Plebeian nomen gentile, documented in the literary tradition since the 5th cent.; the most important family were the Decii Mures (D. [I 1-3]), possibly from Campania [1], whose self-sacrifice (partly unhistorical) in battle made them much quoted examples in the tradition.
(Origin of the cognomen not known), in 352 BC, committee member dealing with a debt crisis in Rome (Liv. 7,21,6); as war tribune in 343, he is said to have saved the army of the consul A. Co…
Cite this page
Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum),
Birley, A. R. (Düsseldorf) and
Strothmann, Meret (Bochum),
“Decius”, in:
Brill’s New Pauly, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and , Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry.
Consulted online on 27 January 2021 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e312190>