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About the Gens Martiania

The gens Martiania is a virtual extended family that is dedicated to the restoration of classical Roman religion, culture, and virtues. It celebrates the roots of Western civilization and embraces the cultural diversity of the classical Roman world. At the same time, the gens looks to the future.

The Roman name Martiania unites two of our primary interests, the study of classical Roman civilization, and the exploration of space in general but particularly the exploration of the planet Mars. It is a name which simultaneously recalls the past and summons the future. Symbolic of these twin influences is Martianus Minneus Felix Capella, a Roman writer of the early 5th century, who espoused the heliocentric theory of the universe a thousand years before Nicholas Copernicus revived the idea.

The motto of our gens, CONTENDERE, EXPLORARE, INVENIRE, ET NON CEDERE, is a Latin translation of "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield," a line from Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "Ulysses." This line is inscribed on a monument in Antarctica to Robert Scott's tragic expedition to the South Pole, men who made the ultimate sacrifice to expand human knowledge.

The gens Martiania encourages its members to be active in building social, civil, and religious institutions that existed in the classical Roman world. Additionally, we encourage membership and active participation in space advocacy organizations to further the goals of exploring and eventually colonizing the planet Mars.