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Proculus (praenomen)
:''This page is about the Latin praenomen. For the 3rd-century usurper, see Proculus. For any of several saints named Proculus, see Saint Proculus (other).'' Proculus is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was most common during the early centuries of the Roman Republic. It gave rise to the patronymic gentes Proculeia and Procilia, and later became a common cognomen, or surname. The feminine form is ''Procula''. The name was not regularly abbreviated. Use ''Proculus'' was an uncommon name, but was occasionally used by both patrician and plebeian families. Those known to have used it included the Betutii, Geganii, Julii, Sertorii, and Verginii; and naturally Proculus must once have been used by the ancestors of the gentes Proculeia and Procilia. Other families which later used the name as a cognomen may originally have used it as a praenomen. The scholar Varro described ''Proculus'' as an archaic praenomen, which was no longer in general use by the first c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proculus
Proculus (died c. 281) was a Roman usurper, one of the "minor pretenders" according to ''Historia Augusta'', who would have taken the purple against Emperor Probus in 280. This is now disputed. Probably Proculus had family connection with the Franks, to whom he turned in vain when his bid for imperial power was failing. He was a native of Albingaunum (modern Albenga in Liguria in north-west Italy). Though he was accounted a noble, his ancestors had been brigands and were the source of his vast wealth. Proculus was able to arm 2000 slaves of his own latifundia after seizing imperial office in the West. He was married to a woman named Vituriga, who was given the nickname "Samso" for her capabilities (considered "unwomanly" by the fourth century author of ''Historia Augusta''),''huic uxor virago, quae illum in hanc praecipitavit dementiam, nomine Samso, quod ei postea inditum est, nam antea Vituriga nominata est.'' and at the time of his usurpation, he had one son, Herennianus, age ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sertoria Gens
The gens Sertoria was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Few members of this gens appear in history, the most illustrious of whom was the Roman general Quintus Sertorius, who defied the dictator Sulla and his allies for a decade after the populares were driven from power in Rome.''Dictionary of Greek & Roman Biography & Mythology'', vol. III, pp. 789–792 ("Quintus Sertorius"). Origin The nomen ''Sertorius'' is a patronymic surname, derived from the rare praenomen '' Sertor''. Chase suggests that it was the equivalent of ''servator'', meaning "one who protects" or "preserves". Praenomina The Sertorii used a variety of common praenomina, including ''Gaius'', '' Gnaeus'', ''Lucius'', '' Publius'', '' Quintus'', and ''Titus''. Branches and cognomina The Sertorii of the Republic were not divided into distinct families. The general Sertorius was born at Nursia, in Sabinum, where his family had lived for several generations. In imperial times there was a family beari ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in 753 BC through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own lifetime. He was on familiar terms with members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and a friend of Augustus, whose young grandnephew, the future emperor Claudius, he exhorted to take up the writing of history. Life Livy was born in Patavium in northern Italy, now modern Padua, probably in 59 BC. At the time of his birth, his home city of Patavium was the second wealthiest on the Italian peninsula, and the largest in the province of Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy). Cisalpine Gaul was merged in Italy proper during his lifetime and its inhabitants were given Roman citizenship by Julius Caesar. In his works, Livy often expressed his deep affection and pride for Patavium, and the city was well ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alba Longa
Alba Longa (occasionally written Albalonga in Italian sources) was an ancient Latin city in Central Italy, 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Rome, in the vicinity of Lake Albano in the Alban Hills. Founder and head of the Latin League, it was destroyed by the Roman Kingdom around the middle of the 7th century BC, and its inhabitants were forced to settle in Rome. In legend, Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome, had come from the royal dynasty of Alba Longa, which in Virgil's ''Aeneid'' had been the bloodline of Aeneas, a son of Venus. Livy, ''Ab urbe condita'', 1:28–30 According to Livy, Roman patrician families such as the Julii, Servilii, Quinctii, Geganii, Curiatii and Cloelii originated in Alba Longa. Archaeology Livy said of Alba Longa that it was founded by Ascanius to relieve crowding at Lavinium. He placed it at the foot of the Alban Mount and said that it took its name from being extended along a ridge. Dionysius of Halicarnassus repeated the story, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul The Deacon
Paul the Deacon ( 720s 13 April in 796, 797, 798, or 799 AD), also known as ''Paulus Diaconus'', ''Warnefridus'', ''Barnefridus'', or ''Winfridus'', and sometimes suffixed ''Cassinensis'' (''i.e.'' "of Monte Cassino"), was a Benedictine monk, scribe, and historian of the Lombards. Life An ancestor of Paulus's named Leupichis emigrated to Italy in 568 in the train of Alboin, King of the Lombards. There, he was granted lands at or near ''Forum Julii'' ( Cividale del Friuli). During an invasion by the Avars, Leupichis's five sons were carried away to Pannonia, but one of them, his namesake, returned to Italy and restored the ruined fortunes of his house. The grandson of the younger Leupichis was Warnefrid, who by his wife Theodelinda became the father of Paul. Paulus was his monastic name; he was born Winfrid, son of Warnefrid, between 720 and 735 in the Duchy of Friuli. Thanks to the possible noble status of his family, Paul received an exceptionally good education, probably a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
False Etymology
A false etymology (fake etymology, popular etymology, etymythology, pseudo-etymology, or par(a)etymology) is a popular but false belief about the origin or derivation of a specific word. It is sometimes called a folk etymology, but this is also a technical term in linguistics. Such etymologies often have the feel of urban legends and can be more colorful and fanciful than the typical etymologies found in dictionaries, often involving stories of unusual practices in particular subcultures (e.g. Oxford students from non-noble families being supposedly a forced to write ''sine nobilitate'' by their name, soon abbreviated to ''s.nob.'', hence the word ''snob''). Many recent examples are "backronyms" (acronyms made up to explain a term), such as ''posh'' for "port outward, starboard homeward". Source and influence Erroneous etymologies can exist for many reasons. Some are reasonable interpretations of the evidence that happen to be false. For a given word there may often have been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parallel Lives
Plutarch's ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', commonly called ''Parallel Lives'' or ''Plutarch's Lives'', is a series of 48 biographies of famous men, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings, probably written at the beginning of the second century AD. The surviving ''Parallel Lives'' ( Greek: Βίοι Παράλληλοι, ''Bíoi Parállēloi'') comprises 23 pairs of biographies, each pair consisting of one Greek and one Roman of similar destiny, such as Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, or Demosthenes and Cicero. It is a work of considerable importance, not only as a source of information about the individuals described, but also about the times in which they lived. Motivation ''Parallel Lives'' was Plutarch's second set of biographical works, following the Lives of the Roman Emperors from Augustus to Vitellius. Of these, only the Lives of Galba and Otho survive. As he explains in the first paragraph of his ''Life of Alexander'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his '' Parallel Lives'', a series of biographies of illustrious Greeks and Romans, and '' Moralia'', a collection of essays and speeches. Upon becoming a Roman citizen, he was possibly named Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (). Life Early life Plutarch was born to a prominent family in the small town of Chaeronea, about east of Delphi, in the Greek region of Boeotia. His family was long established in the town; his father was named Autobulus and his grandfather was named Lamprias. His name is derived from Pluto (πλοῦτον), an epithet of Hades, and Archos (ἀρχός) meaning "Master", the whole name meaning something like "Whose master is Pluto". His brothers, Timon and Lamprias, are frequently mentioned in his essays and dialogue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marcus Terentius Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes called Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus. Biography Varro was born in or near Reate (now Rieti) to a family thought to be of equestrian rank, and always remained close to his roots in the area, owning a large farm in the Reatine plain, reported as near Lago di Ripasottile, until his old age. He supported Pompey, reaching the office of praetor, after having been tribune of the people, ''quaestor'' and '' curule aedile''. It is probable that Varro was discontented with the course on which Pompey entered when the First Triumvirate was formed, and he may thus have lost his chance of rising to the consulate. He actually ridiculed the coalition in a work entitled the ''Three-Headed Monster'' ( in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes called Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus. Biography Varro was born in or near Reate (now Rieti) to a family thought to be of equestrian rank, and always remained close to his roots in the area, owning a large farm in the Reatine plain, reported as near Lago di Ripasottile, until his old age. He supported Pompey, reaching the office of praetor, after having been tribune of the people, ''quaestor'' and '' curule aedile''. It is probable that Varro was discontented with the course on which Pompey entered when the First Triumvirate was formed, and he may thus have lost his chance of rising to the consulate. He actually ridiculed the coalition in a work entitled the ''Three-Headed Monster'' ( in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Verginia Gens
The gens Verginia or Virginia was a prominent family at ancient Rome, which from an early period was divided into patrician and plebeian branches. The gens was of great antiquity, and frequently filled the highest honors of the state during the early years of the Republic. The first of the family who obtained the consulship was Opiter Verginius Tricostus in 502 BC, the seventh year of the Republic. The plebeian members of the family were also numbered amongst the early tribunes of the people. Origin The orthography of the nomen ''Verginius'' or ''Virginius'' has been disputed since ancient times; but ''Verginius'' is the form usually found in both manuscripts and inscriptions. Modern writers seem to favor ''Virginius'', perhaps by analogy to ''virgo'', a maiden. A similar instance is presented by the nomen ''Vergilius'', which in modern times is often spelt ''Virgilius''. The gens was likely of Etruscan origins, and may have come to Rome with the Tarquins. Praenomina The e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julia Gens
The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the consulship was Gaius Julius Iulus in 489 BC. The gens is perhaps best known, however, for Gaius Julius Caesar, the dictator and grand uncle of the emperor Augustus, through whom the name was passed to the so-called Julio-Claudian dynasty of the first century AD. The Julius became very common in imperial times, as the descendants of persons enrolled as citizens under the early emperors began to make their mark in history.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. II, pp. 642, 643. Origin The Julii were of Alban origin, mentioned as one of the leading Alban houses, which Tullus Hostilius removed to Rome upon the destruction of Alba Longa. The Julii also existed at an early period at Bovillae, evidenced by a very ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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