:''This page is about the ancestor of the Valerii. For the Latin personal name, see

Volesus (praenomen) Volesus, Volusus, or Volero is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was occasionally used during the period of the Roman Republic, and briefly revived in imperial times. It gave rise to the patronymic gentes Valeria and Volusia. Although n ...

.'' Volesus or Volusus, sometimes called Volesus Valerius, was the eponymous ancestor of ''

gens Valeria The gens Valeria was a patrician (ancient Rome), patrician family at ancient Rome, prominent from the very beginning of the Roman Republic, Republic to the latest period of the Roman Empire, Empire. Publius Valerius Poplicola was one of the Ro ...

'', one of the greatest patrician houses at

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. He is said to have come to Rome with

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 respon ...

, king of the

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 divide ...

town of Cures, during the reign of

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

, the founder and first king of Rome.

Biographical details

Little is known of Volesus, but it is generally assumed that he was himself a Sabine, and that he came from the town of Cures. The few historical mentions of him imply that he was a powerful warrior, which would explain his presence in the retinue of Titus Tatius, although his character may also have been suggested by his name, which was believed to derive from the Latin verb, ''valere'', ''to be strong'', or its Oscan cognate. He would probably have been born early in the 8th century BC.

Legacy

As related by the historian

Titus Livius 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 ...

and others, much of the early Roman populace was of Sabine origin, and Volesus was claimed as ancestor by one of the oldest, largest, and noblest houses at Rome. His descendants held every magistracy 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 Kin ...

, included scholars, statesmen, and generals, and were in the forefront of public affairs throughout the whole of Roman history. The praenomen Volesus was also used occasionally by the Valerii, who also used it as a cognomen, usually with the spelling ''Volusus''. The family also revived the praenomen from time to time, after it had fallen out of general use, as late as the 1st century AD. The name was used by a few other ''gentes'', including the ''gens Publilia'', who used the form ''Volero'', but the memory of Volesus, first of the Valerii, was the most enduring.''Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft''

Notes

{{reflist 8th-century BC births Italic people Valerii Sabine people 8th-century BC Romans ca:Volús

Biographical details

Legacy

See also

Notes