The gens Ulpia was a Roman family that rose to prominence during the first century AD. The gens is best known from the emperor Marcus Ulpius Trajanus, who reigned from AD 98 to 117. The Thirtieth Legion took its name, Ulpia, in his honor.^[1] The city of Serdica, modern day Sofia, was renamed as Ulpia Serdica.^[2]

Origin

The Ulpii were from Umbria. Little is known of them except that they were connected with a family of the Aelii from Picenum. The name Ulpius may be derived from an Umbrian cognate of the Latin word lupus, meaning "wolf"; perhaps related to vulpes, Latin for "fox".^[3]

The most illustrious members of this gens were the Ulpii Trajani, whom according to a biographer of Trajan, came from the city of Tuder, in southern Umbria; there is evidence of a family of this name there. Members of this family were colonists of Italica in Roman Spain, where Trajan was born. They were related to a family of the Aelii, which had evidently come from Atria; Trajan's aunt was the grandmother of Hadrian, who was likewise born at Italica.^[4][5][6]

Members

This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.

Ulpii Trajani

• Marcus Ulpius Trajanus, father of the emperor Trajan, was consul suffectus in AD 72.^[i][6][7][8]
• Ulpia, perhaps the same person as Ulpia M. f. Plotina recorded in Pompeii, was the aunt of Trajan. She married Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus, and was the grandmother of the emperor Hadrian.^[6][9]
• Marcus Ulpius M. f. Trajanus, consul in AD 91; he was subsequently adopted by the emperor Nerva, and was himself emperor from AD 98 to 117.^[10][11][12]
• Ulpia M. f. Marciana, the sister of Trajan, married Gaius Salonius Matidius Patruinus.^[6]

Ulpii Marcelli

• Ulpius Marcellus, a jurist during the reigns of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius.
• Ulpius Marcellus, perhaps a son of the jurist, governor of Britannia during the reign of Commodus.
• Ulpius Marcellus, probably the same person as the governor of Britannia, although uncertainties of chronology have led some scholars to believe he had a son of the same name.

Others

• Ulpia Plotina, the wife of Titus Calestrius Ampliatus. (Not the same woman as the one recorded in Pompeii.)^[13]
• Marcus Ulpius Leurus, a native of Hypata, was consul suffectus during the later second century.^[14]
• Marcus Ulpius Primianus, prefect of Egypt from AD 195 to 196.
• Ulpius Julianus, praetorian prefect under the emperor Macrinus, was sent to put down the rebellion of Elagabalus, but was slain by his own troops in AD 218.^[15][16][17]
• Ulpia Gordiana, mother of the emperor Gordian I, according to the Augustan History.^[18]
• Marcus Ulpius Eubiotus Leurus, son of the consul Leurus, was consul suffectus in an uncertain year around AD 230.^[19]
• Marcus Ulpius M. f. Flavius Tisamenus, elder son of the consul Eubiotus Leurus.^[20]
• Marcus Ulpius M. f. Pupienus Maximus, younger son of the consul Eubiotus Leurus.^[20]
• Ulpius Crinitus, according to Vopiscus, a successful general in the time of Valerian, who claimed to be a descendant of the house of Trajan. He adopted Lucius Domitius Aurelianus, the future emperor Aurelian, alongside whom he was appointed consul suffectus in AD 257. Modern historians suspect that he was an invention of the author, but if he existed, he may have been the father of the empress Ulpia Severina.^[21][22]
• Gaius Ulpius Cornelius Laelianus, one of the "Thirty Tyrants", he rebelled against Postumus and proclaimed himself emperor in AD 269, during the reign of Gallienus, but was slain at Moguntiacum about two months later.^{[23][24][25][26]}
• Ulpia Severina, the wife of Aurelian, and Roman empress from AD 271 to 275.
• Marcus Ulpius Pupienus Silvanus, a senator mentioned in an inscription from Surrentum in Campania, dating between the late third and mid-fourth century; from his name perhaps a descendant of the consul Marcus Ulpius Leurus.^[27]