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Roman nomen gentile, sometimes confused with Sextius. The family surfaced as patrician with S. [1] and [5] in the mid 5th cent. BC. In the late Republic, it had only (politically insignificant) plebeian members. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] S., L. In order to illustrate the just administration of the first collegium of decemviri , especially the justice of C. Iulius [I 13] Iullus, Livy (3,33,9 f.) and Cicero (Rep. 2,61) tell the anecdote that after a corpse was found buried in the house of S., Iulius - who,…

(in Greek usually Μάλλιος/ Mállios, often confused in MSS with Mallius and Manilius). Name of a Roman patrician family, probably of Etruscan origin [1. 227]. It attained an early political zenith in the 5th and 4th cents. BC with the Vulsones and Capitolini branches (continued by the Torquati). Sources connect the family's history primarily with the repelling of the Celts ( M. [I 8] and [I 12]. Stemmata, details of which are uncertain: [2. 1157f., 1166]). A period of decline ended in about 260 BC wi…

Plebeian family, which produced a succession of important representatives in the 4th cent. BC (family tree in [1]). [German version] [1] P., Q. Decemvir in 450 BC As a member of the second collegium of the decemviri in 450 BC (MRR 1, 46f.) he is said to have been sent into battle against an incursion by the Sabines (Liv. 3,41,9; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 11,23,1). Müller, Christian (Bochum) [German version] [2] P. Libo, M. Consul 314 BC As consul in 314 BC, P. achieved a victory with his counterpart Sulpicius Longus against the Samnites (Liv. 9,24-26; Diod. Sic. 19,76,1-5). Ac…

Roman-Italian family name, etymologically presumably from the praenomen Maius [1. 185]; light defacement of the name in the MSS handed down, in Livy (2,58,2): L. Mecilius as member of the first people's tribune council in 471 BC (presumably subsequently added to the list). [German version] [1] M., Sp. People's tribune in 416 BC According to Livy (4,48), M. proposed an agricultural law as tr. pl. IV in 416 BC, which made provisions for distributing the land conquered by Rome and occupied by the nobility ‘man for man’ ( viritim), but it failed by a veto of six people's tribunes, won …

Roman family, probably of Etruscan origin, that played an outstanding role, through the Verginii Tricosti branch (genealogy of the V. Tricosti in [1. 1519]), in Roman politics esp. in the 5th cent. BC. Characteristic of the V. Tricosti are the additional cognomina Caelimontanus, Esquilinus and Rutilus. The political importance of the family steadily declined from around the middle of the 5th cent., becoming altogether insignificant around the middle of the 4th cent. BC. If nothing else, however,…

Name of a Roman family, which died out at the beginning of the 3rd cent. BC. Of the two Republican namesakes who held offices, N. [1] was of plebeian origin, while N. [2] must have been a patrician. Considering the questionable historicity of the latter, there were perhaps only plebeian Numicii, although this question cannot be definitively settled (on this topic [1. 20]). [German version] [1] N., T. Guarantor of the Caudinian agreement, handed over to the Samnites in 320 BC As one of the guarantors of the Caudine treaty, he was handed over to the Samnites in 320 BC (Cic. O…

Name of a Roman plebeian family, documented with certainty only from the 1st cent. BC on (T. [I 2] might be unhistorical). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] T., C. Son of an ill-reputed (Cic. Phil. 13,23; the same as in Hor. Sat. 1,4,114?) Roman equestrian. In 58 BC [1], T. worked as quaestor urbanus against P. Clodius' [I 4] switch to the plebs . As tribune of the people in 55, he introduced laws that gave M. Licinius [I 11] Crassus and Cn. Pompeius [I 3] provincial terms of five years and exte…

Name of probably the most important Roman plebeian family. The similarity to the Etruscan name lecne and the links between the gens and Etruria in historical times (L. [I 7]) suggest an origin in that region [1. 108, n. 3]; the name may, however, also be of Latin origin ( Licinus). The spelling with a double ‘n’ occurs not only in the Greek form Λικίννιος ( Likínnios), but also in Latin inscriptions [1. 108, n. 1]. In the annalistic historical records dealing with the early Republic, members of the family appear among the earliest people's tribunes, reaching their polit…

[German version] V. Fictor, M. Ancient tradition, scarcely historically accurate and in itself inconclusive (see [1]) attributes, with individual variations, to V. a people's tribuneship in the years 461 to 457 BC (MRR 1, 37-41) and links him with a lawsuit against Kaeso Quinctius [I 1], who V. accused of having mortally wounded his brother. Initially accused, but unsuccessfully because of the intercession of his fellow tribunes, of false witness (cf. V.'s cognomen Fictor, 'Inventor') in 459 BC by Kaeso's father Quinctius [I 7] Cincinnatus, in 458 he was convicted …

Name of a Roman patrician family, probably originally from Cameria (hence the cognomen Camerinus); documented in the fasti from c. 500 BC. The otherwise rare praenomen Servius appears comparatively frequently and at times is even used in place of the nomen gentile (Tac. Hist. 2,48; Plut. Galba 3,1). The number of cognomina within the gens is high, but it has been impossible to identify clear branches. The link between the S. from the 3rd to the 2nd and 1st cent. BC is unclear. In the 2nd cent. BC, the most important branch of the family was that of…

Name of a patrician family, but plebeian bearers of this name are also in evidence (attested for M. [2]). This gens gave its name to the tribus Menenia. In the 5th cent. BC, it produced a number of high-ranking officials, but died out during the 4th. cent. BC. Noteworthy is the use of the praenomen Agrippa, which later only appeared as a cognomen [1. 19f.]. [German version] [1] M., Agrippa Triumvir coloniae deducendae 442 BC, probably identical with the consul of 439 BC In 442 BC, in the position of a triumvir coloniae deducendae (MRR I 54), M. led a colonia to Ardea. According to Livy (4,11,5…

Roman family name derived from the praenomen Tullus; oldest traditional bearer of the name is the sixth king of Rome, Servius T. [I 4]; until the time of Cicero and his family, other bearers are only rarely recorded. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] T., Attius As 'by far the first man of the Volsci at the time' (Liv. 2,35,7), tradition connected him with the story of Coriolanus, in which T. supported the latter in his plans out of an old hate for the Romans (Liv. 2,37,1-8; 2,38,1-5; 2,39,1; 2,40,12). Hi…

[German version] (Τιμασίθεος/ Timasítheos). As a high official of Lipara in 393 BC he brought about the freeing of a Roman legation, captured with their ship, which was taking a tenth of the Veii plunder to Delphi as votive gifts. This deed earned treatment as an honoured guest of the Roman people for T. himself and privileges for his descendants when Lipara came under Roman rule in 252 BC (Diod. 14,93,4 f.; Liv. 5,28,3-5; Val. Max. 1,1 exteri 4; Plut. Camillus 8,3-8). Müller, Christian (Bochum)

Roman nomen gentile of Sabine origin. Its members begin to appear in the sources late in the 3rd cent. BC. Politically the most important branch was that of the Terentii Varrones which attained the ranks of the nobility with T. [I 14] Varro, consul in 216 BC. From the mid-2nd cent., several families of this branch were in simultaneous and unconnected existence. Cognomina showing geographical origins are widespread among the Terentii (Afer, Lucanus, Massaliota). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] As people's tribune in 54 BC, T. prevented…

Roman plebeian nomen gentile, often confused with Siccius; members of the family frequently appear as people's tribunes in the 5th cent. BC, but the family is otherwise insignificant. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] S., C. Tradition links S. with the origins and early development of the people's tribunate ( tribunus plebis ): S. was firstly the initiator of the secessio plebis of 494 BC and then one of the people's tribunes, subsequently elected for the first time (Liv. 2,32,2; 2,33,2; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 6,45,2; 6,8…

Name of a Roman gens, documented only since the 2nd cent. BC. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] N., L. People's tribune in 471 BC Member of the first college of people's tribunes (that of 471 BC) whose members are all known (Calpurnius Piso fr. 23 HRR = Liv. 2,58,1; Diod. Sic. 11,68,8). Müller, Christian (Bochum) [German version] [2] N., P. People's tribune in 449 BC, grandfather or great-uncle of Verginia According to tradition, N. was the grandfather or (great) uncle of Verginia; together with her betrothed, L. Icilius [1], he sought to protect he…

Name of a plebeian family, that probably already died out in the 4th cent. BC, according to the tradition known for its anti-patrician stance (Liv. 4,54,4). [German version] [1] I., L. People's tribune 456, 455 and 449 BC People's tribune in 456, 455, 449 BC (MRR 1,42; 48). In 456 he is said to have carried through the lex de Aventino publicando, which allocated the Aventine to the plebs (Liv. 3,31,1; 32,7; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 10,31,2-32,5); as the fiancé of  Verginia he bravely resisted the despotism of the decemvir Appius Claudius [I 5] (Liv. 3,44,3; 45,4-46,…

[German version] According to traditional legend, found in literature most notably in Livy's dramatic rendering (3:44-48; cf. Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 11:28-32), V. was the daughter of Verginius [I 3] and played a role in the demise of the Decemvirate ( decemviri [1]). Recognizing that he had no chance to win her, the decemvir Appius Claudius [I 5] induced one of his clients to claim V., asserting that she was originally his slave and that Verginius had merely been led to believe that she was his child. Not surprisingly, she was awarded to the client…

Oscan praenomen and Oscan/Lat. gentilic. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] Pontius, Gavius Samnite general, delivered Rome its defeat 321 BC at Caudium Samnite general who in 321 BC famously defeated the Romans at Caudium and sent them 'under the yoke' (Liv. 9,2,6-6,4). The fact that the Samnite leader in the Social War (Social Wars [3]), P. [I 4], had the same name is no proof that P.' name entered the tradition only later. The annalistic tradition (in Liv. 9, 15,8), however, of P.'…

Name of an old patrician family, which was said to have immigrated to Rome under King T. Tatius with V. [I 10] (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 2,46). The name, derived from the old personal name Valesus/ Valerus, was originally Valesios (cf. V. [I 7]; CIL XII p. 298g: Valesies; Fest. 22; Varro, Rerum divinarum fr. 66 Cardauns [4; 5]); the censor App. Claudius [I 2] introduced the new spelling in 312 BC (cf. Dig. 1,2, 2,36). Because in Antiquity the name was derived (etymologically correctly) from valere, 'to be strong', it was considered to be a good omen ( boni ominis nomen, Cic. Div. 1,102; Cic. Sca…