The gens Papiria was a patrician family at ancient Rome. According to tradition, the Papirii had already achieved prominence in the time of the kings, and the first Rex Sacrorum and Pontifex Maximus of the Republic were members of this gens. Lucius Papirius Mugillanus was the first of the Papirii to obtain the consulship in 444 BC. The patrician members of the family regularly occupied the highest offices of the Roman state down to the time of the Punic Wars. Their most famous member was Lucius Papirius Cursor, five times consul between 326 and 313 BC, who earned three triumphs during the Samnite Wars. Most of the Papirii who held office under the later Republic belonged to various plebeian branches of the family. Although the most illustrious Papirii flourished in the time of the Republic, a number of the family continued to hold high office during the first two centuries of the Empire. [1]
Cicero described the history of the Papirii to his friend, Papirius Paetus, a plebeian member of the family, who was unaware of the patrician origin of the family. According to Cicero, the Papirii were one of the gentes minores, the lesser of two divisions made amongst the patrician gentes at Rome. [2] The gentes maiores were the greatest or most noble patrician houses, while the rest of the patrician families made up the gentes minores. The precise distinction between the two divisions is not known, nor have any lists of the families belonging to each survived from antiquity. However, it has been suggested that the gentes maiores consisted, at least in part, of the families who came to Rome in the time of Romulus, while the gentes minores consisted of the patrician families that were enrolled after the destruction of Alba Longa, or under the Tarquins. [1]
The original form of the nomen Papirius was Papisius, and all of the early Papirii would have been known by this name, although in later times they were always referred to as Papirii. A number of other ancient nomina experienced the same evolution; Fusius becoming Furius, Valesius becoming Valerius, and Vetusius becoming Veturius. Cicero writes that the first of the Papirii to adopt the "modern" spelling was Lucius Papirius Crassus, consul in BC 336. [2] [1]
The chief praenomina of the Papirii during the Republic were Lucius, Marcus, Gaius, Manius , and Spurius . The first three were the most common of all Roman names, while Manius and Spurius were much more distinctive. The only other praenomina found among the patrician Papirii are Tiberius , and perhaps Sextus or Publius , known from individual instances, but only Publius is known from the other members of the gens. The plebeian Papirii Carbones used primarily Gaius and Gnaeus ; this last was a common name not found among the ancient patrician stirpes, but which was still used by the Papirii of imperial times.
From at least the time of the early Republic, the Papirii are divided into a number of branches, or stirpes, distinguished by their surnames. Cicero lists the patrician cognomina of the Papirii as Crassus, Cursor, Maso, and Mugillanus, while the plebeian families included those of Carbo, Paetus, and Turdus. [2] [1]
The Papirii Mugillani were the first of these families to obtain the consulship. Their surname was derived from an ancient city of Latium known as Mugilla, the ancestral home of the Papirii. [3] According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Mugilla was conquered by Coriolanus after he was banished from Rome and went over to the Volsci. [4] It must have been in the vicinity of the Volscian towns of Pollusca and Corioli, but it was evidently deserted at a very early date, as Pliny does not mention it among his list of former cities in Latium. [5]
The Papirii Crassi appear almost simultaneously with the Mugillani, and remained a distinct family down to the Second Samnite War. Their surname, Crassus, which means "thick" or "fat", was common to a number of prominent gentes, including the Claudii and the Licinii. [6]
Cursor, the surname of the third branch of the Papirii to achieve prominence, means "a runner", and was probably bestowed upon the dictator Lucius Papirius Cursor because of his speed. The Papirii Cursores appear in history from the early fourth century BC to the beginning of the third. [7] [8] The Cursores likely descended from the Mugillani, as Lucius Papirius Cursor, the dictator, is sometimes found with this cognomen. Friedrich Münzer writes that he was the first named Cursor, and his grandfather—the first with this name in the sources—actually bore the cognomen Mugillanus. [9] [10]
The surname Maso, sometimes spelled Masso, is derived from the Latin massa, a "mass" or "lump". [11] [12] The Papirii Masones were the last of the distinct patrician families of this gens, although some of the other Papirii were also patricians, including Lucius Papirius Praetextatus, censor in 272 BC. The Masones occur from the end of the fourth century BC down to the time of Cicero. [13] [14]
Among the plebeian branches of the Papiria gens, the most important was that surnamed Carbo, referring to a piece of coal or charcoal; metaphorically, something black, or of little value. [15] [16] The Papirii Carbones appear in the first half of the second century BC, and continued down to the time of Cicero. [17]
Paetus, the surname of Cicero's plebeian friend, referred to a mild defect of vision, variously described as "blink-eyed", or "squinty". This common cognomen implied a lesser deficit than Strabo, "squinty", Luscus, "one-eyed", or Caecus, "blind", and could even be regarded as endearing; it was an epithet of Venus. [18] [19] [20]
Cicero describes the Papirii Turdi as a plebeian family, although only one of them is mentioned in history: Gaius Papirius Turdus, tribune of the plebs in 177 BC. Their surname signified a thrush. [2] [21] [15]
The gens Claudia, sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at ancient Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain the consulship was Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis, in 495 BC, and from that time its members frequently held the highest offices of the state, both under the Republic and in imperial times.
The gens Valeria was a patrician family at ancient Rome, prominent from the very beginning of the Republic to the latest period of the Empire. Publius Valerius Poplicola was one of the consuls in 509 BC, the year that saw the overthrow of the Tarquins, and the members of his family were among the most celebrated statesmen and generals at the beginning of the Republic. Over the next ten centuries, few gentes produced as many distinguished men, and at every period the name of Valerius was constantly to be found in the lists of annual magistrates, and held in the highest honour. Several of the emperors claimed descent from the Valerii, whose name they bore as part of their official nomenclature.
Gaius Papirius Carbo Arvina was a Roman orator and politician. He was an opponent of the reforms championed by the tribune Marcus Livius Drusus and the orator Lucius Licinius Crassus, and held the plebeian tribunate the year following Drusus's murder. He held senior state positions in the interlude between the civil wars of 87 and 83 BC, when his cousin, Gnaeus Carbo, dominated the government. Nevertheless, during the war in 82 his loyalty was seen as suspect, causing Arvina to be murdered by government agents during a meeting of the Senate.
The gens Licinia was a celebrated plebeian family at ancient Rome, which appears from the earliest days of the Republic until imperial times, and which eventually obtained the imperial dignity. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Licinius Calvus Stolo, who, as tribune of the plebs from 376 to 367 BC, prevented the election of any of the annual magistrates, until the patricians acquiesced to the passage of the lex Licinia Sextia, or Licinian Rogations. This law, named for Licinius and his colleague, Lucius Sextius, opened the consulship for the first time to the plebeians. Licinius himself was subsequently elected consul in 364 and 361 BC, and from this time, the Licinii became one of the most illustrious gentes in the Republic.
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Lucius Papirius Cursor was a celebrated politician and general of the early Roman Republic, who was five times consul, three times magister equitum, and twice dictator. He was the most important Roman commander during the Second Samnite War, during which he received three triumphs.
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The gens Servilia was a patrician family at ancient Rome. The gens was celebrated during the early ages of the Republic, and the names of few gentes appear more frequently at this period in the consular Fasti. It continued to produce men of influence in the state down to the latest times of the Republic, and even in the imperial period. The first member of the gens who obtained the consulship was Publius Servilius Priscus Structus in 495 BC, and the last of the name who appears in the consular Fasti is Quintus Servilius Silanus, in AD 189, thus occupying a prominent position in the Roman state for nearly seven hundred years.
Gaius Furius Pacilus Fusus was a Roman statesman of the early Republic. He was a descendant of the ancient patrician house of the Furii, which filled the highest offices of the Roman state from the early decades of the Republic to the first century AD. He was probably closely related to Quintus Furius Pacilus Fusus, whom Livy mentions as Pontifex Maximus in 449 BC, and was likely the father of Gaius Furius Pacilus, consul in 412 BC.
Lucius Julius Iullus was a member of the ancient patrician gens Julia. He was one of the consular tribunes of 438 BC, magister equitum in 431, and consul in 430 BC.
Gaius Julius Iullus was a Roman statesman and member of the ancient patrician gens Julia. He was consular tribune in 408 and 405 BC, and censor in 393.
The gens Publilia, sometimes written Poblilia, was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the early decades of the Republic. The lex Publilia passed by Volero Publilius, tribune of the plebs in 471 BC, was an important milestone in the struggle between the patrician and plebeian orders. Although the Publilii appear throughout the history of the Republic, the family faded into obscurity around the time of the Samnite Wars, and never again achieved positions of prominence in the Roman state.
Servius Cornelius Maluginensis was a politician and general of the Roman Republic. He was elected consular tribune seven times in 386, 384, 382, 380, 376, 370, and 368 BC. Despite having one of the most successful careers of the Republic, Servius' life is little known.
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Lucius Papirius Crassus was a consul of the Roman republic in 436 BC and possibly a censor in 430 BC.
Aulus Sempronius Atratinus was a consular tribune of the Roman Republic in 425, 420, 416 BC and possibly consul in 428 BC.
Lucius Papirius Mugillanus was a consul of the Roman Republic in 427 BC, consular tribune in 422 BC and censor in 418 BC.
Marcus Papirius Mugillanus was a consular tribune in 418 and 416 BC, and perhaps consul of the Roman Republic in 411.
Marcus Furius Fusus was a consular tribune of the Roman Republic in 403 BC.