The gens Pompilia 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 ...

family at

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, 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 ...

during the time of the

Republic A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

. The only member of the

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (plural: ''stirpes''). The ''gen ...

to attain any prominence in the Roman state was Sextus Pompilius, who was

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 state that was open to the plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power o ...

in 420 BC; however, persons by this name are occasionally found throughout the history of the Republic.

Origin

The first and most illustrious of the Pompilii at Rome was

Numa Pompilius Numa Pompilius (; 753–672 BC; reigned 715–672 BC) was the legendary second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus after a one-year interregnum. He was of Sabine origin, and many of Rome's most important religious and political institutions ar ...

, the second

King of Rome The king of Rome ( la, rex Romae) was the ruler of the Roman Kingdom. According to legend, the first king of Rome was Romulus, who founded the city in 753 BC upon the Palatine Hill. Seven legendary kings are said to have ruled Rome until 50 ...

. By all accounts, Pompilius was a

Sabine The Sabines (; lat, Sabini; it, Sabini, all exonyms) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines di ...

, renowned for his wisdom, and living at the town of Cures at the time of the death of

Romulus Romulus () was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of these ...

. The tradition reported by the Roman historians is that the selection of a foreigner over one of the leading Roman citizens was urged by Rome's considerable Sabine populace, which had not only enjoyed equal status with the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, 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 ...

inhabitants of Rome, but had their own king,

Titus Tatius According to the Roman foundation myth, Titus Tatius was the king of the Sabines from Cures and joint-ruler of the Kingdom of Rome for several years. During the reign of Romulus, the first king of Rome, Tatius declared war on Rome in resp ...

, ruling alongside Romulus for part of his reign. Tatius had been killed in a riot some years earlier, and the Sabines at Rome were eager to be governed by one of their kindred once more. A common practice in the later Republic was for gentes to claim descent from figures associated with the founding of Rome, the companions of

Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...

, or individuals who lived in the time of the kings. At least five prominent gentes claimed descent from Numa Pompilius, but if the Pompilii themselves did so, that tradition has not survived. The nomen ''Pompilius'' is a patronymic surname, based on the Sabine

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 bir ...

''Pompo'', the

Oscan Oscan is an extinct Indo-European language of southern Italy. The language is in the Osco-Umbrian or Sabellic branch of the Italic languages. Oscan is therefore a close relative of Umbrian. Oscan was spoken by a number of tribes, including t ...

cognate of the

praenomen '' Quintus'', meaning "fifth". The Latin equivalent of ''Pompilius'' was therefore '' Quinctilius'', and in fact there was a family of that name at Rome. Tradition states that Numa's father was named ''Pompo'', and that he had a son by that name as well, which seems to confirm the etymology. The Pomponii claimed descent from this son, and both their nomen and that of

Pompeius Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman Republic, Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the tr ...

are occasionally confounded with ''Pompilius'' in the ancient writers.

Members

The family of Numa

* Pompo Pompilius, the father of Numa. *

Pomponis f., the second

. * Mamercus Pompilius Numae f. Pomponis n., claimed as the ancestor of the gens Aemilia. * Pompo (Pompilius) Numae f. Pomponis n., claimed as the ancestor of the gens Pomponia. * Calpus (Pompilius) Numae f. Pomponis n., claimed as the ancestor of the gens Calpurnia. * Pinus (Pompilius) Numae f. Pomponis n., claimed as the ancestor of the gens Pinaria; but the Pinarii had another tradition, according to which their family originated long before the founding of the city. * Pompilia Numae f. Pomponis n., married Numa Marcius, the son of Numa Marcius, one of the companions of Numa Pompilius, who became the first Pontifex Maximus.

Ancus Marcius Ancus Marcius was the legendary fourth king of Rome, who traditionally reigned 24 years. Upon the death of the previous king, Tullus Hostilius, the Roman Senate appointed an interrex, who in turn called a session of the assembly of the people wh ...

, the fourth King of Rome, was the son of the younger Marcius and Pompilia.

Others

* Sextus Pompilius,

in 420 BC. * Pompilius, an eques mentioned as being among friends of

Catiline Lucius Sergius Catilina ( 108 BC – January 62 BC), known in English as Catiline (), was a Roman politician and soldier. He is best known for instigating the Catilinarian conspiracy, a failed attempt to violently seize control of the ...

. * Marcus Pompilius Andronicus, a

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

by birth, taught rhetoric at Rome in the early first century BC. * Pompilius Rufus, instructed by

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good E ...

on how to dispose of an estate, the owner of which had manumitted his slaves by will, but who had no descendants to carry the will into effect.''Institutes of Justinian'', iii. tit. 9., pp. 414, 415 (ed. Sandars).

Footnotes

References

{{reflist, 30em

Bibliography

Quintus Tullius Cicero Quintus Tullius Cicero ( , ; 102 – 43 BC) was a Roman statesman and military leader, the younger brother of Marcus Tullius Cicero. He was born into a family of the equestrian order, as the son of a wealthy landowner in Arpinum, some south-eas ...

, '' De Petitione Consulatus'' (attributed). * Titus Livius (

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 ...

), ''

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 ...

''. *

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 hi ...

us, '' Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans''. *

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 Illustribus Grammaticis'' (The Illustrious Grammarians). * '' Institutes of Justinian'', Thomas Collett Sandars, ed. * ''

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 ...

'', William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). * Herbert A. Grueber, ''Coins of the Roman Republic in the British Museum'', William Clowes and Sons, Ltd., London (1910). * Michael Grant, ''Roman Myths'' (1971). Roman gentes