The gens Fonteia was a
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 ...
family at
ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
. Members of this
gens
In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same Roman naming conventions#Nomen, nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (p ...
are first mentioned toward the end of the third century BC;
Titus Fonteius was a
legate
Legate may refer to:
*Legatus, a higher ranking general officer of the Roman army drawn from among the senatorial class
:*Legatus Augusti pro praetore, a provincial governor in the Roman Imperial period
*A member of a legation
*A representative, ...
of
Publius Cornelius Scipio during the
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...
. The first of the Fonteii to obtain the
consulship
A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...
was
Gaius Fonteius Capito, consul ''suffectus'' in 33 BC.
['']Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 p ...
'', William Smith, Editor.
Origin
In his oration, ''Pro Fonteio'',
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
mentions that the Fonteii came originally from
Tusculum
Tusculum is a ruined Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable distance from Rome ( ...
, of which
municipium
In ancient Rome, the Latin term (pl. ) referred to a town or city. Etymologically, the was a social contract among ("duty holders"), or citizens of the town. The duties () were a communal obligation assumed by the in exchange for the privi ...
it was one of the most distinguished families. The Fonteii claimed descent from
Fontus
Fontus or Fons (plural ''Fontes'', "Font" or "Source") was a god of wells and springs in ancient Roman religion. A religious festival called the Fontinalia was held on October 13 in his honor. Throughout the city, fountains and wellheads were ado ...
, the son of
Janus
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus ( ; la, Ianvs ) is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces. The month of January is named for Janu ...
. A two-faced head appears on a coin of Gaius Fonteius, which Jean Foy Vaillant and others suppose to be the head of Janus, in reference to this tradition. But as Janus is always represented in later times with a beard,
Eckhel
Joseph Hilarius Eckhel (13 January 1737 – 16 May 1798) was an Austrian Jesuit priest and numismatist.
Biography
Eckhel was born at Enzersfeld, in Lower Austria.
His father was farm-steward to Count Zinzendorf, and he received his early edu ...
maintains that the two heads refer to the
Dioscuri
Castor; grc, Κάστωρ, Kástōr, beaver. and Pollux. (or Polydeukes). are twin half-brothers in Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, known together as the Dioscuri.; grc, Διόσκουροι, Dióskouroi, sons of Zeus, links=no, f ...
, who were worshipped at Tusculum with especial honours, and who may be regarded as the
Di Penates
In ancient Roman religion, the Di Penates () or Penates ( ) were among the ''dii familiares'', or household deities, invoked most often in domestic rituals. When the family had a meal, they threw a bit into the fire on the hearth for the Penates. ...
of the gens. Michael Crawford likewise favours a depiction of the Dioscuri, instead of Fontus, as they appear on other coins of the Fonteii.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
, ''Pro Fonteio'' 14.[Crawford, ''Roman Republican Coinage'', pp. 304, 305.]
Praenomina
The Fonteii used the praenomina ''
Titus
Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September 81 AD) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death.
Before becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a mili ...
'', ''
Publius'', ''
Marcus'', ''
Gaius
Gaius, sometimes spelled ''Gajus'', Kaius, Cajus, Caius, was a common Latin praenomen; see Gaius (praenomen).
People
*Gaius (jurist) (), Roman jurist
*Gaius Acilius
*Gaius Antonius
*Gaius Antonius Hybrida
*Gaius Asinius Gallus
*Gaius Asinius Pol ...
'', ''
Manius'', and ''
Lucius
Lucius ( el, Λούκιος ''Loukios''; ett, Luvcie) is a male given name derived from ''Lucius'' (abbreviated ''L.''), one of the small group of common Latin forenames (''praenomina'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius derives from L ...
''.
Branches and cognomina
The Fonteii bore the cognomens ''Agrippa, Balbus,'' and ''Capito'', which is the only cognomen which occurs on coins of this gens. The cognomen ''Crassus'' is an error of the manuscripts, since there were no Fonteii Crassi.
The Fonteii Balbi were not related to the other Fonteii as an inscription found in
Etruria
Etruria () was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what are now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and northern and western Umbria.
Etruscan Etruria
The ancient people of Etruria
are identified as Etruscan civiliza ...
tells that they belonged to the
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...
Sabatina – prevalent in this area – whilst the other Fonteii were from Tusculum, associated with the tribe Papiria.
Members
*
Titus Fonteius was
legate
Legate may refer to:
*Legatus, a higher ranking general officer of the Roman army drawn from among the senatorial class
:*Legatus Augusti pro praetore, a provincial governor in the Roman Imperial period
*A member of a legation
*A representative, ...
of
Publius Cornelius Scipio in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, BC 212. After Scipio's defeat and death, the soldiers chose Lucius Marcius to lead them, in place of Fonteius, who was the senior officer of the legions. However, Fonteius remained second in command, and if he is the same Fonteius mentioned by Frontinus, he was a brave, if not an able officer.
* Marcus Fonteius, praetor of
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
, BC 166.
* Manius Fonteius C. f., a senator ''circa'' 164 BC.
* Gaius Fonteius, ''
triumvir monetalis
The ''triumvir monetalis'' ( ''tresviri'' or ''triumviri monetales'', also called the , abbreviated IIIVIR A. A. A. F. F.) was a moneyer during the Roman Republic and the Empire, who oversaw the minting of coins. In that role, he would be respons ...
'' in 114 or 113 BC. He was then legate of the praetor Gnaeus Servilius Caepio, with whom he was slain in a popular tumult at
Asculum Asculum, also known as Ausculum, was the ancient name of two Italian cities.
The first is Ascoli Piceno, the ''Ausculum'' in ancient Picenum (modern Marche). It is situated in the valley of the Truentus (mod. Tronto) river on the via Salaria. It ...
in
Picenum
Picenum was a region of ancient Italy. The name is an exonym assigned by the Romans, who conquered and incorporated it into the Roman Republic. Picenum was ''Regio V'' in the Augustan territorial organization of Roman Italy. Picenum was also ...
on the breaking out of the
Social War in 90.
* Manius Fonteius, ''triumvir monetalis'' in 108 or 107 BC, probably a brother or cousin of Gaius Fonteius, the moneyer of c.114.
* Marcus Fonteius C. f., before 87 BC, even though he did not mint coins. He was praetor in an uncertain year, and
propraetor
In ancient Rome a promagistrate ( la, pro magistratu) was an ex-consul or ex-praetor whose ''imperium'' (the power to command an army) was extended at the end of his annual term of office or later. They were called proconsuls and propraetors. Thi ...
in
Gallia Narbonensis
Gallia Narbonensis (Latin for "Gaul of Narbonne", from its chief settlement) was a Roman province located in what is now Languedoc and Provence, in Southern France. It was also known as Provincia Nostra ("Our Province"), because it was the ...
from 76 to 73 BC. He was prosecuted for extortion and misgovernment in 69, and defended by Cicero.
* Manius Fonteius C. f., in 85 BC. He was possibly the military tribune named on a denarius of Publius Fonteius Capito in 55.
* Fonteia C. f., a
Vestal Virgin
In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals ( la, Vestālēs, singular ) were priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame.
The Vestals were unlike any other public priesthood. They were chosen before puberty ...
in 69 BC, and sister of Marcus and Manius Fonteius, defended by
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
in his oration, ''Pro Fonteio''. Cicero produced Fonteia at her brother's trial, to move the compassion of the judges.
* Publius Fonteius, a youth of obscure family, whom
Publius Clodius Pulcher
Publius Clodius Pulcher (93–52 BC) was a populist Roman politician and street agitator during the time of the First Triumvirate. One of the most colourful personalities of his era, Clodius was descended from the aristocratic Claudia gens, one ...
chose for his adopted father, although Fonteius was only twenty years old, and Clodius was thirty-five. The object was to permit Clodius, a patrician, to pass over to the plebeians and serve as
tribune of the plebs
Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune ( la, tribunus plebis) was the first office of the Roman Republic, Roman state that was open to the plebs, plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most importan ...
. The adoption, though illegal and absurd, was passed in BC 60, and Fonteius' first and only paternal act was to emancipate his adopted son.
* Fonteius Magnus, probably a native of
Bithynia
Bithynia (; Koine Greek: , ''Bithynía'') was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Pa ...
, was a pleader of causes, and one of the accusers of Varenus Rufus for extortion while proconsul of Bithynia. The younger
Plinius defended Varenus, and Fonteius spoke in reply.
Fonteii Capitones
* Titus Fonteius Capito was praetor in BC 178, and obtained the command in
Hispania Ulterior
Hispania Ulterior (English: "Further Hispania", or occasionally "Thither Hispania") was a region of Hispania during the Roman Republic, roughly located in Baetica and in the Guadalquivir valley of modern Spain and extending to all of Lusitania (m ...
, which was left to him also for the year following, with the title of proconsul.
* Publius Fonteius Capito was praetor in BC 169, and obtained Sardinia as his province.
* Publius Fonteius P. f. Capito, in 55 BC. From the symbolism of his coins, it appears that he was a supporter of
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
and possibly a relative of
Titus Didius
Titus Didius (also spelled Deidius in ancient times) was a politician and general of the Roman Republic. In 98 BC he became the first member of his family to be consul. He is credited with the restoration of the Villa Publica,Makin, Ena. "The T ...
, the consul of 98. He should not be confused with the adoptive father of Publius Clodius Pulcher, considering Cicero's enmity toward him.
*
Gaius Fonteius C. f. Capito, consul in 33 BC. He is probably the same Gaius Fonteius Capito who accompanied Maecenas in 37 BC, when the latter was dispatched by
Octavian
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
to restore friendship between himself and
Marcus Antonius
Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from a constitutional republic into the autoc ...
.
*
Gaius Fonteius C. f. C. n. Capito, consul in AD 12, together with
Germanicus
Germanicus Julius Caesar (24 May 15 BC – 10 October AD 19) was an ancient Roman general, known for his campaigns in Germania. The son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia the Younger, Germanicus was born into an influential branch of the Patric ...
. Afterward he was appointed proconsul of Asia. In 25, he was accused by Vibius Severus of maladministration during his government of Asia, but Fonteius was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
*
Gaius Fonteius C. f. C. n. Capito, consul in AD 59.
*
Fonteius C. f. C. n. Capito, consul in AD 67. May be the same Fonteius Capito who was put to death in Germania during the reign of Galba, in AD 68, on the ground of having attempted to excite an insurrection.
Fonteii Balbi
* Publius Fonteius Balbus,
praetor
Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...
in Spain, BC 168.
* Marcus Fonteius C. f. Balbus, only known from an inscription. He was perhaps the same as the praetor of
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
in BC 166.
[''CIL'' XI]
1809
Fonteii Agrippae
*
Gaius Fonteius Agrippa, one of the accusers of
Marcus Scribonius Libo
Marcus Scribonius Libo Drusus (died 13 September 16) was a Roman accused of treason against the emperor Tiberius.
Biography
Early life
He was likely the son or paternal grandson of Marcus Livius Drusus Libo (adopted brother of empress Livia). It ...
in AD 16. In 19, he offered his daughter for a Vestal Virgin.
* Fonteia C. f., offered for a Vestal Virgin in AD 19.
*
Gaius Fonteius (C. f.) Agrippa, proconsul of
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
in AD 69, he was recalled by
Vespasian
Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...
and placed over
Moesia
Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...
in 70. He was shortly afterwards killed in battle by the
Sarmatians
The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples of classical ant ...
.
Flavius Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
, ''Bellum Judaicum
''The Jewish War'' or ''Judean War'' (in full ''Flavius Josephus' Books of the History of the Jewish War against the Romans'', el, Φλαυίου Ἰωσήπου ἱστορία Ἰουδαϊκοῦ πολέμου πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ...
'' vii. 4. § 3.
See also
*
List of Roman gentes
The gens (plural gentes) was a Roman family, of Italic or Etruscan origins, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same '' nomen'' and claimed descent from a common ancestor. It was an important social and legal structure in early ...
References
Bibliography
*
Marcus Tullius Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
, ''
Epistulae ad Atticum
''Epistulae ad Atticum'' (Latin for "Letters to Atticus") is a collection of letters from Roman politician and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero to his close friend Titus Pomponius Atticus. The letters in this collection, together with Cicero's othe ...
, Pro Fonteio, Pro Domo Sua''.
* Titus Livius (
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, 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 traditiona ...
), ''
History of Rome
The history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman law has influenced m ...
''.
*
Sextus Julius Frontinus
Sextus Julius Frontinus (c. 40 – 103 AD) was a prominent Roman civil engineer, author, soldier and senator of the late 1st century AD. He was a successful general under Domitian, commanding forces in Roman Britain, and on the Rhine and Danube ...
, ''
Strategemata
''Strategemata'', or ''Stratagems'', is a Latin work by the Roman author Frontinus (c. 40 – 103 AD). It is a collection of examples of military stratagems from Greek and Roman history, ostensibly for the use of generals. Frontinus is assumed ...
'' (Stratagems).
*
Publius Cornelius Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...
, ''
Annales
Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts.
List of works with titles contai ...
'', ''
Historiae''.
*
Plutarchus
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 ' ...
, ''
Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans
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 writt ...
''.
*
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire.
His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...
, ''
De Vita Caesarum
''De vita Caesarum'' (Latin; "About the Life of the Caesars"), commonly known as ''The Twelve Caesars'', is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman Empire written by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. The g ...
'' (Lives of the Caesars, or The Twelve Caesars).
* Appianus Alexandrinus (
Appian
Appian of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς ''Appianòs Alexandreús''; la, Appianus Alexandrinus; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Hadr ...
), ''Bellum Civile'' (The Civil War).
* Jean Foy-Vaillant, ''Numismata Imperatorum Romanorum'' (1674).
*
Joseph Hilarius Eckhel
Joseph Hilarius Eckhel (13 January 1737 – 16 May 1798) was an Austrian Jesuit priest and numismatist.
Biography
Eckhel was born at Enzersfeld, in Lower Austria.
His father was farm-steward to Count Zinzendorf, and he received his early educa ...
, ''Doctrina Numorum Veterum'' (The Study of Ancient Coins, 1792–1798).
* ''
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 p ...
'',
William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).
*
Theodor Mommsen
Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th cent ...
''et alii'', ''
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
The ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (''CIL'') is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw ...
'' (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated ''CIL''), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present).
*
Wilhelm Dittenberger
Wilhelm (William) Dittenberger (August 31, 1840 in Heidelberg – December 29, 1906 in Halle (Saale)) was a German philologist in classical epigraphy.
Life
Wilhelm Dittenberger was the son of the Protestant theologian Wilhelm Theophor Dittenberg ...
, ''Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum'' (Collection of Greek Inscriptions, abbreviated ''SIG''), Leipzig (1883).
*
T. Robert S. Broughton, ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', American Philological Association (1952–1986).
*
Lily Ross Taylor
Lily Ross Taylor (born August 12, 1886, in Auburn, Alabama - died November 18, 1969, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania) was an American academic and author, who in 1917 became the first female Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.
Biography
Born in ...
, ''The Voting Districts of the Roman Republic'', University of Michigan Press (1960).
*
Michael Crawford
Michael Patrick Smith, (born 19 January 1942), known professionally as Michael Crawford, is an English tenor, actor and comedian.
Crawford is best known for playing both the hapless Frank Spencer in the sitcom ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' an ...
, ''Roman Republican Coinage'', Cambridge University Press (1974, 2001).
{{SmithDGRBM
Roman gentes