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[German version] [1] Vitruvius Vaccus, Marcus According to Livy (8,19,4-8,20,10), V. was an influential citizen of Fundi (Fondi) who led the revolt against Rome that was undertaken by Privernum (Piperno) with the support of Fondi in 330/329 BC.  After the failed insurrection he was executed in Rome.  It is difficult to explain V's role in this revolt, given that he was clearly not an unimportant figure in Rome and owned a house there, which was then destroyed by decree of the Senate (Cic. Dom. 101 sti…

Roman gens of the early Republic, to which R. [1] - if historical - and R. [2] may be attributed; however, the tradition in Dion. Hal. (R. [1]: tr. pl., R. [2]: patrician) is contradictory. If one considers R. [1] unhistorical as does [1. 29] it becomes likely to view the gens Rabuleia as patrician, but a plebeian origin cannot be excluded. [German version] [1] People's tribune in 486 BC, sought to mediate in the dispute over the agrarian law According to Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 8,72,1 ff., R. attempted to mediate as tr. pl. in 486 BC in the dispute between Cassius [I 19] and his co-consul…

Name of a patrician gens, whose last known representative N. ( tr. mil. 258 BC) is placed by tradition in the middle of the 3rd cent. BC. According to Varro (HRR II p. 9 = Serv. Aen. 2,166; cf. 3,407; 5,704) the ancestor of the gens was a companion of Aeneas by the name of Nautes, to whom Diomedes [1] surrendered the Palladion of Troy, which had been plundered by the Greeks, and this was the origin of a gentile cult for Minerva observed among the Nautii (cf. Fest. 164 L.; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 6,69,1). [German version] [1] N., Sp. Legate of the consul L. Papieius Cursor, contributed considera…

I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] P. Relative of Cicero's second wife Publilia A close relative (brother?) of Cicero's second wife Publilia; for this reason, he is frequently mentioned in Cicero's letters to T. Pomponius [I 5] Atticus. Bartels, Jens (Bonn) [German version] [I 2] P., Volero People's tribune in 472 and 471 BC People's tribune in 472 and 471 BC (MRR 1, 29 f.). P. is said to have introduced a bill in 472 to have the election of the tribunes of the plebs take place not in the comitia curiata, which were dominated by patricians and their clients, but in the comitia tributa (Co…

[German version] [1] Nomen gentile The name T. is the Latinized form of an Ancient Etruscan nomen gentile * tarq/χ u-na, from which the Latin name was derived by means of the -i̯o suffix inherited from the indo-European basic form. In Etruscan itself, the name in the form tarq/χ una is not attested; instances of a basic form * tarq/χ-  from the Archaic period are rare (cf. perhaps tarχ umenaia [1. 251, Cl 2.8], tarχ elnas [1. 86, Vs 1.2]). Inherited forms occur in Late Etruscan in the nomina gentilia tarcna/tarχ na ( cf. tarcnai, tar χ nas from the Tomba delle Iscrizioni, Caere, CIE 5907-5974; t…

Name of a patrician gens which had already died out in the 5th cent. BC. Later bearers of the name owe it to the provenance from the eponymous tribus. [German version] [1] Horatii Member of the Horatius gens (Royal period). According to legend (Liv. 1,24-26; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 3,13,4-22,10), under King Tullus  Hostilius [I 4], the conflict between Rome and  Alba Longa was decided by a fight between the Horatii triplets and the Curiatii triplets rather than a battle. After two brothers had fallen, the last H. overcame his opponent…

[German version] Tiburtine, sent in Vergil's Aeneid by Turnus [1] to seek help from Diomedes [1] against Aeneas [1], but fails in this mission and shortly afterwards falls in a cavalry battle (Verg. Aen. 8,9; 11,241-295; 11,741-758; Serv. Aen. 8,9; 11,757). Linguistically it is debatable whether the origin of the name V. is Celtic or Illyrian. Müller, Christian (Bochum) Bibliography C. Feroni, s. v. Venulo, EV 5.1, 1990, 498 f.

[German version] T. Harsa, C. According to Livius (3,9,1-10,3; on the historicity of the account see [1. 411-413; 2. 93-95]), as tr. pl. in 462 BC he proposed establishing a five-man college to legally limit the powers of the consuls. Although he later withdrew the proposal, it unleashed long-lasting controversies, which ultimately led to an ambassadorship to Greece (to study law) in 454 and to the establishment of the Decemviri [1] in 451. Müller, Christian (Bochum) Bibliography 1 R. M. Ogilvie, A Commentary on Livy Books 1-5, 1965 2 D. Flach, Die Gesetze der frühen römisch…

Rare Roman family name, attested in historical traditions only in the 5th and 4th cents. BC. [German version] [1] M., Q. People's tribune 320 BC, gave up his office Jointly responsible for the Caudine treaty, M. gave up his office as tr. pl. 320 BC and was turned over to the Samnites (Liv. 9,8,13-10,2; Cic. Off. 3,109). Müller, Christian (Bochum) [German version] [2] Aspired to the kingly rule of Rome 440/39 BC According to Liv. 4,12,6-16,1 and Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 12,1-4 M., a rich plebeian, gained a broad following in a famine 440/39 BC by buying grain and selling…

Oscan praenomen, later a widespread nomen gentile; literary refs. at Rome from as early as the 5th cent. BC (O. [I 5]), but historical evidence only from the 2nd cent. The Tusculan Opiter O., who is said to have given his name to the Mons O. at Rome, is an invention (Varro in Fest. 476 L.). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] O., C. Author of a law of 215 BC to limit displays of wealth Restricted the opportunities for women to display wealth by his law of 215 BC (Liv. 34,1,1-3 et alibi; MRR 1, 255). In 195, this legislation was repealed despite the res…

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…

[German version] According to a legendary tradition of the early Republic, V. prevented her son Marcius Coriolanus from conquering his home city Rome with a Volscian army (Volsci). The best-known version of this often revisited subject matter is that of Livius [III 2] (2,40,1-12; cf. e.g. Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 8,39-54; Val. Max. 5,4,1; Plut. Coriolanus 33-36, but there, V. is called Volumnia [1]), who simultaneously provides an aetiology for the foundation of the temple of Fortuna Muliebris. Prototypes in Greek tragedy (e.g. Eur. Phoen.; Eur. Hec.) are unmistakable. A po…

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…

[German version] [1] Vestal vergin, buried alive in 483 BC Vestal virgin, buried alive for unchastity in 483 BC. Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 8,89,4 calls her O., but her name is given differently elsewhere (e.g. Liv. 2,42,11); the name was probably established by ancient authors through associations between the vestal concerned, not known by name, and others whose names were recorded (perhaps O. [2]). Müller, Christian (Bochum) [German version] [2] Vestal virgin, buried alive in 216 BC As a Vestal virgin, she was convicted for unchastity and buried alive in 216 BC (Plut. Fabius…