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Publius Octavius
The gens Octavia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, which was raised to patrician status by Caesar during the first century BC. The first member of the gens to achieve prominence was Gnaeus Octavius Rufus, quaestor ''circa'' 230 BC. Over the following two centuries, the Octavii held many of the highest offices of the state; but the most celebrated of the family was Gaius Octavius, the grandnephew and adopted son of Caesar, who was proclaimed ''Augustus'' by the senate in 27 BC.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. III, pp. 5, 6 (" Octavia Gens"). Origin The Octavii originally came from the Volscian town of Velitrae, in the Alban Hills. The historian Suetonius writes, There are many indications that the Octavian family was in days of old a distinguished one at Velitrae; for not only was a street in the most frequented part of town long ago called Octavian, but an altar was shown there besides, consecrated by an Octavius. This man was leader in a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plebeian
In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words " commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of the group and the term are unclear, but may be related to the Greek, ''plēthos'', meaning masses. In Latin, the word is a singular collective noun, and its genitive is . Plebeians were not a monolithic social class. Those who resided in the city and were part of the four urban tribes are sometimes called the , while those who lived in the country and were part of the 31 smaller rural tribes are sometimes differentiated by using the label . (List of Roman tribes) In ancient Rome In the annalistic tradition of Livy and Dionysius, the distinction between patricians and plebeians was as old as Rome itself, instituted by Romulus' appointment of the first hundred senators, whose descendants became the patriciate. Modern hypotheses date ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Servius Tullius
Servius Tullius was the legendary sixth king of Rome, and the second of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned from 578 to 535 BC. Roman and Greek sources describe his servile origins and later marriage to a daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, Rome's first Etruscan king, who was assassinated in 579 BC. The constitutional basis for his accession is unclear; he is variously described as the first Roman king to accede without election by the Senate, having gained the throne by popular and royal support; and as the first to be elected by the Senate alone, with support of the reigning queen but without recourse to a popular vote. Several traditions describe Servius' father as divine. Livy depicts Servius' mother as a captured Latin princess enslaved by the Romans; her child is chosen as Rome's future king after a ring of fire is seen around his head. The Emperor Claudius discounted such origins and described him as an originally Etruscan mercenary, named Mastarna, who fought for Caeliu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Septimus (praenomen)
Septimus () is a Latin ''praenomen'', or personal name. It was never particularly common at Rome, but it gave rise to the patronymic ''gens Septimia''. The feminine form is ''Septima''. The name was not regularly abbreviated. The praenomen Septimus was quite rare at Rome, but it seems to have been more popular in rural Italy. It was certainly used by the '' gentes Marcia'' and '' Modia'', and must have been used by the ancestors of ''gens Septimia''. Chase cites two inscriptions in which it occurs after the '' nomen'' of a woman, in the place usually occupied by the ''cognomen''. However, Septimus is not otherwise attested as a cognomen in either family, suggesting that the order of names was reversed, and that the praenomen was used by the Aebutii and Casperii. To these families, Kajava adds one instance from ''gens Aemilia'' and perhaps one from ''gens Cincia''. Origin and meaning Septimus is the Latin word for ''seventh'', and the name belongs to the same class as the masculin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Septimia Gens
The gens Septimia was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. The gens first appears in history towards the close of the Republic, and they did not achieve much importance until the latter half of the second century, when Lucius Septimius Severus obtained the imperial dignity. Origin The nomen ''Septimius'' is a patronymic surname, derived from the rare Latin praenomen '' Septimus'', originally given to a seventh child or seventh son, or to a child born in September, originally the seventh month of the Roman calendar.Chase, pp. 150, 151. Several other gentes obtained their nomina in this way, including the Quinctii from '' Quintus'', the Sextii from '' Sextus'', and the Octavii from '' Octavius''. Praenomina The chief praenomina of the Septimii were '' Publius'', ''Lucius'', '' Gaius'', and ''Titus''. There are a few instances of other names, including '' Aulus'', '' Marcus'', and ''Quintus''. The ancestor of the family must have been named ''Septimus'', although none o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sextus (praenomen)
''Sextus'' () is a Latin ''praenomen'', or personal name, which was common throughout all periods of Roman history. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic ''gentes Sextia'' and ''Sextilia''. The feminine form is ''Sexta''. The name was regularly abbreviated Sex., but occasionally is found abbreviated S. (usually used for the praenomen ''Spurius''), or Sext.''Dictionary of Greek & Roman Biography & Mythology'' ''Sextus'' was about the tenth most-common praenomen for most of Roman history, although it became slightly more common in imperial times, as other praenomina declined in popularity. Many families did not use it, but it was widespread amongst all social classes, and was favored by some families. The name survived the collapse of Roman civil institutions in the 5th and 6th centuries, and has continued in use into modern times. Origin and meaning of the name ''Sextus'' is the Latin word for ''sixth'', and it falls into a class of s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sextia Gens
The gens Sextia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, from the time of the early Republic and continuing into imperial times. The most famous member of the gens was Lucius Sextius Lateranus, who as tribune of the plebs from 376 to 367 BC, prevented the election of the annual magistrates, until the passage of the ''lex Licinia Sextia'', otherwise known as the "Licinian Rogations," in the latter year. This law, brought forward by Sextius and his colleague, Gaius Licinius Calvus, opened the consulship to the plebeians, and in the following year Sextius was elected the first plebeian consul. Despite the antiquity of the family, only one other member obtained the consulship during the time of the Republic. Their name occurs more often in the consular fasti under the Empire.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. III, p. 810 ("Sextia Gens").Livy, vi. 34–42. Origin The nomen ''Sextius'' is a patronymic surname, derived from the praenomen ''Sextus'', meani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quintus (praenomen)
Quintus () is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was common throughout all periods of Roman history. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gentes Quinctia and Quinctilia. The feminine form is ''Quinta''. The name was regularly abbreviated Q.''Dictionary of Greek & Roman Biography & Mythology'' Throughout Roman history, Quintus was one of the most common praenomina, generally occupying fourth or fifth place, behind ''Lucius'', ''Gaius'', and '' Marcus'', and occurring about as frequently as '' Publius''. Although many families did not use the name at all, it was particularly favored by others. The name continued to be used after the collapse of Roman civil institutions in the fifth and sixth centuries, and has survived to the present day.''Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft'' Origin and meaning Quintus is the Latin word for "fifth", and it falls into a class of similar praenomina including the masculine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quinctia Gens
The gens Quinctia, sometimes written Quintia, was a patrician family at ancient Rome. Throughout the history of the Republic, its members often held the highest offices of the state, and it produced some men of importance even during the imperial period. For the first forty years after the expulsion of the kings the Quinctii are not mentioned, and the first of the gens who obtained the consulship was Titus Quinctius Capitolinus Barbatus in 471 BC; but from that year their name constantly appears in the Fasti consulares.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. III, pp. 633, 634 (" Quintia Gens"). As with other patrician families, in later times there were also plebeian Quinctii. Some of these may have been the descendants of freedmen of the gens, or of patrician Quinctii who had voluntarily gone over to the plebs. There may also have been unrelated persons who happened to share the same nomen. Pliny the Elder relates that it was the custom in the Quincti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Octavius (praenomen)
Octavius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name. It was never particularly common at Rome, but may have been used more frequently in the countryside. The feminine form is Octavia. The name gave rise to the patronymic gens Octavia, and perhaps also to gens Otacilia, also written ''Octacilia''. A late inscription gives the abbreviation Oct. History The praenomen Octavius is best known from Octavius Mamilius, the prince of Tusculum, and son-in-law of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last king of Rome, who was slain by Titus Herminius at the Battle of Lake Regillus about 498 BC. Members of the Mamilia gens afterward came to Rome, and the name must have been used by the ancestors of the Octavii and perhaps the Otacilii, but examples of the praenomen are scarce. At least in its feminine form, ''Octavius'' seems to have been used on occasion throughout the Roman Republic and into imperial times. The name was used by gens Maecia, and a woman named "Octavia Valeria Vera" liv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Praenomen
The ''praenomen'' (; plural: ''praenomina'') was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the birth of a boy. The praenomen would then be formally conferred a second time when girls married, or when boys assumed the '' toga virilis'' upon reaching manhood. Although it was the oldest of the ''tria nomina'' commonly used in Roman naming conventions, by the late republic, most praenomina were so common that most people were called by their praenomina only by family or close friends. For this reason, although they continued to be used, praenomina gradually disappeared from public records during imperial times. Although both men and women received praenomina, women's praenomina were frequently ignored, and they were gradually abandoned by many Roman families, though they continued to be used in some families and in the countryside. Backgr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italian region and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. Even after the fall of Western Rome, Latin remained the common language of international communication, science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into the 18th century, when other regional vernaculars (including its own descendants, the Romance languages) supplanted it in common academic and political usage, and it eventually became a dead language in the modern linguistic definition. Latin is a highly inflected language, with three distinct genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter), six or seven noun cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative, and vocative), five declensions, four verb conjuga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nomen Gentilicium
The (or simply ) was a hereditary name borne by the peoples of Roman Italy and later by the citizens of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. It was originally the name of one's (family or clan) by patrilineal descent. However, as Rome expanded its frontiers and non-Roman peoples were progressively granted citizenship and concomitant , the latter lost its value in indicating patrilineal ancestry. For men, the was the middle of the ("three names"), after the and before the . For women, the was often the only name used until the late Republic. For example, three members of gens ''Julia'' were Gaius ''Julius'' Caesar and his sisters ''Julia'' Major and ''Julia'' Minor ("Julia the elder" and "Julia the younger"). History The ''nomen gentilicium'', or "gentile name" designated a Roman citizen as a member of a ''gens''. A ''gens'', which may be translated as "race", "family", or "clan", constituted an extended Roman family, all of whom shared the same ''nomen'', and claim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
