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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 in Latin inscriptions [1. 108, n. 1]. In the annalistic historical records dealing with the early Republic, members of the family appear among the earliest people's tribunes, reaching their polit…

Plebeian gentile name (less commonly Aquilius; see ThLL, 2,375), in the 5th cent. BC also patrician, but the bearers do not appear to be historical. I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] Aquillii fratres (end of the 6th cent. BC) Supposedly conspired against the newly established Republic and were executed (Liv. 2,4-5; Plut. Pobl. 4-7 [1]. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 2] A. (Tuscus ?), C. Cos. 487 BC Consul in 487 BC, fought according to tradition against the Hernici and received an ovatio (Liv. 2,40,14; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 8,67,1; MRR 1,19-20).    Elvers, Ka…

Blänsdorf, Jürgen (Mainz) [German version] A. Imperial Period (CT) [1; 15. 1; 16; 22] Tragedies were written for the stage in Rome until the beginning of the 1st cent. BC, but the old tragedies of Pacuvius, Ennius and Accius continued to be performed regularly into the Early Empire, and their staging grew increasingly opulent. The last documented performance of a new tragedy, Thyestes by P. Varius Rufus (29 BC), was already an isolated event. It is uncertain whether there was a staging of Ovid's Medea, the most famous Roman tragedy after Quintilian and Tacitus. There is no evi…

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…

[German version] A term used by Varro - but not documented until Late Antiquity, by a quotation in Diom. 1,489,18 K - for Roman comedy based on Greek models (from the Latin pallium for himátion, the cloak-like wrap that was typical of traditional Greek dress, cf. Plaut. Curc. 288; in contrast to the togata, the comedy in the Roman toga); up to the end of the Republic mention was made only of comoedia or more generally of fabula. The literary theory of Late Antiquity (Diomedes [4], Donatus [3], Euanthius) provides valuable approaches to describing the genre. The first palliata was written by…

Roman nomen gentile, attested from the 1st cent. BC evident mainly in Gallia Cisalpina (frequently confused with Verginius in MSS). The spelling Virgilius for the name of the poet Vergilius [4] is only documented from the 5th cent. AD onwards. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] V. (less frequently: Verginius), C. Legate of Calpurnius [I 19] in Macedonia, 57-55 BC 57-55 BC; legate of Calpurnius [I 19] in Macedonia; depicted by Cicero (Prov. cons. 7) as an example of integrity in contrast with Piso. Perhaps (as in MRR 2,205) identical with V. [2]. Fündling, Jörg (Bonn) …

Blänsdorf, Jürgen (Mainz) [German version] A. Imperial Era to Late Antiquity (CT) [13; 43] After Roman comedy ( comoedia palliata) had flourished for about a century, the creation of new comedies ceased around the middle of the 2nd cent. BC. For a few decades its place was taken by the bawdier Atellan farces, and then the still more down-to-earth mime, which, after a short literary phase in the time of Caesar, filled the theatres and improvised venues as a sub-literary form of entertainment until Late Antiquity. P…

Name of a Roman plebeian family of little political significance except for L. M. [I 3], the destroyer of Corinth. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] Author of Atellan farces, propably Augustan According to Pomponius Bononiensis and Novius [I 1], who presumably lived about 90 BC, M. revived the atellan farces, which had laid dormant for some time (Macrob. Sat. 1,10,3). His Old Latin metre (use of iambic shortening) and language (abl. testu) suggest that he probably did not write later than the Augustan period, during which other …

[German version] [1] One of four standard roles of the fabula Atellana One of four standard roles of the fabula   Atellana , the type of the glutton ( Manducus, Varro, Ling. 7, 95 Müller; Paul Fest. 115 L; representation as god of death in Etruscan graves), obscene (in Maccus Virgo) and clever hunchback (derived from dorsum). According to Horace (Epist. 2,1,173), he appeared edacibus in parasitis (among gluttonous parasites). His supposed epitaph alludes to his shrewdness (Sen. Ep. 89,7). In the Philosophia of Pomponius, he played the avaricious fortune-teller (p. 49 Frassin…

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 j…

Widespread plebeian gentilicium, verifiable since the 5th cent. BC, alternative form Ateilius, Greek Ἀτείλος, Ἀτίλλιος ( Ateílos, Atíllios; Schulze 151; 440; ThlL 2,1172f.). A M.A. under Tarquinius Priscus (Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 4,62,4) is fictional. The most important families are in the 3rd cent. BC the Atilii Reguli, in the 2nd and 1st cents. the Sarani (in the newer form Serrani). In the imperial era the significance of the bearers of this name declines in public life.   Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republic [German version] [I 1] Author of  palliata, 2nd cent. BC Author of  palli…

[German version] From the retrospective view of a later time, especially out of a classical feeling for style, language and style forms of an early epoch are designated as archaic. Archaism is the deliberate (usually stylistic-theory-led) maintenance of or return to obsolete, rare forms of language and style with the goal of unusual, mostly elevated effect, which works only when there is a certain intensification and extension to several areas of language (vocabulary, semantics, morphology, syntax…

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 …

[German version] Atellana poet from the 2nd/1st cent. BC. The name, documented only once (Varro, Ling. 6,68) is dubious, although cf. Aprusius CIL XI 6712, 47; the numerous conjectures [2] were unable to gain acceptance. Cichorius replaced the proper name with the role name of parasitus. Varro (loc. cit.) cites an iambic septenarius typical of the Atellana (Terentianus Maurus 2395). Blänsdorf, Jürgen (Mainz) Bibliography Editions: 1 CRF 273 2 P. Frassinetti, Atellanae Fabulae, 1967, 14, 95, 113. Literature: 3 Bardon 1, 164 f. 4 C. Cichorius, Zur Geschichte der Atellanendic…

[German version] (Term documented first since Cicero and Varro; later also Atellania, thus always Gellius). Originally Oscan farce, supposedly arose in Atella (Samnium) (Liv. 7,2; Val. Max. 2,4,4; Euanth. De com. p. 7 R.; Diom. 1,489f.; Tac. Ann. 4,14; Porphyrio ad Hor. Epist. 2,1,145). The affiliation with ludi not identified in the Augustan period (Str. 5,3,6) and the appearance of the manducus, who also belonged to the festive pompa (Varro, Ling. 7,95; Paul. Fest. 115 L), suggests origins in cultic use and the influence of the Etruscan cult of the dead. The g…