List of Roman tribes

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Voter casting ballot on a Roman denarius of 63 BC Roman Election.jpg
Voter casting ballot on a Roman denarius of 63 BC

Tribes (Latin : tribus) were groupings of citizens in ancient Rome, originally based on location. Voters were eventually organized by tribes, with each Roman tribe having an equal vote in the Tribal Assembly.

Contents

Original tribes

Latin tribus perhaps derives from the Latin word for "three", trēs. The Romans believed that through much of the early regal period of Roman history, there were only three tribes: [1]

These names were also preserved in the names of six of the later centuries of Roman equites.

Later tribes

Livy records that in 495 BC the number of tribes was increased to 21, [2] and the number of tribes reached 35 in 242 BC and was not expanded further.

Urban tribes

Attributed by Livy to the sixth Roman king, Servius Tullius, [3] the urban tribes were named for districts of the city and were the largest and had the least political power. In the later Republic, poorer people living in the city of Rome itself typically belonged to one of these tribes. [4] Freedmen were also traditionally assigned to one of these tribes.

Rural tribes

Inscription (CIL 13.1029) from the Narbonensis recording the enrollment of Gaius Otacilius in the tribus Voltinia (abbreviated VOL), into which Gallic citizens were frequently placed CILXII1029.jpg
Inscription (CIL 13.1029) from the Narbonensis recording the enrollment of Gaius Otacilius in the tribus Voltinia (abbreviated VOL), into which Gallic citizens were frequently placed

Landowners and aristocracy traditionally belonged to the 31 smaller rural tribes. Many rural tribes derive from prominent Roman gentes , or family names, such as Cornelia or Fabia.

The official order of the tribes

There was an official order of the tribes. Literature and archaeological documentation show that the urban tribes are enumerated according to a counter-clockwise circuit of the city. On that basis, Lily Ross Taylor [5] suggested that the same held for the rural tribes.

Archaeological findings of tesserae led Michael Crawford [6] to suggest that the tribes were ordered according to the principal roads leading counter-clockwise from Rome (Ostiensis, Appia, Latina, Praenestina, Valeria, Salaria, Flaminia and Clodia).

Abbreviation of the tribeName of the tribe [5] [I] Character of the tribe [5] Date of establishment [5] # [6] [II]
AEMAemiliaolder [III] rural tribe 6th century BCVIII
ANIAniensislater rural tribe299 BCXXIV
ARNArnensislater rural tribe387 BCXXXV
CAMCamiliaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXXIII
CLAClaudiaolder rural tribe504 BCXXII
CLUClustuminaolder rural tribe495 BCXXVIII
COLCollinaurban tribe 6th century BCIV
CORCorneliaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXXI
ESQEsquilinaurban tribe 6th century BCIII
FABFabiaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXXV
FALFalernalater rural tribe318 BCXIII
GALGaleriaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXXXIII
HORHoratiaolder rural tribe 6th century BCIX
LEMLemoniaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXIV
MAEMaecialater rural tribe332 BCX
MENMeneniaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXIX
OVFOufentinalater rural tribe318 BCXVI
PALPalatinaurban tribe 6th century BCII
PAPPapiriaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXV
POBPoblilia [a] later rural tribe358 BCXX
POLPolliaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXXVI
POMPomptinalater rural tribe358 BCXII
PVPPupiniaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXVIII
QVIQuirinalater rural tribe241 BCXXIX
ROMRomiliaolder rural tribe 6th century BCV
SABSabatinalater rural tribe387 BCXXXIV
SCAScaptialater rural tribe332 BCXI
SERSergiaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXXVII
STEStellatinalater rural tribe387 BCXXXI
SVBSuburanaurban tribe 6th century BCI
TERTeretinalater rural tribe299 BCXVII
TROTromentinalater rural tribe387 BCXXXII
VELVelinalater rural tribe241 BCXXX
VOLVoltiniaolder rural tribe 6th century BCVI
VOTVoturiaolder rural tribe 6th century BCVII

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Italicized the rural tribes derived from Roman gentes
  2. ↑ In bold the number documented by literature and archeological evidence
  3. ↑ Before 495 BC

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Poblilia is the only one of the later rural tribes with a gens name, but, unlike the old patrician tribal names, Poblilia was a well-known plebeian nomen.

References

  1. ↑ About.com: 35 Tribes of Rome, accessed 2 October 2010, 4:15 am (GMT)
  2. ↑ Livy, Ab urbe condita , 2.21
  3. ↑ Livy, Ab urbe condita , 1.43.13)
  4. ↑ About.com: Names of the 35 Tribes of Rome, accessed 2 October 2010, 4:25 am (GMT)
  5. 1 2 3 4 Taylor, Lily Ross (2013). The Voting Districts of the Roman Republic. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
  6. 1 2 Crawford, M.H. (2002). "Tribus, tessères et régions". Comptes Rendus des Séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 146: 1125–35.
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