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Name of a Roman plebeian family, historically attested at Rome from the 3rd cent. BC. The name was a common one, but its bearers were politically insignificant. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] Legate of L. Licinius [I 26] Lucullus in 69 BC. Distinguished himself in the Armenian war (Plut. Lucullus 25,4-6; App. Mithr. 381-385), but fell into Parthian hands in 68 (Cass. Dio 36,3,2 f.). Fündling, Jörg (Bonn) [German version] [I 2] Praetor before 67 BC, together with his colleague Bellinus, he was kidnapped by pirates (Plut. Pompeius 24,6). Fündling,…

Name of a Roman patrician family, derived from the praenomen Quintus; in inscriptions and MSS also Quintilius. In the annalistic tradition the family was one of Rome's oldest, supposed to have arrived in Rome under the king Tullus Hostilius (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 3,29,7; cf. Liv. 1,30,2, though he has Quinctii); of a consul recorded in 453 BC and a consular tribune in 403 nothing further is known. In the historical period, members of the family are known from the end of the 3rd cent. on (bearing the inherited cognomen Varus), but they achieved no lasting noble status. The most promin…

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 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…

Name eines röm. Geschlechts. Die überl. patrizischen Namensträger des 5. und 4. Jh.v.Chr. sind in ihrer Historizität umstritten, auf jeden Fall ist die frühe Familiengeschichte spätrepublikan. Ausschmückung. Auf diese Minucii führten sich die späteren Angehörigen (seit dem 3. Jh.v.Chr.) zurück. Prominentes Cognomen ist Augurinus (M. [I 1-3] und [I 5 und 6]), vom ersten plebeischen Augur M. [I 7] herrührend, erst nachträglich den frührepublikan. Angehörigen beigegeben. Der polit. Höhepunkt der Fa…

Ital. Personenname, vielleicht vom Praenomen Gnaivos ( Gnaeus, Cn.) abgeleitet, volksetym. von naevus, “Muttermal” hergeführt (Arnob. 3,14). Für das hohe Alter des Namens in Rom, der auch inschr. weit verbreitet ist, spricht die Bezeichnung porta Naevia in der servianischen Stadtmauer (Varro ling. 5,163; vgl. Liv. 2,11,8). Die Familie selbst trat polit. erst im 2. Jh. v.Chr. hervor. Bedeutendster Namensträger ist der Dichter N. [I 1]. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republikanische Zeit [English version] [I 1] N., Cn. Dramatiker und Epiker, 3. Jh. v. Chr. Röm. Dramatiker und…

Gentilname einer röm. patrizischen Familie (vom Vornamen Postumus ), seit dem 5 Jh. v. Chr. in den höchsten Ämtern und bis ins 2. Jh. v. Chr. polit. bedeutend. Ein A. P. soll als dictator 499 oder 496 v. Chr. die Schlacht am Lacus Regillus entschieden haben (Liv. 2,19-20). Von ihm leiteten sich die Albi bzw. Albini (Regillenses) ab, die mit dem mil. Versagen von P. [I 9] im Iugurthinischen Krieg am E. des 2. Jh. v. Chr. aus der Politik ausschieden. I. Republikanische Zeit [English version] [I 1] P., C. Etr. Eingeweideschauer, auch von Sulla aufgesucht Etr. Eingeweideschauer ( haruspex; har…

Roman patrician gentilic name (from the praenomen Postumus ), found in the highest offices from the 5th cent. BC on and politically significant until the 2nd cent. BC. As dictator in 499 or 496 BC, an A. P. is supposed to have decided the battle at Lacus Regillus (Liv. 2,19-20). The Albi or Albini (Regillenses), who withdrew from politics with P. [I 9]'s military failure in the Jugurthine War at the end of the 2nd cent. BC, are his descendants. I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] P., C. Etruscan haruspex, even consulted by Sulla Etruscan haruspex ( haruspices …

Italic nomen gentile. I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] A young friend of M. Porcius [I 7] Cato; in 46 BC he wanted to follow Cato into death, but allowed himself to be dissuaded by philosophical arguments (Plut. Cato Minor 65,10 f.; 66,6-8; 73,7). He then joined cause with M. Iunius [I 10] Brutus, who, because of S.' attitude towards tyrannicide, did not dare let him in on the plot against Caesar. S. was killed in 42 as a scout at Philippi (Plut. Brutus 51,6). Fündling, Jörg (Bonn) [German version] [I 2] S., L. Roman equestrian and leading follower of Catilina (Cic. Cat. 3,6…

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…

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]…

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 family. According to tradition, its members of the 5th cent. BC (Atratini, S. [I 3-8]) are supposed to have been patricians and champions of patrician privileges (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 10,41,5; 10,42,3), an assumption that may have been a retrospective invention (the Sempronii only became patricians under Caesar or Augustus); in the historical period, we know only of plebeian branches of the family during the Republic (Asellio, Blaesus, Gracchus, Longus, Tuditanus) who played an important role in the 3rd and 2nd cents. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican Period …

(in Greek usually Μάλλιος/ Mállios, often confused in MSS with Mallius and Manilius). Name of a Roman patrician family, probably of Etruscan origin [1. 227]. It attained an early political zenith in the 5th and 4th cents. BC with the Vulsones and Capitolini branches (continued by the Torquati). Sources connect the family's history primarily with the repelling of the Celts ( M. [I 8] and [I 12]. Stemmata, details of which are uncertain: [2. 1157f., 1166]). A period of decline ended in about 260 BC wi…

Name einer aus Tusculum stammenden plebeiischen Familie. Im Glauben, die Familie habe sich mit Schweinezucht beschäftigt, leitete man im Alt. ihren Namen von porcus ab (Varro rust. 2,1,10 u. a.). Von der Mitte des 3. Jh. v. Chr. gehörten die Zweige der Catones und Licinii zur Führungsschicht Roms und erlangten Anf. des 2. Jh. mit Cato [1] (Censorius) und P. [I 13] das Konsulat. Die genaue verwandtschaftliche Verbindung zwischen den prominentesten Namensträgern Cato [1] und seinem Urenkel P. [I 7] Cato (Uticensis) ist nicht restlos geklärt. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republi…

Weitverbreiter röm. Gentilname, abgeleitet vom später verschwundenen Numeralpraenomen Octavus (“der im achten Monat Geborene”, erh. bei Octavus Mamilius [2]). Polit. bedeutsam ist in Rom seit dem 2. Jh.v.Chr. einzig die ältere Linie, aus der in Reihe fünf Consuln hervorgingen (O. [I 4-8]; bevorzugtes Praenomen: Cn.; zu den Verwandtschaftverhältnissen [1. 405-407]); dagegen gelangten die Angehörigen der mit ihr verwandten jüngeren Linie (in Velitrae ansässig), aus der der spätere Princeps Augustus stammt…

(griech. meist Μάλλιος, hsl. oft mit Mallius und Manilius verwechselt). Name einer röm. patrizischen Familie, wohl etr. Herkunft [1. 227]. In den Zweigen der Vulsones und Capitolini (fortgesetzt von den Torquati) erreichte sie im 5. und 4. Jh.v.Chr. einen frühen polit. Höhepunkt; die Überl. verbindet die Familiengesch. v.a. mit der Abwehr der Kelten (M. [I 8] und [I 12]; Stammbäume - im einzelnen unsicher: [2. 1157f., 1166]). Nach einer Phase des Niedergangs bis um 260 v.Chr. traten die jüngere …

Name einer röm. plebeiischen Fanmilie, in der späten Republik auch häufig Plotius geschrieben, ohne daß ein deutlicher Unterschied im Gebrauch festzustellen ist (vgl. Claudius/Clodius). Älteste inschr. Belege stammen aus Praeneste (darunter der Verfertiger der sog. Ficoronischen Ciste, Novios Plautios, CIL I2 561), während die Familie in Rom nach 367 v.Chr. zu eminenter polit. Bed. gelangte (Münzer hält sie deshalb für aus Praeneste eingewandert [1. 42; 44f.; 412]) und zw. 358 und 318 sieben Consuln stellte; die Zuwanderung erklärt vi…