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33-443: The Mamilii traced their nomen and origin to the mythical Mamilia, the daughter of Telegonus , who was regarded as the legendary founder of Tusculum and the son of Ulysses and the goddess Circe . This origin was referred to on a coin of the gens, the obverse of which depicts the head of Mercury or Hermes , the ancestor of Ulysses, and the reverse Ulysses himself, clad in the humble disguise he assumed to avoid being recognized by

66-452: A gens ( / ɡ ɛ n s / or / dʒ ɛ n z / , Latin: [gẽːs] ; pl. : gentes [ˈgɛnteːs] ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same nomen gentilicium and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of gens, sometimes identified by a distinct cognomen , was called a stirps ( pl. : stirpes ). The gens was an important social structure at Rome and throughout Italia during

99-436: A Roman citizen as a member of a gens . A gens , which may be translated as "race", "family", or "clan", constituted an extended Roman family, all of whom shared the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. Particularly in the early Roman Republic , the gens functioned as a state within the state, observing its own sacred rites and establishing private laws, which were binding on its members although not on

132-456: A gens and acquire its nomen. A libertus , or " freedman ", usually assumed the nomen (and sometimes also the praenomen) of the person who had manumitted him, and a naturalized citizen usually took the name of the patron who granted his citizenship . Freedmen and newly enfranchised citizens were not technically part of the gentes whose names they shared, but within a few generations it often became impossible to distinguish their descendants from

165-568: A gens being admitted to the patriciate prior to the first century BC was when the Claudii were added to the ranks of the patricians after coming to Rome in 504 BC, five years after the establishment of the Republic. Numerous sources describe two classes amongst the patrician gentes, known as the gentes maiores , or major gentes, and the gentes minores , or minor gentes. No definite information has survived concerning which families were numbered amongst

198-471: A gens voluntarily left or were expelled from the patriciate, along with their descendants. In some cases, gentes that must originally have been patrician, or which were so regarded during the early Republic, were later known only by their plebeian descendants. By the first century BC, the practical distinction between the patricians and the plebeians was largely symbolic, with only a few priesthoods and ceremonial offices restricted to patricians. However, such

231-419: A limited number of personal names , or praenomina , the selection of which helped to distinguish members of one gens from another. Sometimes different branches of a gens would vary in their names of choice. The most conservative gentes would sometimes limit themselves to three or four praenomina, while others made regular use of six or seven. There were two main reasons for this limited selection: first, it

264-571: A member of a Roman gens , and in its later form, as an indicator of status, the nomen continued to be used for several decades after the collapse of Imperial authority in the west. The last datable example of a nomen gentilicium belongs to a Julia Rogatiana, who died at Volubilis in AD 655. In the east, nomina such as Flavius continued until the early 8th century; Flavius Basilius was Pagarch of Aphrodito in Egypt in 710. Gens In ancient Rome ,

297-410: A state within a state, governed by its own elders and assemblies, following its own customs, and carrying out its own religious rites. Certain cults were traditionally associated with specific gentes. The gentile assemblies had the responsibility of adoption and guardianship for their members. If a member of a gens died intestate and without immediate family, his property was distributed to the rest of

330-438: The nomen was the middle of the tria nomina ("three names"), after the praenomen and before the cognomen . For women , the nomen was often the only name used until the late Republic. For example, three members of gens Julia were Gaius Julius Caesar and his sisters Julia Major and Julia Minor ("Julia the elder" and "Julia the younger"). The nomen gentilicium , or "gentile name" designated

363-686: The Turris Mamilia stood in the Subura , and figured in a ritual battle between the residents of two neighborhoods at Rome for the head of the October Horse . [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Smith, William , ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology . {{ cite encyclopedia }} : Missing or empty |title= ( help ) Nomen gentilicium The nomen gentilicium (or simply nomen )

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396-499: The Fabia gens alone were able to field a militia consisting of three hundred and six men of fighting age. The concept of the gens was not uniquely Roman, but was shared with communities throughout Italy, including those who spoke Italic languages such as Latin , Oscan , and Umbrian as well as the Etruscans , whose language was unrelated. All of these peoples were eventually absorbed into

429-540: The Republic, it is not entirely certain which gentes were considered patrician and which plebeian. However, a series of laws promulgated in 451 and 450 BC as the Twelve Tables attempted to codify a rigid distinction between the classes, formally excluding the plebeians from holding any of the major magistracies from that time until the passage of the Lex Licinia Sextia in 367 BC. Another law promulgated as part of

462-519: The ancient Romans, including the emperors. The word gens is sometimes translated as "race", or "nation", meaning a people descended from a common ancestor (rather than sharing a common physical trait). It can also be translated as "clan", "kin", or "tribe", although the word tribus has a separate and distinct meaning in Roman culture. A gens could be as small as a single family, or could include hundreds of individuals. According to tradition, in 479 BC

495-514: The community as a whole. Although the other peoples of Italy also possessed nomina (plural of nomen ), the distinction between Romans and the non-Roman peoples of Italy disappeared as various communities were granted the Roman franchise and, after the Social War (91–87 BC) , that was extended to most of Italy. Possession of the nomen gentilicium then identified a man as a Roman citizen. The nomen

528-468: The gens. The decisions of a gens were theoretically binding on all of its members. However, no public enactment is recorded as having been passed by the assembly of a gens. As a group, the gentes had considerable influence on the development of Roman law and religious practices, but comparatively little influence on the political and constitutional history of Rome. Certain gentes were considered patrician, and others plebeian. According to tradition,

561-499: The gentes maiores, or even how many there were. However, they almost certainly included the Aemilii , Claudii , Cornelii , Fabii , Manlii , and Valerii . Nor is it certain whether this distinction was of any practical importance, although it has been suggested that the princeps senatus , or speaker of the Senate , was usually chosen from their number. For the first several decades of

594-591: The great houses to take distinguishing surnames from a people with whom they were connected by blood, or by the ties of public hospitality." The ancients, however, connected the surname Vitulus with the Latin word signifying a " calf ", which was depicted on a coin of one of the Voconii Vituli. Although the connection of Turrinus and Tyrrhenus is by no means impossible, or even unlikely, it could also have been derived from turris , "a tower". An ancient tower known as

627-467: The most ancient and important. Limetanus is the only surname which occurs on coins. Vitulus was a surname in both the Mamilia and Voconia gentes. Niebuhr supposes that Vitulus is merely another form of Italus , and remarks that we find in the same manner in the Mamilia gens the surname Turrinus ; that is, Tyrrhenus , an Etruscan . "It was customary, as is proved by the oldest Roman Fasti , for

660-409: The orders over the next two centuries. Certain patrician families regularly opposed the sharing of power with the plebeians, while others favoured it, and some were divided. Many gentes included both patrician and plebeian branches. These may have arisen through adoption or manumission, or when two unrelated families bearing the same nomen became confused. It may also be that individual members of

693-479: The original members. In practice this meant that a gens could acquire new members and even new branches, either by design or by accident. Different branches or stirpes of a gens were usually distinguished by their cognomina , additional surnames following the nomen, which could be either personal or hereditary. Some particularly large stirpes themselves became divided into multiple branches, distinguished by additional cognomina. Most gentes regularly employed

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726-409: The patricians were descended from the "city fathers", or patres ; that is, the heads of the family at the time of its foundation by Romulus , the first King of Rome . Other noble families which came to Rome during the time of the kings were also admitted to the patriciate, including several who emigrated from Alba Longa after that city was destroyed by Tullus Hostilius . The last known instance of

759-459: The period of the Roman Republic . Much of individuals' social standing depended on the gens to which they belonged. Certain gentes were classified as patrician , others as plebeian ; some had both patrician and plebeian branches. The importance of the gens as a social structure declined considerably in imperial times , although the gentilicium continued to define the origins and dynasties of

792-457: The sphere of Roman culture. The oldest gentes were said to have originated before the foundation of Rome (traditionally 753 BC), and claimed descent from mythological personages as far back as the time of the Trojan War (traditionally ended 1184 BC ). However, the establishment of the gens cannot long predate the adoption of hereditary surnames. The nomen gentilicium , or "gentile name",

825-467: The suitors of Penelope . The earliest of the Mamilii to occur in history bore the praenomen Octavius , which was rare at Rome. His descendants used the praenomina Lucius , Quintus , Gaius , and Marcus , all of which were very common names throughout Roman history. The Mamilii were divided into three families, with the cognomina Limetanus, Turrinus , and Vitulus , of which the two latter were

858-462: The tables forbade the intermarriage of patricians and plebeians, but this was repealed after only a few years, by the Lex Canuleia in 445 BC. Despite the formal reconciliation of the orders in 367, the patrician houses, which as time passed represented a smaller and smaller percentage of the Roman populace, continued to hold on to as much power as possible, resulting in frequent conflict between

891-481: Was a hereditary name borne by the peoples of Roman Italy and later by the citizens of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire . It was originally the name of one's gens (family or clan) by patrilineal descent. However, as Rome expanded its frontiers and non-Roman peoples were progressively granted citizenship and concomitant nomen , the latter lost its value in indicating patrilineal ancestry. For men,

924-488: Was an essential element of Roman nomenclature throughout Roman history, but its usefulness as a distinguishing element declined precipitously following the Constitutio Antoniniana , which effectively granted the nomen "Aurelius" to vast numbers of newly-enfranchised citizens. Countless other "new Romans" acquired the nomina of important families in this manner during imperial times. In the 4th century, Aurelius

957-587: Was because of traditions concerning disgraced or dishonoured members of the gens bearing a particular name. For example, the Junia gens avoided the praenomina Titus and Tiberius after two members with these names were executed for treason. A similar instance supposedly led the assembly of the Manlia gens to forbid its members from bearing the praenomen Marcus , although this prohibition does not seem to have been strictly observed. In theory, each gens functioned as

990-443: Was its distinguishing feature, for a Roman citizen's nomen indicated his membership in a gens. The nomen could be derived from any number of things, such as the name of an ancestor, a person's occupation, physical appearance, character, or town of origin. Because some of these things were fairly common, it was possible for unrelated families to bear the same nomen, and over time to become confused. Persons could be adopted into

1023-417: Was surpassed in number by Flavius , and other names became quite common, including Valerius , Claudius , Fabius , Julius and Junius . Those names no longer had any utility in indicating one's patrilineal ancestry and became largely perfunctory. They could be changed to indicate rank or status, and even abbreviated, much as praenomina had been. Both in its original form, identifying an individual as

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1056-443: Was their prestige that, beginning with the administration of Caesar , and continuing into imperial times, a number of families were raised to the patriciate, replacing older families that had become extinct or faded into obscurity, and which were no longer represented in the Roman senate . By the third century, the distinction between patricians and plebeians had lost its relevance. The emperor Constantine and his successors revived

1089-552: Was traditional to pass down family names from one generation to the next; such names were always preferred. Second, most patrician families limited themselves to a small number of names as a way of distinguishing themselves from the plebeians, who often employed a wider variety of names, including some that were seldom used by the patricians. However, several of the oldest and most noble patrician houses frequently used rare and unusual praenomina. Certain families also deliberately avoided particular praenomina. In at least some cases, this

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