GNAEUS ALLEIUS NIGIDIUS MAIUS (1)

Maius was Nigidius (an Oscan name) by birth. We know of two other Nigidii in Pompeii: the first was a Marcus Nigidius Vaccula whose name was found inscribed on bronze furniture in the Forum and Stabian Baths.(2) This Nigidius is thought to have been a bronze merchant who lived in the Casa dei Dioscuri (3) perhaps up to the time of Vesuvius' eruption. The second Nigidius was named Numerius Nasennius Nigidius Vaccula; his name was found on auction receipts. The relationship of these two to Maius is uncertain.

Maius was Alleius by adoption. The Alleii were a powerful Campanain family on whom there is a substantial amount of information. The first Alleius of which we know was Marcus Alleius Lucius Libella who was quinquennial duovir (4) around A.D. 25. After Libella many men and women of the gens Alleia held prestigious political and religious positions in Pompeii.(5) Maius' adoptive mother Pomponia Decharis, the wife of Alleius Nobilis, was buried outside the Porta di Nocera in the tomb of the Eumachia which indicates that the Alleii were in some way related to the Eumachia family (to see photographs of the excavation at the House of the Eumachia click here, but be advised, there is no link back to this page). Evidence that the Alleii continued using the tomb of the Eumachia is an inscription showing that one of Maius' freedmen was also buried there.(6) It is clear that Maius took special pride in his adopted gens as often in inscriptions he is referred to only as Alleius Maius.(7)

Gnaeus Alleius Nigidius Maius himself was obviously a very wealthy man. A number of inscriptions have been found which indicate that he had sponsored gladiatorial games out of his own pocket.(8) As many well-to-do young men from a prominent families would have done, Maius undertook a political career. Around A.D. 55 he was elected quinquennial duovir. He is thought to have been between the ages of 32-40 at that time (placing his birth somewhere between A.D. 15-23). Before holding this office he would have to have been aedile and duovir but there is no clear evidence on the dates of those positions. A graffito names a Regulus as Maius' quinquennial colleague.(9) For some time it was thought that this was the Livineius Regulus blamed by Tacitus for the amphitheater riot of A.D. 59 (10), though recent scholarship has since disproved this theory.(11) In addition, had Maius been involved in the riot he would have surely felt some of its aftermath and consequences, in fact he would probably have been exiled. Rather, all evidence shows that in the years after 59 Maius flourished.

After his career as quinquennial duovir, Maius probably focused on his private affairs which included renting the property of the Insula Arriana Polliana. We should assume that he was renting this property up to A.D. 79, otherwise the advertisement would probably have been removed. Even during this time he was a public figure. An inscription tells us he paid for the redecoration of a public building.(12) This project was called an opus tabularum, a term too vague to know exactly to what it referred: it could have been the archives, a large theater, or the amphitheater's panels (which is the most popular theory).(13) Whatever the project was, it, along with Maius' other contributions to Pompeii, merited him the title princeps coloniae.(14) If being a "leading man" of the colony was not enough, Maius' last and highest position was as flamen to Vespasian. On his appointment he held games which included what may have been the first gladiators to fight in Pompeii since the riot of 59.(15) Chances are he was holding this position up to that fateful day of August 24th, A.D. 79.

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