The gens Veturia, originally Vetusia, was an ancient

patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

family of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

. According to tradition, the armourer

Mamurius Veturius In ancient Roman religion, the Mamuralia or ''Sacrum Mamurio'' ("Rite for Mamurius") was a festival held on March 14 or 15, named only in sources from late antiquity. According to Joannes Lydus, an old man wearing animal skins was beaten ritually ...

lived in the time of Numa Pompilius, and made the sacred

ancilia In ancient Rome, the ''ancilia'' (Latin, singular ''ancile'') were twelve sacred shields kept in the Temple of Mars. According to legend, one divine shield fell from heaven during the reign of Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome. He ordered ...

. The Veturii occur regularly in the

Fasti Consulares In ancient Rome, the ''fasti'' (Latin plural) were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events. After Rome's decline, the word ''fasti'' continued to be used for simil ...

of the early Republic, with Gaius Veturius Geminus Cicurinus holding 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 ...

in 499 BC. Like other old patrician gentes, the Veturii also developed plebeian branches. The family declined in the later Republic, with the last consular Veturius holding office in 206 BC, during the Second Punic War.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. III, p. 1251 (" Veturia Gens", " Veturius Mamurius").

Origin

The nomen ''Veturius'' belongs to a class of gentilicia in which the old, medial 's' has been replaced by 'r', as in ''Valesius, Fusius, Papisius'', and ''Numesius'', which in later times were ''Valerius, Furius, Papirius'', and ''Numerius''. Some scholars suppose, both from the fact that Mamurius Veturius had two gentile names, and from his connection with Numa, that the Veturii were of

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 ...

origin; but Chase classifies the name with those that were either of Latin origin, or which cannot be shown to have originated elsewhere; he derives the name from ''vetus'', "old". Veturia was one of the 35

tribes 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 is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

of Rome, principally named after ancient patrician families, but it was originally spelled ''Voturia'', perhaps an initial variant of the name.

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 ...

mentions that the gens were from the region of Ostia, on the left bank of the Tiber, as there was a shrine of the Veturii there.

Praenomina

The main

praenomina 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 birt ...

of the Veturii were ''

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 P ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', '' Spurius'', 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 ...

'', but there are also examples of '' Publius'', ''

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...

'', '' Marcus'', and ''

Postumus Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus was a Roman commander of Batavian origin, who ruled as Emperor of the splinter state of the Roman Empire known to modern historians as the Gallic Empire. The Roman army in Gaul threw off its allegiance to Ga ...

''. ''Publius'' seems to have been one of the earliest names of this gens, but it does not appear in later generations, while ''Tiberius'' and ''Marcus'' appear in one family of the Veturii Crassi. ''Lucius'', which seems to have been the dominant praenomen of the later Veturii, first appears in the second century of the Republic. ''Postumus'' was an uncommon praenomen, presumably because its original meaning, "hindmost, last", referring to a youngest child, was easily confused with the similar sounding ''post humus'', "after burial", with the implication that the child's father was dead.

Branches and cognomina

The main family of the Veturii bore the

cognomen A ''cognomen'' (; plural ''cognomina''; from ''con-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became here ...

''Cicurinus'', which the antiquarian

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 calle ...

derived from ''cicur'', quiet or patient. The Veturii who occur in the ''fasti'' from the outset of the Republic to the middle of the fifth century BC bore the additional surname of ''Geminus'', a twin. From the time of the

Decemvirs The decemviri or decemvirs (Latin for "ten men") were some of the several 10-man commissions established by the Roman Republic. The most important were those of the two Decemvirates, formally the " decemvirate with consular power for writing ...

, this surname was replaced by ''Crassus'', thick, sometimes with the implication of "dull" or "stupid". The Veturii Cicurini flourished down to the middle of the fourth century BC. ''Calvinus'', bald or balding, occurs in the latter part of the fourth century BC, after which the Veturii fell into obscurity until the Second Punic War, when the surname ''Philo'', one of the earliest cognomina borrowed from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, briefly appears. After this, the Veturii vanish from the consular fasti. The last Veturii appearing in history came from the

Sempronii The gens Sempronia was one of the most ancient and noble houses of ancient Rome. Although the oldest branch of this gens was patrician, with Aulus Sempronius Atratinus obtaining the consulship in 497 BC, the thirteenth year of the Republic, but ...

Gracchi, whose cognomen they adopted; they were thus plebeian. Coins of this gens bear no cognomen. One curious example, issued by Tiberius Veturius Gracchus, depicts the head of a helmeted man on the obverse, and on the reverse, two men with staves and swords, on either side of a kneeling man holding a pig. The coin seems to commemorate a treaty, but the precise occasion is unknown.

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'' a ...

suggests that the coin depicts an oath, adding that it might be a reference to the treaty made by

Titus Veturius Calvinus Titus Veturius Calvinus was a Roman statesman, who held the consulship in 334 and 321 BC, the latter year during the Second Samnite War. As consul in 321, Calvinus and the other consul, Spurius Postumius Albinus, were defeated by the Samnites at t ...

with the Samnites at the

Caudine Forks The Battle of Caudine Forks, 321 BC, was a decisive event of the Second Samnite War. Its designation as a battle is a mere historical formality: there was no fighting and there were no casualties. The Romans were trapped in an enclosed valley by ...

, as an example of Roman integrity. He also links the scene depicted to the treaty of 137 negotiated by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, the moneyer's cousin, during the

Numantine War The Numantine WarThe term Numantine War can refer to the whole conflict lasting from 154 to 133 or to just the latter part, from 143 to 133. Thus, the two conflicts are sometimes called the Numantine Wars (plural) and subdivided into the First an ...

, although this view is disputed.

Members

, or Veturius Mamurius, made the sacred

in the reign of Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome. *

Veturia Veturia was a Roman matron, the mother of the possibly legendary Roman general Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus. According to Plutarch her name was Volumnia. Veturia came from a patrician family and encouraged her son's involvement in Roman politics. A ...

, the mother of

Gaius Marcius Coriolanus Gnaeus (or Gaius) Marcius Coriolanus was a Roman general who is said to have lived in the 5th century BC. He received his toponymic cognomen "Coriolanus" following his courageous actions during a Roman siege of the Volscian city of Corioli. He w ...

Veturii Gemini Cicurini

* Publius Veturius Cicurnus, quaestor in 509 BC, possibly the same as the consul of 499 BC * Gaius Veturius Geminus Cicurinus, consul in 499 BC, possibly quaestor in 509 BC as well * Titus Veturius Geminus Cicurinus, consul in 494 BC, proceeded against the

Aequi 300px, Location of the Aequi (Equi) in central Italy, 5th century BC. The Aequi ( grc, Αἴκουοι and Αἴκοι) were an Italic tribe on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains to the east of Latium in central Italy who appear in the early hist ...

, who retreated into the mountains at his approach. * Titus Veturius T. f. Geminus Cicurinus, consul in 462 BC, defeated the

Volsci The Volsci (, , ) were an Italic tribe, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. At the time they inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the ...

, and received an

ovation The ovation ( la, ovatio from ''ovare'': to rejoice) was a form of the Roman triumph. Ovations were granted when war was not declared between enemies on the level of nations or states; when an enemy was considered basely inferior (e.g., slaves, p ...

. * Gaius Veturius P. f. Geminus Cicurinus, consul in 455 BC, defeated the

Veturii Crassi Cicurini

* Spurius Veturius P. f. (Crassus) Cicurinus, father of the decemvir. * Spurius Veturius Sp. f. P. n. Crassus Cicurinus, one of the

decemvirs The decemviri or decemvirs (Latin for "ten men") were some of the several 10-man commissions established by the Roman Republic. The most important were those of the two Decemvirates, formally the " decemvirate with consular power for writing ...

appointed to codify the first ten

tables Table may refer to: * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (landform), a flat area of land * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and columns * Table (database), how the table d ...

of Roman law, in 451 BC. * Spurius Veturius Sp. f. Sp. n. Crassus Cicurinus, consular tribune in 417 BC. * Tiberius Veturius Sp. f. Crassus Cicurinus, father of the consular tribune of 399 BC. * Marcus Veturius Ti. f. Sp. n. Crassus Cicurinus, consular tribune in 399 BC, the only patrician elected this year; his five colleagues were all plebeians. * Lucius Veturius Sp. f. Crassus Cicurinus, father of the consular tribune of 368 and 367 BC. * Gaius Veturius (L. f. Sp. n.) Crassus Cicurinus, consular tribune in 377 and 369 BC. * Lucius Veturius L. f. Sp. n. Crassus Cicurinus, consular tribune in 368 and 367 BC.

Veturii Philones

* Postumus Veturius Philo, grandfather of the consul of 220 BC. * Lucius Veturius Post. f. Philo, father of the consul of 220 BC. * Lucius Veturius L. f. Post. n. Philo, consul in 220 BC,

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in tim ...

in 217 and censor in 210 BC. * Lucius Veturius L. f. L. n. Philo, consul in 206 BC, and subsequently accompanied Scipio on his African campaign. * Tiberus Veturius Philo, ''

flamen martialis In ancient Roman religion, the Flamen Martialis was the high priest of the official state cult of Mars, the god of war. He was one of the '' flamines maiores'', the three high priests who were the most important of the fifteen flamens. The Flamen ...

'' from 204 BC. * Lucius Veturius Philo, quaestor ''circa'' 102 BC; his nomen is uncertain, and might be '' Publilius''.

Veturii Gracchi

* Tiberius Veturius Gracchus Sempronianus, one of the

, who had been adopted into the gens Veturia, and was subsequently elected augur to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus in 174 BC.Crawford, "Foedus and Sponsio", p. 6. * Tiberius Veturius T. f. Gracchus, ''

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 137 BC. * Tiberius Veturius T. f. T. n., mentioned in a of

Pompeius Strabo Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo (c. 135 – 87 BC) was a Roman general and politician, who served as consul in 89 BC. He is often referred to in English as Pompey Strabo, to distinguish him from his son, the famous Pompey the Great, or from Strabo the g ...

in 89 BC, likely the grandson of the moneyer.Taylor, Voting Districts, p. 265.

Others

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

in 334 and 321 BC, during the

Second Samnite War The First, Second, and Third Samnite Wars (343–341 BC, 326–304 BC, and 298–290 BC) were fought between the Roman Republic and the Samnites, who lived on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains south of Rome and north of the Lucanian tribe. ...

, defeated at the

References

Bibliography

* Diodorus Siculus, '' Bibliotheca Historica'' (Library of History). * Dionysius of Halicarnassus, ''Romaike Archaiologia'' (Roman Antiquities). * 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 m ...

''. *

Quintus Asconius Pedianus Quintus Asconius Pedianus (BC 9 - AD 76) was a Roman historian. There is no evidence that Asconius engaged in a public career, but he was familiar both with Roman government of his time and with the geography of the city. He may, therefore, have w ...

, ''Commentarius in Oratio Ciceronis Pro Cornelio'' (Commentary on Cicero's Oration ''Pro Cornelio''). *

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 educ ...

, ''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 ...

'', William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). * George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'', vol. VIII (1897). * T. Robert S. Broughton, ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', American Philological Association (1952–1986). *

Attilio Degrassi Attilio Degrassi (Trieste, 21 June 1887 – Rome, 1 June 1969) was an archeologist and pioneering Italian scholar of Latin epigraphy. Degrassi taught at the University of Padova where he trained, among others, the epigraphist Silvio Panciera, c ...

, ''Inscriptiones Latinae Liberae Rei Publicae'' (abbreviated ''ILLRP''), Florence (1957–1963). *

, ''The Voting Districts of the Roman Republic'', University of Michigan Press (1960). *

,
Foedus and Sponsio
, ''

Papers of the British School at Rome Paper is a thin, flat material produced by the compression of fibres. Paper(s) or The Paper may also refer to: Publishing and academia * Newspaper, a periodical publication * ''Paper'' (magazine), an American monthly fashion and culture magazin ...

'', Vol. 41 (1973), pp. 1–7; ''Roman Republican Coinage'', Cambridge University Press (1974, 2001). *Clive Stannard, "Numismatic evidence for relations between Spain and Central Italy at the turn of the second and first centuries BC", in '' Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau'' 84, 2005, pp. 47–80. *{{SmithDGRBM Roman gentes