The gens Rufia, occasionally spelled Ruffia, was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are not mentioned in history until imperial times, and they achieved little prominence until the late third century, from which time the family rose in importance, gaining the consulship on a number of occasions from the time of Constantine the Great to that of Justinian, and frequently holding the post of .
Origin
The nomen Rufius is derived from the common Latin surname , red, originally given to someone with red hair. It is frequently confounded with Rufrius, presumably from the related , reddish or ruddy. Chase classifies Rufius among those gentilicia that either originated at Rome, or cannot be shown to have come from anywhere else.
Branches and cognomina
The Rufii used a variety of personal cognomina, which was typical of Roman nomenclature in imperial times. The only distinct family name seems to have been Festus, joyous or festive, which appears among the Rufii for several centuries. The nomen Ceionius suggests that some of the Rufii were probably descended from the Ceionii, and acquired the nomen Rufius through a female line, although this is uncertain given the variability of Roman nomenclature under the Empire, in which nomina could be rearranged for political reasons, to emphasize family connections. Avienus, which appears multiple times among the Rufii from the fourth to the sixth century, was probably acquired in this way; it was the nomen of an obscure plebeian family, while another of the family bore Postumius, the nomen of one of Rome's great patrician houses; it occurs twice more among the Rufii a century later, once in the derivative form Postumianus, although whether the latter were descended from the earlier Postumius is unknown. Volusianus, derived from the ancient gens Volusia, was also passed down for several generations.
Members
Rufius Crispinus, or Rufrius Crispinus, an eques who rose to the rank of praetorian prefect under Claudius, and was rewarded with the quaestorian insignia for apprehending Decimus Valerius Asiaticus in AD 47. Agrippina had him removed from his office in 52, and he was sent into exile in 66, as the former husband of the empress Poppaea Sabina. Sentenced to death, he took his own life. Rufius or Rufrius Crispinus, son of the praetorian prefect, was put to death by Nero. Lucius Rufius Clarus Gallus, patron of one of the artisanal colleges at Ostia. Rufia C. f. Aquilina, a woman from a senatorial family. Ruffia Marcella, a woman from a senatorial family, was the wife of Sabinianus.
Rufii Festi
Gaius Rufius C. f. Festus, procurator of Dalmatia and Histria in uncertain years. He was the father of Gaius Rufius Festus Laelius Firmus and Rufia Procula. Gaius Rufius C. f. C. n. Festus Laelius Firmus, a man of senatorial rank, was the son of Gaius Rufius Festus, the procurator. Rufia C. f. C. n. Procula, a woman of a senatorial family, was the daughter of the procurator Rufius Festus. Postumius Rufius Festus signo Avienius, a fourth-century poet who wrote on geography, and wrote paraphrases of Livy and Vergil, whose style he followed. (Rufius?) Festus, consul in 439 AD. Rufius Postumius Festus, consul in AD 472, was the last consul appointed by an emperor of the West. He later became embroiled in papal politics, and in the early sixth century allied himself with Quintus Aurelius Memmius Symmachus.
Rufii Volusiani et Albini
Gaius Ceionius Rufius Volusianus, a man of senatorial rank, was corrector of Italy from about AD 282 to 290, governor of Africa from 305 to 306, and subsequently praetorian prefect and praefectus urbi. He was consul in 311 and 314, but his enemies brought him into disfavour, and he was exiled in 315. Ceionius Rufius C. f. Albinus, consul in AD 335, and subsequently praefectus urbi, was a philosopher and possibly the author of a history of Rome, now lost. Gaius Ceionius Rufius Volusianus signo Lampadius, praetorian prefect of Gaul in AD 355, and of Rome in 365. Ceionius Rufius C. f. Albinus, praefectus urbi from AD 389 to 391. Ceionius Rufius C. f. Volusianus, vicar of Asia before 390. Rufius Antonius Agrypnius Volusianus, praefectus urbi from AD 417 to 418, Rufius had previously been proconsul of Africa, and would later serve as praetorian prefect of Italy. He was a leading voice in Rome's surviving pagan minority, and was a correspondent of Saint Augustine. According to the Life of Saint Melania, his niece convinced him to convert to Christianity on his deathbed in 437.
