Atia gens

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The gens Atia, sometimes written Attia, was a small plebeian family in ancient Rome. The first member to gain real prominence was Lucius Atius, a military tribune in 178 BC. Some Atii fought in the civil war between Caesar and Pompey. In imperial times there may have been another Atia family descended from this one, but they lived about a century later and aren’t known to be related to the earlier Atii. No Atii are mentioned in records before the 2nd century BC, and none ever became consul. Because of its link to Augustus, Vergil claimed the Atia were descended from Atys, a friend of Ascanius, or from a king of Alba Longa thought to descend from Ascanius.

The Atii used common given names such as Lucius, Gaius, Marcus, Publius, and Quintus. The only known family nicknames (cognomina) include Balbus, Celsus, Rufus, and Varus; Balbus appears on coins. The Atii Balbi came from Aricia. Some scholars once suggested that the Labieni belonged to the Atia gens, but this is not well supported; Labienus is the name of another gens, not a cognomen of Atius.