The gens Visellia was a family at Rome

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 during the late Republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

 and early Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

. Two members of this gens

Gens

In ancient Rome, a gens , plural gentes, referred to a family, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a stirps . The gens was an important social structure at Rome and throughout Italy during the...

 achieved the consulship

Roman consul

A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...

 during the 1st century AD

Praenomina used by the gens

The only praenomina known to have been used by the Visellii are Gaius

Gaius (praenomen)

Gaius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. The feminine form is Gaia. The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Gavia...

 and Lucius

Lucius (praenomen)

Lucius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. The feminine form is Lucia . The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gentes Lucia and Lucilia, as well as the cognomen Lucullus...

.

Branches and cognomina of the gens

The surnames associated with the Visellii are Varro and Aculeo. The former was a hereditary cognomen

Cognomen

The cognomen nōmen "name") was the third name of a citizen of Ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. The cognomen started as a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary. Hereditary cognomina were used to augment the second name in order to identify a particular branch within...

 of the family, while the latter appears to have been a personal surname. It was probably derived from the adjective aculeus, meaning "sharp, pointy, prickly," or "thorny," and may have been a commentary on the acuteness of its bearer's mind.

Members of the gens

• Gaius Visellius Varro Aculeo
  Gaius Aculeo
  Gaius Aculeo was a Roman knight who married the sister of Helvia, the mother of Cicero. He was unsurpassed in his day in his knowledge of the Roman law, and possessed great acuteness of mind, but was not distinguished for other attainments. He was a friend of Lucius Licinius Crassus, renowned as...
  
  , an eques, learned in the law. He married Cicero's
  Cicero
  Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
  
   aunt, Helvia.
• Gaius Visellius C. f. Varro, tribunus militum
  Military tribune
  A military tribune was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion...
  
   in Asia circa 79 BC.
• Gaius Visellius C. f. C. n. Varro, consul suffectus
  Roman consul
  A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...
  
  in AD 12.
• Lucius Visellius C. f. C. n. Varro, consul in AD 24.