The gens Vipsania or Vipsana was an obscure plebeian family of equestrian rank at ancient Rome. Few members of this gens appear in history, although a number are known from inscriptions. By far the most illustrious of the family was Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, a close friend and adviser of Augustus, whom the emperor intended to make his heir. After Agrippa died, Augustus adopted his friend's sons, each of whom was considered a possible heir to the Empire, but when each of them died or proved unsuitable, Augustus chose another heir, the future emperor Tiberius.Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, pp. 78–80 ("Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa").
Origin The Vipsanii are not mentioned in history until the very end of the Republic. Their nomen, Vipsanius, resembles other ending in -anius, which were typically derived from place names or cognomina ending in -anus. Several inscriptions give the name as Vipsanus, perhaps the original form of the nomen. According to some scholars, the gens Vipsania was originally from Pisae in Etruria.Hall, Etruscan Italy, p. 188.Ridgway, The World of the Early Etruscans, p. 37.
Praenomina The only praenomina associated with the main family of the Vipsanii were Lucius and Marcus, two of the most common names throughout Roman history. Vipsanii named Gaius, Publius, Quintus, Sextus, and Titus are known from inscriptions and coins.
Branches and cognomina Only one distinct family of the Vipsanii appears in history, with the cognomen Agrippa. This was originally a praenomen, used by a few families of the early Republic, including the patrician Furii and Menenii, but by the end of the Republic it seems to have been used exclusively as a cognomen. Its origin and meaning were obscure even in antiquity; the most familiar explanation was that it was one of many praenomina derived from the circumstances of childbirth, and referred to a child delivered feet-first.Pliny the Elder, vii. 6. § 1.Chase, pp. 146, 147.Nonius, 557.Gellius xvi. 16.Solinus, i. 65.Servius, viii. 682.
Members
Lucius Vipsanius, the father of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. Lucius Vipsanius L. f., the brother of Marcus Agrippa, served under Cato the Younger against Caesar during the Civil War. Vipsania L. f. Polla, the sister of Marcus Agrippa, completed the Porticus Vipsania after her brother's death.Cassius Dio, lv. 8. Marcus Vipsanius, a man mentioned by Suetonius who criticised the language of the Aeneid, and called Vergil a bastard of Maecenas. Some identify this individual as the general Marcus Agrippa. Marcus Vipsanius Atticus, a rhetorician of the first century BC, sometimes conjectured to be the son of Agrippa. Marcus Vipsanius Gallicanus, a grandson of one of Augustus' freedmen.Reinhold, Marcus Agrippa, p. 71. Marcus Vipsanius M. l. Clemens, freedman and impostor of Agrippa Postumus. Vipsanius Laenas, governor of Sardinia, was condemned in AD 56 on a charge of repetundae, maladministration of his province.Tacitus, Annales, xiii. 30.
Vipsanii Agrippae Marcus Vipsanius L. f. Agrippa, the friend and trusted lieutenant of Augustus, distinguished himself in the Perusine War, against the Chatti, Sextus Pompeius, and at the Battle of Actium. He was consul in 37, 28, and 27 BC, and as aedile in 33 and subsequently repaired and constructed a number of important public works. His first wife was Attica, the daughter of Titus Pomponius Atticus; about 28 BC he married Augustus' niece, Marcella, and in 21 the emperor had him divorce Marcella and marry his daughter, Julia. He died unexpectedly in 12 BC.Cassius Dio, xlv–liv.Livy, Epitome, cxvii–cxxxvi.Appian, Bellum Civile, v.Suetonius, "The Life of Augustus". Vipsania M. f. L. n., a daughter of Agrippa by his first wife, Attica, married Quintus Haterius. Vipsania M. f. L. n. Agrippina, a daughter of Agrippa by his first wife, Attica. Her first husband was Tiberius Claudius Nero, by whom she became the mother of Drusus, but Augustus ordered their divorce, so that Tiberius could marry Julia. Vipsania then married Gaius Asinius Gallus, consul in 8 BC.Cassius Dio, liv. 31, lvii. 2.Suetonius, "The Life of Tiberius", 7.Tacitus, Annales, i. 12, iii. 19. Vipsania M. f. L. n. Marcella, a daughter of Agrippa by his second wife, Marcella, married Publius Quinctilius Varus. Vipsania M. f. L. n. Marcella, a daughter of Agrippa by his second wife, Marcella, married Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Gaius Vipsanius M. f. L. n. Agrippa, the elder son of Agrippa and Julia, was adopted by Augustus in his father's lifetime, becoming Gaius Julius Caesar. He was consul in AD 1, together with his brother-in-law, Lucius Aemilius Paullus, but was already in Asia, where he remained to oppose the Parthians. He was wounded while taking possession of Armenia, and never fully recovered, dying at Limyra in Lycia in AD 4.Cassius Dio, liv. 8, 18, 25, lv. 6, 9, 11, 12.Zonaras, x. p. 539.Suetonius, "The Life of Augustus", 26, 56, 64, 65, "The Life of Tiberius", 12.Velleius Paterculus, ii. 101, 102.Tacitus, Annales, i. 3, ii. 4.Florus, iv. 12. § 42. Vipsania M. f. L. n. Julia, the elder daughter of Agrippa and Julia, commonly known as Julia the Younger, married Lucius Aemilius Paullus, consul in AD 1. She may have been the inspiration for the Corinna of Ovid's Amores. In AD 8, she was banished to the island of Tremerus, ostensibly for an affair with the senator Decimus Junius Silanus, but possibly because her husband had conspired against the emperor. She died in exile in 28.Cassius Dio, lix. 11.Suetonius, "The Life of Caligula", 24, "The Life of Claudius", 26, "The Life of Augustus", 64, 65, 101.Tacitus, Annales, iii. 24, iv. 71.Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, p. 642 ("Julia", No. 7). Lucius Vipsanius M. f. L. n. Agrippa, the second son of Agrippa and Julia, was adopted in infancy by Augustus, becoming Lucius Julius Caesar. He and his brother, Gaius, were meant to be the emperor's heirs, but Lucius died at Massilia in AD 2, while traveling to Spain, and his brother died in AD 4, leaving Augustus to choose between their younger brother, Marcus, and his son-in-law, Tiberius. Vipsania M. f. L. n. Julia Agrippina, or Agrippina the Elder, the younger daughter of Agrippa and Julia, married Germanicus, the nephew and intended heir of Tiberius, but after his death in AD 19, she was regarded with suspicion by the emperor, who banished her and her two elder sons, Nero and Drusus, to the Pontine Islands, where they died. Her third son, Gaius, succeeded Tiberius; her daughter, Agrippina, was the fourth wife of Claudius and the mother of Nero.Suetonius, "The Life of Augustus", 64, "The Life of Caligula", 8, "The Life of Tiberius", 53.Tacitus, Annales, i–vi.Cassius Dio, lvii. 5, 6, lviii. 22. Marcus Vipsanius M. f. L. n. Agrippa Postumus, the youngest son of Agrippa and Julia, was born after his father's death in 12 BC, and adopted by Augustus in AD 4, becoming Marcus Julius Caesar Agrippa Postumus. He was later banished to the island of Planasia on account of his violent temperament. There he was murdered after the accession of Tiberius, in order to forestall any possibility of a revolt in his name.Suetonius, "The Life of Augustus", 64, 65, "The Life of Tiberius", 22.Cassius Dio, liv. 29, lv. 22, 32, lvii. 3.Tacitus, Annales, i. 3–6, ii. 39, 40.Velleius Paterculus, ii. 104, 112. Publius Vipsanius Agrippa, duumvir of Corinth during the reign of Caligula. Possibly a member of Marcus Agrippa's family.Reinhold, Marcus Agrippa, p. 137.
Vipsanii from inscriptions Marcus Vipsanius Lamyrus, a little boy buried at Rome, aged four, in a tomb dating to the latter half of the first century BC.BCAR, 1923-132,260. Marcus Vipsanius Longinus, buried at Rome, aged thirty, in a tomb dating to the latter half of the first century BC. Vipsania M. M. l. Acume, a freedwoman of Agrippa.. Marcus Vipsanius Agrippae l. Antiochus Sittianus, a freedman of Agrippa, buried at Rome in a sepulchre built by Flavia Acme for herself, Antiochus, and Marcus Vipsanius Troilus.. Marcus Vipsanius Fortunatus, perhaps a freedman of Agrippa, received a pot from Astracalus, Agrippa's lapidarius, or jeweler.. Vipsania Agrippae l. Martha, a freedwoman of Agrippa.. Marcus Vipsanius Salvius, perhaps a freedman of Agrippa, received a pot from Astracalus. Vipsania M. l. Stibas, a freedwoman of the household of Agrippa, for whom Marcus Vipsanius Zoticus dedicated several pots at Rome.. Marcus Vipsanius M. l. Zoticus, a freedman of the household of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, dedicated a series of pots at Rome for himself and his conliberta, Vipsania Stibas. Marcus Vipsanius Agrippae l. Troilus Sittianus, a freedman of Agrippa, buried in a sepulchre built by Flavia Acme for herself, Troilus, and Marcus Vipsanius Antiochus. Marcus Vipsanius, buried at Rome in the late first century BC, or early first century AD.. Vipsania Ɔ. l. Cyclas, a freedwoman buried at Rome, in a tomb dating to the late first century BC, or early first century AD.. Marcus Vipsanus Macedo, mentioned in an inscription from Rome, naming his "brother", Cyrus, dating from the late first century BC, or early first century AD.. Marcus Vipsanius M. l. Nedymo, a freedman named in an inscription from Rome, dating to the late first century BC, or early first century AD.BCAR, 1925-207. Vipsania Fructa, dedicated a tomb at Rome for her sister, Vipsania Jucunda, dating to the late first century BC, or the early first century AD.. Marcus Vipsanius Hilarus, the patron of Lais, a freedwoman, who dedicated a monument in his honour, dating to the late first century BC, or the early first century AD.. Vipsania Jucunda, buried at Rome, aged twelve, with a monument from her sister, Vipsania Fructa, dating to the late first century BC, or early first century AD. Marcus Vipsanius Calamus, one of the tentori, or animal handlers, at the estate of Titus Attius Capito, named in an inscription dating from the reign of Augustus.. Marcus Vipsanius Dareus, one of the tentori of Titus Attius Capito. Marcus Vipsanius Faustus, one of the charioteers of Titus Attius Capito. Marcus Vipsanius Micio Docimus, the steward of Titus Attius Capito's estate. Sextus Vipsanius M. f. Clemens, one of the magistrates at Verona in Venetia and Histria in 1 BC.. Marcus Vipsanius Narcissus, apparently an actor who had fallen on hard times, and become a rogator, or beggar, according to an early first-century inscription from Rome.. Marcus Vipsanius Papa, a freedman of Agrippina.. Marcus Vipsanius Thales, a freedman of Agrippina, together with his foster-brother, Chryses, dedicated a tomb at Rome for the latter's brother Celeris, the son of Gallus, dating to the early first century.. Vipsanius Novellus, dedicated a tomb at Cirta in Numidia, dating between the reign of Augustus and the reign of Trajan, for Crescensgentia, the daughter of Cristenus, aged two.Gsell, Inscriptions Latines de L'Algérie, ii. 1, 1087a. Vipsania Fausta, dedicated a tomb at Rome for Tiberius Julius Antiochus, dating to the final years of Augustus.. Marcus Vipsanius, a freedman of Agrippa or perhaps Agrippina, named in an inscription from Rome, along with Antistia Fac[...], dating from the first half of the first century.. Marcus Vipsanius, named in a sepulchral inscription from Aquileia in Venetia and Histria, dating from the first half of the first century.. Vipsania M. l. Eucalio, a freedwoman, named along with her mother, Vipsania Rufa, in an inscription from Rome, dating to the first half of the first century.. Vipsania M. Ɔ. l. Fortunata, a freedwoman named in an inscription from Rome, dating from the first half of the first century.. Marcus Vipsanius Sp. f. Gallicanus, the grandson of Gaius Julius Libanus, a freedman of the emperor, was buried at Rome, aged thirty-five, in a tomb dating to the first half of the first century.. Vipsania Hilara, dedicated a tomb at Rome for her husband, Vipsanius Spinther, dating from the first half of the first century..