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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…

Plebeian gentilicium, also Coilius, in surviving manuscripts often confused with Caelius (Schulze 155; ThlL, Onom. 2, 523-525). Bearers of this name are documented since the 2nd cent. BC, usually belonging to the Tribus Aemilia. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] C. Antipater, L. Historiographer, late 2nd cent. BC Possibly the brother of the senator C. Coelius C.f. [1; 2. 16], a highly educated scholar of law and rhetoric (Cic. Brut. 102; Dig. 1,2,2,40), considered the teacher and friend of L. Licinius Crassu…

(plur. quaestores, from quaerere, ‘to ask’, ‘examine’; the etymological meaning is not related to the official responsibility as a treasury official, cf. mastroí ). Lowest stage of the cursus honorum . [German version] I. Quaestores parricidii Q. parricidii (mentioned in the Twelve Tables/ tabulae duodecim : Pomponius Dig. 1,2,2,23) were concerned with the investigation of capital offences in early Rome (Paul. Fest., s. v. parricidi q., p. 247 L.) and were almost certainly not a permanent institution of criminal prosecution by the state but probably acted as …

[German version] is the term (since [1]) given to the extensive remains (CIL VI 1527; VI 37053; AE 1951, 2) of a municipal Roman epitaph from the Augustan period (at the latest 9 BC: [2. 42]); it presents the text of the funerary oration for a woman of the Roman upper class who - because of similarities to Val. Max. 6,7,2 - was hypothetically identified with Turia, the wife of Q. Lucretius Vespillo (cos. in 19 BC). The eulogizer, who masters at least the basics of rhetoric [2. 124; 3], praises (c…

Gentilicium of a plebeian gens, verifiable from the 3rd cent. BC. The most important branches are the Aviolae (imperial era), Balbi and especially the Glabriones, who are documented from the 3rd cent. BC to the end of the 5th cent. AD [1]. In Rome there was a compitum Acilium, on which the first Greek doctor in Rome was settled in 219 (Plin. HN 29,12 [2. 98]), on the Pincio the horti Aciliorum, in the imperial era the most famous gardens of Rome [2. 195 f.; 3. 488 ff.]. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican era [German version] [I 1] Soldier in Caesar's tenth legion Brave soldier in Ca…

Name of a plebeian gens in Rome, probably of Etruscan origin (ThlL, Onom. 101-104) [1. 138]; attested from the 3rd cent. BC. The most important family into the 1st cent. AD was that of the Calpurnii Pisones (I 13ff.). Family connections and the identification of individual members in the Republican period have not been completely clarified. Late Republican pseudo-genealogy declared Calpus, one of the sons of king Numa, the progenitor of the gens (Hor. Ars P. 292; Laus. Pis. 3f.; 14f.; Plut. Numa 21,2 et al.; portraits of Numa on coins of the Calpurnii). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Repu…

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…

Italian surname (on its Etruscan connection cf. [1. 182f.]). In the 5th and 4th cents. BC we encounter the patrician family of the Lucretii Tricipitini (among others with the rare praenomen Hostus) which later died out; from the 3rd cent. BC onwards several plebeian families are known (Gallus, Ofella, Trio, Vespillo). The most important bearers of the name are Lucretia [2] from early Roman history and the poet L. [III 1]. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] L. Prosecutor of M. Livius Drusus [I 5] Claudianus In 54 BC he prosecuted M. Livius Drusus …

[German version] [1] Wife of Marcius Coriolanus According to a much-related story about Marcius Coriolanus (in which V. plays only a subordinate role, however), when he and a Volsci army are outside Rome, the pleas of his wife V. and his mother Veturia cause him to refrain from attacking his home city (the story in e.g. Liv. 2,39,1-2,40,11; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 8,40-54; Val. Max. 5,2,1; 5,4,1; Plut. Coriolanus 33,1-36,6, but there, it is not his wife but his mother who bears the name V.). Müller, Christian (Bochum) [German version] [2] Pantomime actress, 1st cent. BC Freedwoman (and lover:…

[German version] Synonymous with annalespontificum maximorum (Cic. Leg. 1,6). Annales maximi is what the Romans called a chronicle-like work of history, which is based on the records of the pontifex maximus (Paul. Fest. p. 113 L; Macrob. Sat. 3,2,17; Serv. Aen. 1,373; implicitly already in Cic. De or. 2,52). The content was apparently identical to that of the tabula apud pontificem maximum (Cato orig. fr. 77 HRR), which in addition to details about dearths and eclipses surely also contained reports about prodigies ( pace [3]), temple dedications, additions to the priestly coll…

[German version] I. Ancient Near East Knowledge of one's own progenitors in the ancient Near East legitimized one's status and material and immaterial rights in the individual and societal spheres. Such knowledge was based on patriarchal relationships of kinship. Evidence for this comes, for example, from lineage lists (Genealogies; OT: Gn 5; 11:10-32; 22:20-24; 25:1-9; Judges 4:18-22: progenitors of David [1]; 1 Sam 9:1-2: progenitors of Saul; Mt 1:1-17: progenitors of Jesus), the Assyrian Kings' Lis…

Name of a Roman plebeian family of little political significance except for L. M. [I 3], the destroyer of Corinth. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] Author of Atellan farces, propably Augustan According to Pomponius Bononiensis and Novius [I 1], who presumably lived about 90 BC, M. revived the atellan farces, which had laid dormant for some time (Macrob. Sat. 1,10,3). His Old Latin metre (use of iambic shortening) and language (abl. testu) suggest that he probably did not write later than the Augustan period, during which other …

Name of a widely-branched Roman plebeian family who became well known from the beginning of the 2nd cent. BC on, but only achieved the consulate for the first time at the end of the cent. I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] R. Lupus, P. Consul in 90 BC Praetor no later than 93 BC; consul in 90. During the Social War [3], he received the command of the northern army; against the advice of his legate C. Marius [I 1], he was lured into an ambush by the Marsi and was killed in the valley of the Tolnus (modern Turano; Liv. Per. 73; App. B Civ. 1,191-194; Oros. 5,18,11 f.). MRR 2,25. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig…

Plebeian nomen (Schulze 266; 424), attested historically from the beginning of the 2nd cent. BC. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] F.M. f., C. Rom. senator and historian, partaker in the storming of Carthage Roman senator and historian (in Cic. Brut. 99 falsely differentiated from a relative). F. distinguished himself in 146 BC with Ti. Gracchus at the storming of Carthage (Plut. Gracchi 4,6), fought in 141 as tribunus militum in Spain (App. Ib. 287), was the son-in-law of C.  Laelius and heard  Panaetius (Cic. Brut. 100f.). In…

[German version] (originally pro praetore, 'in place of a praetor ', e.g. ILLRP 342; SC in Cic. Fam. 8,8,8; Greek ἀντιστράτηγος/ antistrátēgos) was at Rome the term for an official with the responsibilities and competencies of a praetor without him formally being one. Originally, a magistrate was made propraetor either through extension ( prorogatio ) of a praetorian command (first evidence for this practice from 241 BC: InscrIt XIII 1, p. 76 f.; often from the 2nd Punic War) or by investing a citizen without office ( privatus ) with praetorian imperium (Liv. 23,34,…

(liter. 'Twenty(-Six) Men') [German version] I. Annual magistrates Viginti(sex)viri at Rome was a general term covering six collegia of junior magistrates ( magistratus minores: Cic. Leg. 3,6) which had developed since the 3rd cent. BC (without differentiation Pomp. Dig. 1,2,29 f.) and which in the late Republic were filled by election under the chairmanship of the praetors (attested for IIIviri capitales: Fest. p. 468) in the tribal assemblies (Comitia) (Gell. NA 13,15,4): these were the tresviri [4] monetales (also IIIviri a.a.a.f.f.), tresviri [1] capitales , decemviri [2] s…

[German version] From the time of the 2nd Samnite War (327-304 BC), Rome countered the shortage of senior civil servants by formally extending the imperium of individual consuls or praetors for areas outside the city (sole exception: Frontin. Aq. 1,7), beyond the regular term in office by way of prorogatio, which included a restriction of time or of a material nature. Initially, the prorogatio was decided by the people's assembly acting on a proposal by the Senate (Liv. 8,23,12; 10,22,9 et passim), whereas later it was generally handled by the Senate alone as a matter of rou…

[German version] As annalists one designates particularly the authors of earlier Roman works of history, which as a rule begin their representation with early times (exception:  Claudius Quadrigarius) and continue until the present. They organized at least the more recent events strictly according to the chronology of the official years and maintained within those years a schematic organization [1]. Gellius (5,18,1 ff.) acknowledges two ancient suggestions for distinguishing annales and historia(e): 1. historiae treat contemporary, annales by contrast older history. T…

[German version] A. Term Although imago essentially means any image, frequently even portrait busts of various materials, imagines maiorum (often just imagines) primarily designates the wax images (thus also cerae: Ov. Am. 1,8,65; Juv. 8,19) of the  ancestors, which were kept in the  atrium of distinguished Roman homes. An interpretation of Cicero (Verr. 2,5,36 ius imaginis ad memoriam posteritatemque prodendae) with Mommsen [7. 442-4] that such images only existed for curule magistrates is not certain (critical [3. 108; 9. 32f.]). The custom was consid…

[German version] (originally pro quaestore, 'in place of a quaestor '; Greek ἀντιταμίας/ antitamías) was the term for the promagistrate who took on administrative duties in place of the elected quaestor in Roman provinces of the late Republic: 1) If the quaestor died or resigned from office prematurely, the governor named a member of his staff (usually a legatus ) as proquaestor; C. Verres, e.g., was appointed by Cn. Cornelius [I 25] Dolabella in 80 BC (Cic. Verr. 2,1,41; 2,1,90). 2) Because of the shortage of quaestores they were not infrequently sent as proquaestores to a province aft…