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Roman nomen gentile, sometimes confused with Sextius. The family surfaced as patrician with S. [1] and [5] in the mid 5th cent. BC. In the late Republic, it had only (politically insignificant) plebeian members. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [1] S., L. In order to illustrate the just administration of the first collegium of decemviri , especially the justice of C. Iulius [I 13] Iullus, Livy (3,33,9 f.) and Cicero (Rep. 2,61) tell the anecdote that after a corpse was found buried in the house of S., Iulius - who,…

(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…

Plebeian family, which produced a succession of important representatives in the 4th cent. BC (family tree in [1]). [German version] [1] P., Q. Decemvir i…

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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 fail…

Name of a Roman patrician family (epigraphically also Serveilius), said to have migrated to Rome from Alba Longa under king Tullus Hostilius [4] (Liv. 1,30,2; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 3,29,7). The oldest branches are the Ahalae and Fidenates in the 5th and 4th cents. BC; the Caepiones and Gemini, from whom the Vatiae (Isaurici) descended, appear in the 3rd cent. The last prominent member of th…

Roman nomen gentile, also confused with Sestius . According to tradition, the family achieved prominence in the 4th cent. BC with S. [I 6] who obtained access to the consulate for plebeians. The family was unimportant under the Republic, with the exception of S. [1 3]; the branch which was best known into the 3rd cent. AD originated with Caesar's follower S. [I 2], but it made spurious claims to be descended from the first plebeian consul S. [I 6] (hence the epithets Africanus and Laterensis). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] S., Q. Founder of t…

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 them among the …

Old Roman nomen gentile, derived from the prename Marcus. Tradition knows of a patrician branch with the (mythical) king Ancus M. [I 3] and Cn. M. Coriolanus as its most important members. The younger members of the family (from the 3rd cent.) were plebeian without a link to the patrician Marcii being evident. Important families included the Rutili, later also the Censorini, Tremuli, Reges and Rallae. In the Late Republic the family claimed descent from the kings Ancus M. and Numa Pompilius (therefore the cognomen …

[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.…

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 Verginius over the former's agrarian law (cf. above). Müller, Christian (Bochum) [German version] …

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…

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] [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 fro…

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[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) B…

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 turn…

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 Tuscul…

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 a…

[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 ancien…