The gens Furnia was a
plebeian 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 BC ...
. The Furnian
gens was of great antiquity, dating to the first century of the
Republic; Gaius Furnius 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 445 BC. However, no member of the family achieved prominence again for nearly four hundred years.
Members
* Gaius Furnius,
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 445 BC. He opposed the
rogatio
:''See Rogation days for usage pertaining to the Christian calendar of the Western Church.''
In Roman constitutional law, ''rogatio'' is the term (from Latin ''rogo'', "ask, place a question before") for a legislative bill placed before an Ass ...
n of that year, which would have opened 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 ...
to the
plebeians
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 ...
. His name occurs only in
Dionysius;
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 ...
describes the proposal, but does not mention Furnius.
*
Gaius Furnius
Gaius Furnius was a Roman senator during the reign of Augustus, and consul in 17 BC with Gaius Junius Silanus as his colleague.
He was the son of Gaius Furnius, who had been a staunch adherent of Marcus Antonius until 31 BC. The younger Furn ...
, tribune of the plebs in 50 BC, was a friend 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 esta ...
, with whom he frequently corresponded. He opposed the demand of the oligarchic party at Rome that
Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...
should immediately resign as
proconsul
A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority.
In the Roman Republic, military command, or ...
of
Gaul
Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...
. After Caesar's murder, Furnius espoused the side of
Marcus Antonius, but after the
Battle of Actium
The Battle of Actium was a naval battle fought between a maritime fleet of Octavian led by Marcus Agrippa and the combined fleets of both Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII Philopator. The battle took place on 2 September 31 BC in the Ionian Sea, ...
he was reconciled to
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 Pr ...
through the exertions of his son. Furnius was consul ''designatus'' in 29 BC.
[Seneca the Younger, ''De Beneficiis'' ii. 25.]
*
Gaius Furnius C. f., successfully reconciled his father to Octavian following the Battle of Actium. He was consul in 17 BC.
* Furnius, put to death in AD 26, during the reign of
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 ...
, for committing adultery with
Claudia Pulchra
Claudia Pulchra (14 BCAD 26) (''PIR2'' C 1116) was a Patrician woman of Ancient Rome who lived during the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius.
Biography Early life
She was a daughter of Claudia Marcella Minor and the Roman consu ...
. It seems unlikely that he was the same person as the consul.
[''Fasti Albenses'', .]
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 esta ...
, ''
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 ot ...
'', ''
Epistulae ad Familiares
''Epistulae ad Familiares'' (''Letters to Friends'') is a collection of letters between Roman politician and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero and various public and private figures. The letters in this collection, together with Cicero's other letter ...
''.
*
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 ...
''.
* Lucius Annaeus Seneca (
Seneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (; 65 AD), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature.
Seneca was born in ...
), ''De Beneficiis'' (On Kindness).
*
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 ...
, ''Annals (Tacitus), Annales''.
* Florus, Lucius Annaeus Florus, ''Epitome de T. Livio Bellorum Omnium Annorum DCC'' (Epitome of Livy:
* Appianus Alexandrinus (Appian), ''Bellum Civile'' (The Civil War).
* Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (Cassius Dio), ''Roman History''.
* ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).
* René Cagnat ''et alii'', ''L'Année épigraphique'' (The Year in Epigraphy, abbreviated ''AE''), Presses Universitaires de France (1888–present).
* Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton, T. Robert S. Broughton, ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', American Philological Association (1952).
{{Refend
Furnii,
Roman gentes