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Name of a Plebeian family from Tusculum. In the belief that the family had been pig-breeders, in antiquity their name was derived from porcus  (Varro Rust. 2,1,10 etc.). From the middle of the 3rd century BC, the Catones and Licinii branches belonged to Rome's leading class and at the beginning of the 2nd century, they attained the consulship with  Cato [1] (Censorius) and P. [I 13]. The exact blood relationship between the most prominent bearer of the name, Cato [1], and his great-grandson, P. [I 7] Cato (Uticensis), is not completely clarified. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republic…

Italic personal name, perhaps derived from the praenomen Gnaivos ( Gnaeus, Cn.); popular etymology derives it from naevus, ‘birthmark’ (Arnob. 3,14). The antiquity of this name in Rome, which is also widely attested in inscriptions, is suggested by the name of porta Naevia in the Servian city wall (Varro, Ling. 5,163; cf. Liv. 2,11,8). However, the family emerged politically only in the 2nd cent. BC. The most important bearer of the name is the poet N. [I 1]. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] N., Cn. Dramatist and epic poet, 3rd cent. BC Roman drama…

(Πύθων/ Pýthōn). [German version] [1] Dragon killed by Apollo near Delphi An enormous dragon killed by Apollo near Delphi with his arrows. The oldest version of the story is offered by H. Hom. 3,300-374: Apollo overcomes a female dragon who perpetrates her mischief in the vicinity of Delphi and into whose care Hera had given her son Typhon (Typhoeus, Typhon). The town and the god receive the nickname Pythṓ (cf. also the name of the female seer at Delphi, Pythía [1]) from its decaying (πύθεσθαι/ pýthesthai) corpse. According to Eur. IT 1245-1252, the dragon is male and guards the…

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…

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…

[German version] The designations 'Orient (Or.)' and 'Occident (Oc.)', as regions of the world, are based on the compass directions in which they are located. These in turn were named after sunrise (ἀνατολή/ anatolḗ, 'sunrise', cf. 'Anatolia'; Lat. sol oriens) and, by analogy with this, sunset (δύσις/ dýsis, Lat. sol occidens). Homer had already used these phenomena to determine a primary east-west axis for recording and describing the world (Od. 10,190-192), which differed from that used in Egypt that was based on the direction of the flow of …

Oscan/Italian praenomen (usual abbreviation in Lat. inscriptions Tr.), later also a Roman gens name, recorded from the 1st cent. BC onwards. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] T., Statius Supposed to have handed his home city of Compsa over to Hannibal [4] in 216 BC (Liv. 23,1,1-3; Zon. 9,2,7). Punic Wars (II) Schmitt, Tassilo (Bielefeld) Bibliography J. von Ungern-Sternberg, Capua im Zweiten Punischen Krieg, 1975, 69. [German version] [2] T. Gallus, M. Roman equestrian, Caesar's prefect or tribune in Gaul, who demanded grain from the Coriosolites (…

[German version] (νότος/ nótos, Latin auster, and βορέας/ boréas, Latin aquilo). Whereas the Nile's north-south-axis provided Egypt with a main compass direction, north and south were considered by the Greeks and Romans ‘as edges and border regions in an oikoumene thought of as an east-west ellipse and organised into climate zones’ ([1. 311]). The north and south winds, in contrast, were even regarded by some authors as chief winds (Strab. 1,2,21). Although there were old trade relationships far into the …

[German version] Migration denotes the more than temporary transfer of the residence of individuals and groups to another location. A uniform concept was lacking in antiquity, which elaborated only individual aspects of the associated concept: sedentarism was considered the norm. This resulted in a fundamental contrast to nomadism ( Nomads), which was conceived as anti-civilization. Phenomena such as synoikismos and Colonization were perceived as the constitution, enhancement or expansion of one's own cultural space, i.e., as fundame…

Name of a Roman plebeian family, in the late Republic also often spelt Plotius, with no clear difference in use (cf. Claudius/Clodius). The earliest epigraphic evidence comes from Praeneste (among it the maker of the Ficoronian Cista, Novios Plautios, CIL I2 561), while the family in Rome achieved political eminence after 367 BC (Münzer therefore considers them to have migrated from Praeneste [1. 42; 44f.; 412]), providing seven consuls between 358 and 318; their migration may explain their interest in integrating Latini (cf. P. [I 5]…

I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] V. Naso, Q. In 66 BC, V. was the judge in a lawsuit against A. Cluentius [2] Habitus (Cic. Clu. 147 f.), hence presumably an aedile in 67. Before 60, V. was a praetor (Cic. Flac. 50). His relationships to a certain V., who was governor in 49 (Cic. Att. 8,15,3) and to Naso, augur presumably in 45 ( ibid. 12,17) are unclear. Bartels, Jens (Bonn) [German version] [I 2] V. Saxa, Q. As people's tribune ( tribunus [7] plebis) in 169 BC, with the support of M. Porcius Cato [1] he had a plebiscitum passed ( lex Voconia ) according to whi…

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…

Originally an Oscan nomen gentile. The family belonged to the urban nobility of Benventum; the sources show it gaining kinship with one of the leading Roman noble families through the marriage, probably c. 300 BC, of one of its daughters, Otacilia, to a relative of the gens Fabia (Fabius) (Liber de praenominibus 6; Fest. 174 L). This no doubt contributed to the rapid rise of family members O. [I 2] and O. [I 3] to the consulship. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] O. Crassus Prefect of Pompeius at Lissus, 48 BC Prefect of Cn. Pompeius at Lissus in 4…

(also Poblicius, Poplicius, Populicius). Name of a Roman plebeian family, known from the 3rd cent. BC onwards, but not politically significant. During the Late Republic the name was often assumed by public slaves ( servi publici) after manumission as a token of their former status. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] P., Q. Praetor between 69 and 66 BC; after that, presumably governor in Asia Praetor between 69 and 66 BC; after that, presumably governor of the province of Asia (Cic. Clu. 126; Cic. Ad Q. Fr. 1,2,14?; MRR 2,143; 150). Bartels, Jens (Bon…

Name of a Roman gens (in inscriptions also Muucius, CIL I2, 584, Greek Μούκιος/ Moúkios). Tradition tells us of the legendary C.M. [I 2] Cordus Scaevola; the great age of the family is perhaps demonstrated by the name Mucia Prata of a place to the east of the Tiber [1]. In the historical period (from the 3rd century BC) the family was plebeian and provided a series of significant lawyers (M. [I 5; I 8-9]). One of M. [I 4]'s sons was adopted by a P. Licinius Crassus and as P. Licinius [I 19] Crassus Dives Mucianus founded the reputation of this branch of the family of Licinii Crassi. I. Republican …

Name of an old patrician family. The tribus Sergia was named after it. The family is attested to have attained consulship in the 5th cent. BC (S. [I 5]) but did not achieve lasting importance in the historical period. The attempt of its best-known member, L.S. Catilina, to attain the consulship once more failed with the Catilinarian Conspiracy. I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] S., M. The brother of L.S. Catilina (?) According to Plutarch (Sulla 32,3; Cicero 10,3), the brother of L.S. Catilina, killed by him in 81 and posthumously put on the proscriptions…

Name of a Roman gens. The patrician bearers of the name from the 5th and 4th cents. BC that have come down to us are of disputed historicity, in any case the early family history has been embellished in the late Republic.  It is these Minucii that later membesrs (from the 3rd century BC) trace themselves back to. A prominent cognomen is Augurinus (M. [I 1-3] and [I 5 and 6]), deriving from the first plebeian augur M. [I 7], applied only subsequently to the early Republican members. The political zen…

[German version] (Ταύταλος/ Taútalos; in Diod. Sic. 33,1,4 according to Posidon.: Taútamos). Successor to Viriatus as supreme commander of the Lusitani, in 139 BC he capitulated to the Romans, who in return awarded his people land to secure their existence (App. Hisp. 320-321). Schmitt, Tassilo (Bielefeld)

V. is a gens name recorded particularly in Campania. [German version] [1] Decius V. Led Campanian troops the Romans had relocated to Regium in 282 or 280 BC. The garrison later set up an independent government there in alliance with like-minded people in Messana [1] in Sicily. After the Romans' victory in 270 BC all survivors were executed (Pol. 1,7; Diod. 22,1,2-3; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 20,4-5; Cass. Dio fr. 40,7-12). Schmitt, Tassilo (Bielefeld) [German version] [2] Cerrinus V. Taurea One of the leading men from Capua, the subject of anecdotal and often quite contradict…