Helvius

This name derives from the Roman noble title “Helvidius,” from the Latin “helvĭus,” meaning “yellowish, reddish, foxy, redhead.” This name is also an ethnonym of a people of Gaul, an ally of Julius Caesar. The Helvii (ancient Greek: Elouoí “Ἑλουοί”; Latin: Helvĭi) were a relatively small Celtic polity west of the Rhône river on the northern border of Gallia Narbonensis. Their territory was roughly equivalent to the Vivarais, in the modern French department Ardèche. 1) Publius Helvius Pertinax Augustus (126–193) was Roman Emperor for three months in 193. He is known as the first emperor of the tumultuous Year of the Five Emperors. 2) Gaius Helvius Cinna was an influential neoteric poet of the late Roman Republic, a little older than the generation of Catullus and Calvus.