Statilia gens

Members of this gens are first mentioned in the third century BC, when one of them led the Lucanian assault on the city of Thurii, and another commanded an allied cavalry troop during the Second Punic War; but at Rome the Statilii first come to attention in the time of Cicero, at which point they held equestrian rank.

The first of the family to attain the consulship was Titus Statilius Taurus in 37 BC, and his descendants continued to fill the highest offices of the Roman state until the time of Marcus Aurelius.

The most important branch of the Statilii bore the cognomen Taurus, referring to a bull, and belonging to a large class of surnames derived from the names of animals and everyday objects.

[4] This family remained prominent from the end of the Republic to the reign of Claudius, and its name appears on coins of the era.

[1] Corvinus, borne as a surname by one of the consular Statilii, was inherited from his grandfather, Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, consul in 31 BC, a descendant of the illustrious house of the Valerii Messallae, and of Marcus Valerius Corvus, who obtained his cognomen when, as a young soldier, he defeated a giant Gaul in single combat, with the apparently divine intervention of a raven, or corvus.