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Probably originally the vulgar Latin form of the Roman proper name Plautius, an independent nomen gentile at the latest from the 1st cent. BC onwards. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] P. Gallus, L. Lat. rhetoric teacher, 1st cent. BC The first teacher of Latin rhetoric attested for Rome at the beginning of the 1st cent. BC who held his classes in Latin and on Roman matters and was very popular (cf. Cic. in Suet. Gram. 26). An edict of the censors of 92 BC, especially Cicero's teacher Licinius [I 10]…

Plebeian family name, documented in Rome since the 1st cent. BC (on the derivation of asinus [1], on Etruscan parallels [2]). The family, whose most famous name-bearer was Asinus Pollio, originally came from Teate Marrucinorum (modern Chieti), was a member of the patrician class since the Augustan period and was particularly prominent in the 1st cent. AD. I. Republic [German version] [I 1] A. Senator (mid-1st cent. BC) Senator, supporter of Antony at Mutina in 43 BC (Cic. Phil. 13, 28). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) Bibliography 1 A. Hug, s.v. Spitznamen, RE 3 A, 1829 2 Schulze, 129. …

Latin nomen gentile. [German version] [1] R., C. Took part in the murder of the tribune of the people Appuleius [I 11] in 100 BC, accused of this crime in 63 and defended by Cicero Wealthy Roman equestrian with estates in Apulia and Campania. In 100 BC, he took part in the murder of the tribune of the people L. Appuleius [I 11] Saturninus, for which he was probably later rewarded with a seat in the Senate; in 89, he was on the staff of Cn. Pompeius [I 8] Strabo (ILLRP 515). Attacked on numerous occasions by the populares as a supporter of the Senate, in 63 he was accused of the murder of A…

[German version] [1] see Marcius Festus see  Marcius Festus Portmann, Werner (Berlin) [German version] [2] Iulius F. Hymetius Rom. official, proconsul Africae AD 366-368 served around AD 350 as corrector Tusciae et Umbriae, later as praetor urbanus and consularis Campaniae cum Samnio (before 355). In 362, he became vicarius urbis Romae (Cod. Theod. 11,30,29), and from 366 to 368 proconsul Africae (Cod. Theod. 9,19,3; his entire career: ILS 1256). As proconsul, he helped to alleviate a famine in Carthage, and in this context was sentenced to a fine as a result of b…

[German version] [1] I. I Eastern Roman general AD 518-527 (AD 518-527), emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, born a farmer's son around 450 in Bederiana (like  Iustinianus [1] I.), he came to Constantinople with  Leo I and was soon a member of the palace guard; under  Anastasius I he was comes rei militaris and from 515 comes excubitorum. In the dispute over the succession to Anastasius, who died without an heir, a majority in the Senate supported his candidacy and eventually he was also acclaimed by the army and the people, and was crowned on 10 Jul…

(Μαικήνας; Maikḗnas). Etruscan family name (cf. mehnate, mehnati and similar); the family is recorded in inscriptions for Perusia (modern Perugia) and was probably originally settled there. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] Friend and counsellor of Octavian (Augustus), 1st cent. BC Father of M. [2], mentioned as early as 44 BC among the friends and counsellors of Octavian ( Augustus) (Nicolaus of Damascus, Vita Caesaris 31,133). Schmidt, Peter L. (Constance) [German version] [2] Patron of literature, 1st cent. BC M., less often - with the family name of the…

Roman cognomen (‘wide-browed’), first attested in the Imperial period. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] Rich patron of Martial A rich patron of Martial (1,55,2). He could be identical with Ti. Catius Caesius F., cos. suff. in AD 96. Eck, Werner (Cologne) [German version] [2] Praetorian governor of Galatia under Tiberius Praetorian governor of Galatia under Tiberius, perhaps AD 27-31. Eck, Werner (Cologne) Bibliography S. Mitchell, in: Chiron 16, 1986, 23ff. PIR2 F 485). [German version] [3] [...]us F. Cos. suff. AD 165 Cos. suff. in AD 165, (Vidman, FO2 52; there a…

Oscan praenomen, shortened to No., attested for N. Calavius [2], the maker of the Ficoronian cista Novios Plautios (ILS 8562), and in other inscriptions. Probably a particularly frequent gentilicium from the 3rd cent. BC onwards in Campania and spreading from there into the eastern Mediterranean. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] Representative of the literary Atellana, early 1st cent. BC As a representative of the literary atellana, N. appears to have been at work ahead of Pomponius (leading representative of the genr…

Name of a Latin family which belonged to the upper class in Puteoli (Schulze 480). I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] Duumvir of Puteoli 78 BC As duumvir of Puteoli, he entered into a dispute with Cornelius [I 90]  Sulla in 78 BC, who was so upset that he died (Val.Max. 9,3,8; Plut. Sulla 37,3). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 2] G., Q. Public crier and auctioneer Public crier and auctioneer ( praeco) in the late Republican period (Cicero claims to have known him, Brut. 172). Many anecdotes about his wit and repartee (Cic. De or. 2,244; 28…

Roman plebeian family name, attested from the 4th cent. BC onwards (ThlL, Onom. 3,217-227). The most important families into the 1st cent. AD are the Ahenobarbi [I 1-8] and the Calvini [I 9-12]. Identification of some members of the family in the 2nd cent. BC is uncertain. I. Republican period [German version] Domitii Ahenobarbi Family history in Suet. Ner. 1-5. Legend of the origin of the cognomen (ThlL, 1,135; in manuscript also Aenobarbus) ‘Red-beard’, ‘Bronze-beard’ in Suet. Ner. 1,1; Plut. Aem. 25. The family was probably accorded patrician st…

[German version] [1] O. maior Augustus' half sister She was the child from C. Octavius’[I 2] first marriage to Ancharia and was therefore the half sister of Octavian who later became Augustus. She was married to Sex. Appuleius [II 2]; their son was Sex. Appuleius [II 3]. O. is honoured as the sister of Augustus and the mother of Sex. Appuleius on an inscription from Pergamon (ILS 8783 = IGR 4, 323). Fischer, Klaus (Bonn) Bibliography PIR2 O 65  M.W. Singer, The Problem of Octavia Minor and Octavia Maior, in: TAPhA, 79, 1948, 270-271. [German version] [2] O. minor Older sister of Augustus Born …

[German version] I. Greek (Φαῖδρος; Phaîdros). [German version] [I 1] 5th cent. BC Son of Pythocles, from the Attic deme of Myrrhinus, born probably c. 450 BC. Accused of participation in the profanation of the Eleusinian Mysteria and the mutilatation of the herms, P. went into exile in 415 BC. His property was confiscated (And. 1,15; ML 79,112-115). By 404 BC at the latest, he had returned to Athens; he subsequently married a cousin (Lys. 19,15). Died before 393. Participant in the meeting in Plato's Protagoras (315c), interlocutor of Socrates in Plato's Phaedrus and first speaker in his Sy…

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…

Nomen gentile, probably originally Etruscan, occurred at Rome only from the 1st cent. BC onwards. I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] A certain S. from Camerinum was commissioned to recruit followers for Catilina at Picenum in 63 BC, presumably because he was of the Umbrian-Picenan municipal nobility (cf. CIL I2 1921; 1929) (Sall. Catil. 27,1). Bartels, Jens (Bonn) [German version] [I 2] Friend of Horace's; he hoped to enter the cohors amicorum of a member of the imperial household through his relationship with the latter (Hor. Carm.…

Roman plebeian gentile name, derived from the individual cognomen Flavus (‘the blond one’) through the suffix of affiliation -ius, abbreviated form Fl. The bearers of the name that was already common in the Republican period were initially politically unimportant; F. [I 5] was the first one to attain to Roman nobility. In the Imperial period the name was spread further in the Roman empire as a result of the granting of citizenship by the Flavian Emperors Vespasian, Titus and Domitian (AD 68-96). In Late Antiquity (4th-6th cents.) F. was initially gentilicium of the family of  Consta…

Roman family name, frequently attested in inscriptions, also in the form Cavius [1. 76f.]; in the Republican period its bearers are still politically insignificant; also a Faliscan praenomen [2. 103]. I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] G., P. Crucified as a spy of Spartacus 72 BC from Compsa (Lower Italy), was captured and crucified in Sicily in 72 BC by C.  Verres as an alleged spy of the slave leader  Spartacus (Cic. Verr. 2,5,158-170). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 2] G. Bassus Roman grammarian and antiquarian of the late Republic Roman grammarian and…

[German version] …

Roman cognomen [1. 281; 482; 2. 735]. The gens belonged to the municipal nobility of Tusculum, came into Roman politics around 200 BC and with I. [I 6] achieved the sole consulate in the middle of the 2nd cent. BC, to which they referred to also later (Cic. Planc. 12, 15; 18f. and others; cf. Catull. 24,1-3). The most important families were the Thalnae (also Talnae in inscriptions) and the Laterenses. I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] Alleged first curule aedile of the plebs, 4th cent. BC According to fictitious family tradition, the first curule aedile of the plebs at the end …

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 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 Lupercalia (Ov. Fast. 2,378 has Quintilii) and the unusual praenomen of the family, Kaeso, encountered in this context ( v. Q. [I 1]). Livy counts t…

Name of a Roman plebeian family, who probably came from Latium and was accepted into Roman nobility when Latium was integrated politically in 338 BC ( Latin law). The most important branches were first the Salinatores, then the Drusi (on the cognomen see Drusus). The third wife of Augustus and mother of the emperor Tiberius, Livia [2] Drusilla came from this branch (Stemma see Augustus; the family history of the branch is in Suet. Tib. 3). The line of the Salinatores was continued in the late Republic by the Livii Ocellae, who i.a. produced Livia Ocella, the stepmother of the emperor Galba [2]. …

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 important from the 4th cent. BC with the lines of the Scaevae, Bub…

(Ἰσίδωρος; Isídōros). [German version] [1] Pirate captain, defeated by Lucullus at Tenedus in 72 BC Pirate captain who organized the Cilician pirates in the area around Crete, was besieged in 78 BC by P. Servilius Isauricus (Flor. 1,41,3), later entered the service of Mithridates and in 72 was defeated by Lucullus in the naval battle of Tenedos at the entrance to the Dardanelles (App. Mithr. 77, Memnon 42,2 = FHG 3,548) and killed (Plut. Lucullus 12.2). Strothmann, Meret (Bochum) [German version] [2] I. of Charax Geographer, end of 1st cent. BC Geographer, certainly of the Augustan period (end of the 1st cent. BC). Nothing further is known of him personally. Handed d…

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Name of a Roman plebeian family probably deriving from the Italic praenomen Pompo, tracing back, like the Aemilii, Calpurnii and Pinarii, to one of the sons of Numa Pompilius (Plut. Numa 21,2; cf. Nep. Att. 1,1). In the 3rd century BC the Mathones (cf. P. [I 7-9]) achieved consulship, but later the family was insignificant. The most prominent member was a friend of Cicero, T. P. [I 5] Atticus. I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] P., Cn. People's tribune in 90 BC People's tribune in 90 BC, killed in the Civil War in 82; Cicero quite often heard him in his youth; his judgment of the orator fluctuates (Cic. De or. 3,50; Cic. Brut. 182; 207; 221; 308; 311). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 2] P., M. People's tribune in 167 BC, praetor in 161 BC As people's tribune in 167 BC he thwarted with his veto the plans of the praetor M'. Iuventius [I 6] Thalna to declare war on the Rhodians (Liv. 45,21,2). As praetor in 161 he put into effect a Senate resolution banishing philosophers and rhetors from Rome (Suet. Gram. 1; Gell. NA 15,11,1). …

Name of a plebeian gens (probably derived from Caeculus, older form is Caicilios, Greek Καικίλιος, Κεκίλιος [ Kaikílios, Kekílios]; ThlL, Onom. 12-14), whose existence is documented since the 5th cent. (since C. [I 1]), but who only gained importance in the 2nd cent.; their most famous branch were the C. Metelli (I 10-32). A later explanation related the name back to Caeculus, the legendary founder of Praeneste, or Caecas, a companion of Aeneas (Fest. p. 38). I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] C., Q. Supposedly people's tribune in 439 BC Supposedly people's tribune in 439 BC …

Name of a Plebeian family (connection with the Campanian city of Pompeii is unclear). The family acquired political significance with P. [I 1]; he is the origin of the Rufi branch. With P. [I 8] a related branch attained consulship and with his son Cn. P. [I 3] Magnus supplied the most significant member of the gens. Both lineages continue until the early Imperial period (family trees: [1; 2; 3]). I. Republican Period [German version] [I 1] P., Q. Consul 141 BC A homo novus…

Name of probably the most important Roman plebeian family. The similarity to the Etruscan name lecne and the links between the gens and Etruria in historical times (L. [I 7]) suggest an origin in that region [1. 108, n. 3]; the name may, however, also be of Latin origin ( Licinus). The spelling with a double ‘n’ occurs not only in the Greek form Λικίννιος ( Likínnios), but also …

(Ἰωάννης; Iōánnēs). Well-known persons i.a.: I. [1] the Evangelist, I. [4] Chrysostomos, bishop of Constantinople and Homilet, I. [18] Malalas, author of the world chronicle, I. [25] of Gaza, rhetor and poet, I. [33] of Damascus, the theologian, I. [39] Baptistes. [1] I. the Evangelist [German version] A. Tradition and criticism According to the inscriptions, the author of a  Gospel (Jo), of three letters and the Apocalypse in the NT is called I. (= J.; the name appears only in Apc. 1:1; 1:4; 1:9; 22:8). Since the end of the 2nd cent. (Iren. adversus haereses 3,1,1; Polycrates of Ephesus according to Euseb. Hist. eccl. 3,31,3; Clem. Al. according to Euseb. Hist. eccl. 6,14,7; Canon Muratori 9 Lietzmann), he has been widely identified with the ‘disciple of the Lord’, the son of Zebed…

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 to Rome under king Tullus Hostilius [I 4] (see below). The Iulii were prominent in the 5th and 4th cents. BC. Their connection to the family branch of the Caesares, which rose to prominence from the 3rd cent. and whose outstanding member was the dictator  Caesar (with family tree), is unclear. Caesar's adoptive son,…