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Name of a patrician Roman family, derived from the praenomen Quintus (comparable to Sextus/ Sextius, etc.), often also Quintius in inscriptions and MSS. The origin of the family is unknown; its great age is suggested by its connection with the festival of the …

Name of an old patrician family, probably connected with the name of the god  Jupiter [1. 281; 2. 729]. The gens was one of the so-called ‘Trojan families’, who were said to have moved from Alba Longa t…

Old Roman …

Old Latin family name, whose origin is unexplained; in inscriptions also Hostillius and Hostilus [1. 30; 175]. The great age of the name is shown by the third Roman king Tullus H. [4] and names such as Curia Hostilia, Lares Hostilii and the goddess Hostilina. In historical times, the family was Plebeian and, from the 2nd cent. BC, politically active, particularly in the Tubuli and Mancini branches; it died out at the end of the 1st cent. BC. [German version] [1] H. Praetor and people's tribune in the 2nd cent. BC Praetor or people's tribune in the 2nd cent. BC (?), had a lex Hostilia passed, w…

(Καλλισθένης; Kallisthénēs). [German version] [1] Of Olynthus, Alexander historian, related to Aristotle Callisthenes of  Olynthus,  Alexander historian, son of a female cousin of  Aristotle [6], who raised him (Plut. Alexander 55,8) and whom he accompanied to  Assos, Macedonia and then perhaps to Athens. After the death of  Hermias [1] he wrote in praise of him (quoted by Didymus, In Demosthenem 5-6). Together with Aristotle he composed a list of Pythionikai ( Pythia) and agonothetai ( Agonothetes) of the Pythian Games for which the two were honoured in Delphi (Syll.3 275). The…

Family name of Oscan origin. [I 184]. The family was prominent in Capua (M. [I 3], cf. Cic. Pis. 24) and M.'s [I 5] sons were the first to be admitted to the Senate in the 1st cent. BC. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] Grandfather of the poet Vergilius on his mother's side Grandfather of the poet Vergilius on his mother's side; was allegedly an official messenger ( viator ; Donat. Vita Vergilii 1). Kierdorf, Wilhelm (Cologne) [German version] [I 2] M., Cn. Governor of Numidia AD 256-258. From Larinum in Samnium, died about 88 BC; heir of his (half-?)brother N. Aurius. M.'s own heir was the son of his sister Magia, Abbius Oppianicus (Cic. Clu. 21; 33). Fündling, Jörg (Bonn) [German version] [I 3] M., Decius Led the Roman faction in Capua in 216 BC Led the Roman faction in Capua in 216 BC. Sent by Hannibal [4] to Carthage, but landed in Cyrene. Died in Egyptian exile (Liv. 23,7,4-8,3; 10,3-13; Vell. Pat. 2,16,2). Nadig, Peter C. (Duisburg) [German version] [I 4] M., L. Defected…

Roman surname, derived from the name of the goddess Iuno [1. 470; 2. 731]. The gens was plebeian; the idea that this family originated from the patrician founder of the Republic L. I. [I 4] Brutus (Cic. Att. 13,40,1), which was particularly propagated by the murderers of Caesar, M. and D. I. Brutus [I 10 and 12], was already a matter of controversy in ancient times (Plut. Brutus 1,6-8). T.  Pomponius Atticus (Nep. Att. 18,3) composed a family history at the request of M. Brutus. This gens became politically im…

Name of a Roman plebeian family, perhaps of Etruscan origin [1. 185; 187]. The most important bearer of the name is M. [I 3]; the family is politically unimportant in the 1st cent. BC. Lex Maenia is the title of a Menippean satire of Varro (Varro Men. 153-155). The law concerned the power of the paternal head of the house; content and dating are contested [3. 1085 - 1121]. A further lex Maenia probably passed before 290 BC directed that the ‘agreement of the Senate’ ( auctoritas patrum) for elections be obtained before proclaiming the election results (Cic. Brut. 55). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Boch…