The gens Orchia or Orcia was a minor
plebeian family 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 ...
. Few members of this
gens held
Roman magistracies, of whom the most notable was probably Gaius Orchius,
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 181 BC, and the author of a
sumptuary law, the repeal of which was strongly opposed by
Cato the Elder
Marcus Porcius Cato (; 234–149 BC), also known as Cato the Censor ( la, Censorius), the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, senator, and historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He was the first to write his ...
. Other Orchii are known from inscriptions.
[''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. III, p. 41 ("Gaius Orchius").]
Origin
The
nomen ''Orchius'' belongs to a class of gentilicia that are probably not
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the 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 the power of the ...
, but
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 ...
or
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 ...
. It seems to be the source of the nomen ''
Orcivius'' or ''Orchivius'', formed using an irregular suffix, ''-ivius'', to create a new name out of an existing nomen.
Praenomina
All of the Orchii known from ancient writers and inscriptions bore the praenomina ''
Aulus
Aulus (abbreviated A.) is one of the small group of common forenames found in the culture of ancient Rome.
The name was traditionally connected with Latin ''aula'', ''olla'', "palace", but this is most likely a false etymology. ''Aulus'' in fact p ...
,
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 ...
'', or ''
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 ...
'', all of which were common names throughout Roman history.
Members
* Gaius Orchius, tribune of the plebs in 181 BC, passed a sumptuary law concerning the number of guests that were permitted at entertainments. Cato the Elder strongly opposed any repeal of the law, and gave an oration upon which the Roman grammarians remarked.
* Aulus Orcius, named in an inscription from Rome.
[.]
* Aulus Orchius A. l., a freedman named in an inscription from Rome.
* Gaius Orchius, buried at
Puteoli
Pozzuoli (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean Peninsula.
History
Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of ''Dicaearchia'' ( el, Δικα ...
.
* Aulus Orcius A. l. Antiochus, a freedman named in an inscription from Rome.
* Gaius Orchius Antiochus, the husband of Orchia Zosime, was a freedman mentioned in two inscriptions from Rome.
* Gaius Orcius C. l. Epaphra, named in an inscription the origin of which has been lost.
[.]
* Orchia Esyche, named in an inscription from Rome.
[.]
* Orcia A. l. Lais, a freedwoman named in an inscription from Rome.
* Lucius Orchius Menander, named in an inscription from Rome.
* Lucius Orchius Obsequens, named in an inscription from Rome.
* Aulus Orchius A. l. Pharnacis, a freedman named in an inscription from Rome.
* Aulus Orcius A. l. Sosipater, a freedman named in an inscription from Rome.
* Orchia Zosime, the wife of Gaius Orchius Antiochus, was a freedwoman mentioned in an inscription from Rome.
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
*
Sextus Pompeius Festus
Sextus Pompeius Festus, usually known simply as Festus, was a Roman grammarian who probably flourished in the later 2nd century AD, perhaps at Narbo (Narbonne) in Gaul.
Work
He made a 20-volume epitome of Verrius Flaccus's voluminous and encyclop ...
, ''Epitome de M. Verrio Flacco de Verborum Significatu'' (Epitome of
Marcus Verrius Flaccus
Marcus Verrius Flaccus (c. 55 BCAD 20) was a Roman grammarian and teacher who flourished under Augustus and Tiberius.
Life
He was a freedman, and his manumitter has been identified with Verrius Flaccus, an authority on pontifical law; but for c ...
: On the Meaning of Words).
*
Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius
Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, usually referred to as Macrobius (fl. AD 400), was a Roman provincial who lived during the early fifth century, during late antiquity, the period of time corresponding to the Later Roman Empire, and when Latin was ...
, ''Saturnalia''.
* Scholia Bobiensa (
Bobbio Scholiast The Bobbio Scholiast (commonly abbreviated ''schol. Bob.'') was an anonymous scholiast working in the 7th century at the monastery of Bobbio and known for his annotations of texts from classical antiquity. He is a unique source for some information ...
), ''In Ciceronis Pro Sestio'' (Commentary on Cicero’s Oration ''Pro Sestio'').
* Henricus Meyerus (Heinrich Meyer), ''Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta ab Appio inde Caeco usque ad Q. Aurelium Symmachum'' (Fragments of Roman Orators from Appius Claudius Caecus to Quintus Aurelius Symmachus), L. Bourgeois-Mazé, Paris (1837).
* ''
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).
*
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 centu ...
''et alii'', ''
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated ''CIL''), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present).
* René Cagnat ''et alii'', ''
L'Année épigraphique
''L'Année épigraphique'' (''The Epigraphic Year'', standard abbreviation ''AE'') is a French publication on epigraphy (i.e the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing). It was set up by René Cagnat, as holder of the chair of 'Epigraphy an ...
'' (The Year in Epigraphy, abbreviated ''AE''), Presses Universitaires de France (1888–present).
*
T. Robert S. Broughton, ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', American Philological Association (1952).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orchia (gens)
Roman gentes