores. ThenomenServilius is a patronymic surname, derived from thepraenomenServius, meaning "one who keeps safe" or "preserves".^[5]

The different branches of the Servilii each used slightly different sets ofpraenomina. The oldest stirpes used the praenominaPublius,Quintus,Spurius, andGaius. The Servilii Caepiones used primarilyGnaeus andQuintus. The Servilii Gemini employedGnaeus,Quintus,Publius,Gaius, andMarcus.

The gens must also have used the praenomenServius, but no longer used it in historical times, possibly due to its similar sound to the Latin word for slave (servus).^[6]

The Servilii were divided into numerous families; of these the names in the Republican period areAhala, Axilla, Caepio, Casca, Geminus, Glaucia, Globulus, Priscus (with the agnomenFidenas),Rullus, Structus, Tucca, andVatia (with the agnomenIsauricus). The Structi, Prisci, Ahalae, and Caepiones were patricians; the Gemini originally patrician, and later plebeian; the Vatiae and Cascae plebeians. Othercognomina appear under the Empire. The only surnames found on coins are those ofAhala, Caepio, Casca, andRullus.^[1][7]

The cognomenStructus almost always occurs in connection with those ofPriscus orAhala. The only two Structi who are mentioned with this cognomen are Spurius Servilius Structus, who wasconsular tribune in 368 BC, and Spurius Servilius Structus, consul in 476 BC. The fact thatStructus appears in two of the oldest stirpes of the Servilii, neither of which clearly predates the other, could indicate that persons bearing this surname were ancestral to both great houses.^[8]

The Prisci ("antique") were an ancient family of the Servilia gens, and filled the highest offices of the state during the early years of the Republic. They also bore the agnomen ofStructus, which is always appended to their name in the Fasti, till it was supplanted by that ofFidenas, which was first obtained by Quintus Servilius Priscus Structus, who tookFidenae in hisdictatorship, in 435 BC, and which was also borne by his descendants.^[9]

Ahala, of whichAxilla is merely another form, is a diminutive ofala, a wing. A popular legend related that the name was first given toGaius Servilius,magister equitum in 439 BC, because he hid the knife with which he slewSpurius Maelius in his armpit (alsoala). However, this does not appear to be the case, since the name had been in use by the family for at least a generation before that event.^[10]

The surnamesCaepio andGeminus appear almost simultaneously in the middle of the third century BC, with the consuls of 253 and 252. Each was the grandson of a Gnaeus Servilius, suggesting that the two cognomina belonged to two branches of the same family.Caepio, an onion, belongs to a large class of surnames derived from ordinary objects, whileGeminus originally denoted a twin, and was typically given to the younger of two brothers. In a discussion concerning appearances,Cicero mentions a certain Quintus Servilius Geminus, who was frequently mistaken for his brother, Publius, the consul of 252 BC. The Servilii Vatiae ("cross-legged") seem to be descended from the Gemini.^[11][12][13]

• Publius Servilius Priscus Structus, consul in 495 BC, defeated theSabines and theAurunci.^[14]
• Quintus Servilius (Priscus Structus),magister equitum in 494 BC.^[15]
• Spurius (or Gaius) Servilius (P. f.?) Structus, consul in 476 BC, repulsed in his attempt to retake theJaniculum from theEtruscans.^[16][17]
• Quintus Servilius (Structus?) Priscus, consul in 468 and 466 BC.
• Publius Servilius Sp. f. P. n. Priscus, consul in 463 BC, was carried off in his consulship by the great plague which raged at Rome in this year.^{[18][19][20][21][22]}
• Quintus Servilius P. f. Sp. n. Priscus, dictator in 435 and 418 BC, captured the town ofFidenae, thereby obtaining the surnameFidenas.^[23][24]
• Quintus Servilius Q. f. P. n. Fidenas,consular tribune in 402, 398, 395, 390, 388, and 386 BC.
• Quintus Servilius Q. f. Q. n. Fidenas, consular tribune in 382, 378, and 369 BC.^[25]
• Spurius Servilius Priscus, censor in 378 BC.^[26]
• Gaius Servilius Structus, grandfather of the consular tribune in 368 BC.
• Gaius Servilius C. f. Structus, father of the consular tribune in 368 BC.
• Spurius Servilius C. f. C. n. Structus, consular tribune in 368 BC.^[2][27][28]

• Gaius Servilius Structus Ahala, consul in 478 BC, died in his year of office.^[2][29]
• Gaius Servilius Ahala, allegedlymagister equitum in 439 BC, slewSpurius Maelius.
• Quintus Servilius C. f. Ahala, father of Gaius Servilius Axilla, consular tribune from 419 to 417 BC.
• Gaius Servilius Q. f. C. n. Axilla, consul in 427 BC, consular tribune in 419, 418 and 417 BC, and magister equitum in 418.^{[2][30][31][32]}
• Publius Servilius Q. f. (C. n.) Ahala, father of Gaius, the magister equitum of 408 BC.
• Gaius Servilius P. f. Q. n. Ahala, consular tribune in 408, 407, and 402 BC, and magister equitum in 408.
• Gaius Servilius Ahala, magister equitum in 389 and 385 BC.
• Quintus Servilius Q. f. Ahala, father of Quintus Servilius Ahala, the consul of 365 BC.
• Quintus Servilius Q. f. Q. n. Ahala, consul in 365 and 362 BC, and dictator in 360.
• Quintus Servilius Q. f. Q. n. Ahala,magister equitum in 351 and consul in 342 BC.^[33]

• Gnaeus Servilius, grandfather of the consul of 253 BC.
• Gnaeus Servilius Cn. f., father of the consul of 253 BC.
• Gnaeus Servilius Cn. f. Cn. n. Caepio, consul in 253 BC, during theFirst Punic War, sailed to the coast of Africa with his colleague,Gaius Sempronius Blaesus.
• Gnaeus Servilius Cn. f. Cn. n. Caepio, father of the consul of 203 BC.
• Gnaeus Servilius Cn. f. Cn. n. Caepio, consul in 203 BC, during theSecond Punic War.
• Gnaeus Servilius Cn. f. Cn. n. Caepio, consul in 169 BC.
• Quintus Fabius Q. f. Q. n. Maximus Servilianus, son of Gnaeus Servilius Caepio, the consul of 169 BC, and brother of Gnaeus, consul in 141, and Quintus, consul in 140, was adopted byQuintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus. He was consul in 142 BC.
• Gnaeus Servilius Cn. f. Cn. n. Caepio, consul in 141 and censor in 125 BC.^[34][35][36]
• Servilia, wife ofQuintus Lutatius Catulus.^[37]
• Servilia, wife ofMarcus Livius Drusus.
• Quintus Servilius Cn. f. Cn. n. Caepio, consul in 140 BC, during theLusitanian War.
• Quintus Servilius Q. f. Cn. n. Caepio, consul in 106 BC, during theCimbrian War. His army was annihilated at theBattle of Arausio in 105.
• Gnaeus Servilius Caepio, quaestor around 105 BC, may have been the father of Servilia, the wife ofAppius Claudius Pulcher, who died in a shipwreck while still young.^[38][39]
• Quintus Servilius (Q. f. Q. n.) Caepio, quaestorurbanus in 103 BC, was killed in an ambush atAsculum inPicenum, at the beginning of theSocial War.^[40][41]
• Servilia Q. f. Q. n., mistress ofJulius Caesar and mother ofMarcus Brutus, the tyrannicide.
• Servilia Q. f. Q. n., marriedLucullus, the conqueror ofMithridates.
• Quintus Servilius Caepio, adoptive father ofBrutus. He probably married a daughter of the oratorHortensius.
• Servilius Caepio,military tribune during thewar against Spartacus, in 72 BC.
• Servilius Caepio, a supporter ofCaesar, to whose daughter,Julia, he was once betrothed.^[42][43][44]
• Quintus Servilius Q. f. Caepio Brutus, the name taken by Marcus Junius Brutus, the tyrannicide, when he was adopted by his uncle, the military tribune of 72 BC.

• Gnaeus Servilius, grandfather of Publius Servilius Geminus, the consul of 252 and 248 BC. Possibly the same Gnaeus Servilius who was the ancestor of the Caepiones.
• Quintus Servilius Cn. f., father of Quintus and Publius Servilius Geminus.
• Publius Servilius Q. f. Cn. n. Geminus, consul in 252 and 248 BC, during theFirst Punic War.
• Quintus Servilius Q. f. Cn. n. Geminus, twin brother of the consul Publius Servilius Geminus.
• Gnaeus Servilius P. f. Q. n. Geminus, consul in 217 BC, slain at theBattle of Cannae in 216.
• Gaius Servilius P. f. (Geminus), praetor before 218 BC, taken prisoner by theBoii that year. Either he or his sons went over to the plebeians.
• Gaius Servilius C. f. P. n. (Geminus),^[i] consul in 203 and dictator in 202 BC, and laterpontifex maximus.
• Marcus Servilius C. f. P. n. Pulex Geminus, consul in 202 BC.
• Marcus Servilius M. f. (Geminus), consul in AD 3.^[46]

• Marcus Servilius, grandfather of the consul of 79 BC.
• Gaius Servilius M. f. Vatia, father of the consul of 79 BC.
• Publius Servilius C. f. M. n. Vatia, surnamedIsauricus, consul in 79 and censor in 55 BC, triumphed over theIsauri.
• Publius Servilius P. f. C. n. Isauricus, consul in 48 and 41 BC.
• Servilia P. f. P. n., betrothed toOctavian until the formation of thesecond triumvirate in 43 BC.

• Publius Servilius M. f. Rullus,triumvir monetalis in 100 BC.^[47]
• Publius Servilius P. f. M. n. Rullus, tribune of the plebs in 63 BC, proposed anagrarian law.
• Publius Servilius (P. f. P. n.) Rullus, one of the generals ofOctavian againstMark Antony after thePerusinian War, in 40 BC.^[48][49]

• Gaius Servilius Tucca, consul in 284 BC.^[2]
• Gaius Servilius Casca,tribune of the plebs in 212 BC, failed to intervene on behalf of his relative,Marcus Postumius Pyrgensis.^[50] The authenticity of his cognomen has been doubted.^[51]
• Gaius Servilius Glaucia, praetor in 100 BC, a supporter ofLucius Appuleius Saturninus, with whom he perished.
• Quintus Servilius, praetor in 90 BC, was slain by the inhabitants ofAsculum on the outbreak of theSocial War.
• Servilius, praetor in 88 BC, tried to dissuadeSulla from marching ontoRome, only to be mistreated by Sulla's soldiers.^[52]
• Publius Servilius, aneques, magister of one of the companies that farmed the taxes inSicilia during the administration ofVerres.^[53]
• Publius Servilius Globulus, tribune of the plebs in 67 BC, and propraetor ofAsia in 63.
• Gaius Servilius, a Roman citizen in Sicilia, publicly scourged by Verres.^[54]
• Marcus Servilius, accused ofrepetundae in 51 BC.^[55]
• Marcus Servilius, tribune of the plebs in 44 BC, praised byCicero as avir fortissimus.^[56]
• Publius Servilius Casca Longus, one of Caesar's assassins, died shortly after theBattle of Philippi, in 42 BC.
• (Servilius) Casca, brother of Publius Longus, and like him a conspirator against Caesar.^{[57][58][59][ii][60]}
• Marcus Servilius Nonianus, consul in AD 35, and one of the most celebrated orators and historians of his time.
• Servilius Damocrates, a physician at Rome during the first century.
• Marcia Servilia, daughter ofBarea Soranus, accused and condemned with her father in AD 66.
• Quintus Servilius Pudens, consul in AD 166.^[2][61]
• Marcus Servilius Silanus, consul in AD 188.^[2]
• Quintus Servilius Silanus, consul in AD 189.^[2]

This family tree depicts the Servilii Caepiones, Gemini, and Vatiae, from the third century BC to their known descendants in imperial times, extending down to the family of the emperorGalba. The chart is based on one byFriedrich Münzer.^[62]

• List of Roman gentes
• Tomb of Servilia

• Alba Longa
• Roman gentes
• Servilii

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata