Rennia gens

Last updated May 05, 2019

The gens Rennia, occasionally written Renia, was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome. No members of this gens obtained any of the higher offices of the Roman state, but the family is known from inscriptions, and coins issued by a certain Gaius Renius, depicting the head of Roma on the obverse, and on the reverse Juno Caprotina in a chariot pulled by two goats.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[1]

The plebs were, in ancient Rome, the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census. The precise origins of the group and the term are unclear, though it may be that they began as a limited political movement in opposition to the elite (patricians) which became more widely applied.

In historiography, ancient Rome is Roman civilization from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD, encompassing the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic and Roman Empire until the fall of the western empire. The civilization began as an Italic settlement in the Italian Peninsula, conventionally founded in 753 BC, that grew into the city of Rome and which subsequently gave its name to the empire over which it ruled and to the widespread civilisation the empire developed. The Roman Empire expanded to become one of the largest empires in the ancient world, though still ruled from the city, with an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants ) and covering 5.0 million square kilometres at its height in AD 117.

In ancient Rome, a gens, plural gentes, was a family consisting of all those individuals who shared the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a stirps. The gens was an important social structure at Rome and throughout Italy during the period of the Roman Republic. Much of an individual's social standing depended on the gens to which he belonged. Certain gentes were considered patrician, others plebeian, while some had both patrician and plebeian branches. The importance of membership in a gens declined considerably in imperial times.

Origin

The appearance of Juno Caprotina suggests that the Rennii may have originated at Lanuvium, where Juno was particularly revered.^[4] The etymology of the nomen Rennius is uncertain; Chase suggests a possible connection with the Latin renes, kidneys.^[5]

Lanuvium is an ancient city of Latium, some 32 kilometres (20 mi) southeast of Rome, a little southwest of the Via Appia.

Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets and ultimately from the Phoenician alphabet.

Praenomina

Like other families known chiefly from imperial times, the Rennii seem to have confined themselves to the most common praenomina, and particularly Lucius , Gaius , and Marcus . The only other names found among the Rennii are Publius , Quintus , and Decimus , of which only the last was relatively uncommon.

The Roman Empire was the post-Roman Republic period of the ancient Roman civilization. Ruled by emperors, it had large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and the Caucasus. From the constitutional reforms of Augustus to the military anarchy of the third century, the Empire was a principate ruled from the city of Rome. The Roman Empire was then ruled by multiple emperors and divided in a Western Roman Empire, based in Milan and later Ravenna, and an Eastern Roman Empire, based in Nicomedia and later Constantinople. Rome remained the nominal capital of both parts until 476 AD, when Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustus after capturing Ravenna and the Senate of Rome sent the imperial regalia to Constantinople. The fall of the Western Roman Empire to barbarian kings, along with the hellenization of the Eastern Roman Empire into the Byzantine Empire, is conventionally used to mark the end of Ancient Rome and the beginning of the Middle Ages.

The praenomen was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the dies lustricus, the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the birth of a boy. The praenomen would then be formally conferred a second time when girls married, or when boys assumed the toga virilis upon reaching manhood. Although it was the oldest of the tria nomina commonly used in Roman naming conventions, by the late republic, most praenomina were so common that most people were called by their praenomina only by family or close friends. For this reason, although they continued to be used, praenomina gradually disappeared from public records during imperial times. Although both men and women received praenomina, women's praenomina were frequently ignored, and they were gradually abandoned by many Roman families, though they continued to be used in some families and in the countryside.

Lucius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. The feminine form is Lucia. The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gentes Lucia and Lucilia, as well as the cognomenLucullus. It was regularly abbreviated L.

Branches and cognomina

The Rennii do not appear to have been divided into distinct families, and all of their surnames appear to have been personal cognomina, many of them probably having been the original names of freedmen of the gens. Of those that were more typical of Roman surnames, Aestivus refers to the summer, and was probably given to someone born during that season. Candidus means gleaming white, and could refer to one's hair or clothing. Crispinus, a diminutive of Crispus, referred to someone with curly hair.^[6]^[7]

A cognomen was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary. Hereditary cognomina were used to augment the second name, the gens, in order to identify a particular branch within a family or family within a clan. The term has also taken on other contemporary meanings.

A freedman or freedwoman is a former slave who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed either by manumission or emancipation. A fugitive slave is one who escaped slavery by fleeing.

Faustus, fortunate, and Proculus were old praenomina, which came to be used as surnames in the later Republic and imperial times. Felix, happy, and Firmus, strong, Hilarus, cheerful, Rufus, red, and Venustus, charming or handsome, were all common names; Laetus, glad, and Orientis, eastern, were more distinctive. A number of other surnames borne by both the men and women of the Rennii were also old praenomina, or similar individualizing cognomina, including Maxima, eldest, Prima, first, Secundus, second, and Tertius, third.^[8]^[9]

The Roman Republic was the era of classical Roman civilization beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom, traditionally dated to 509 BC, and ending in 27 BC with the establishment of the Roman Empire. It was during this period that Rome's control expanded from the city's immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world.

Members

This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.

Rennia Ɔ. l., a freedwoman, and the wife of Lygidus, buried at Opitergium in Venetia and Histria, in a tomb built by Marcus Fulvius Marcellinus.^[10]
Rennius, a centurion in the first cohort of the praetorian guard.^[11]
Gaius Renius, triumvir monetalis in 138 BC. His denarii depict Juno Caprotina driving a biga pulled by goats, possibly referring to the family's Lanuvian origin.^[2]^[3]^[1]
Lucius Rennius, built a monument in Hispania Citerior for a certain Ammius. Perhaps the same Lucius Rennius who was the father of Rennius Valerianus.^[12]^[13]
Rennius Aestivus, a centurion named in an inscription from Vindonissa in Germania Superior, dating to the middle or later first century AD.^[14]
Aulus Rennius Bo[...], named in an inscription from Volsinii in Etruria.^[15]
Rennius Candidus, a veteran of the first legion, made a libationary offering to the Magna Mater at Brigetio in Pannonia Superior, together with Aurelia Marcellina, perhaps his wife.^[16]
Rennia Caris, built a tomb at Rome for her husband, Rennius Yagrus.^[17]
Decimus Rennius D. l. Chresimus, a freedman named on a monument from Pisaurum in Umbria, together with Decimus Rennius Rufus.^[18]
Lucius Rennius L. l. Chresimus, one of the seviri at Sora in Latium.^[19]
Rennia Claudia, buried at Caldis in Numidia, aged thirty-one.^[20]
Lucius Rennius Crispinus, built a tomb for himself and his family at Salernum in Campania.^[21]
Rennia Faustina, the wife of Lucius Licinius Phaeder, who together with Marcus Ulpius Dionysius built a sepulchre at Portus in Latium for themselves and their families.^[22]
Lucius Rennius Q. f. Faustus, the husband of Pacuvia, named on a monument from Nuceria in Campania.^[23]
Rennius Felix, a standard-bearer in the century of Gaius Valerius Victor, in the first cohort of the vigiles at Rome, in AD 205.^[24]
Rennius Firmus, named in a funerary inscription from Iuvavum in Noricum.^[25]
Publius Rennius Hilarus, built a tomb at Aquinum in Latium to his wife, Navia Primula, aged twenty-two.^[26]
Gaius Rennius C. l. Laetus, a freedman named in an inscription from Ulubrae in Latium.^[27]
Rennius Legitimus, built a tomb at Rome for his wife, Rennia Prima.^[28]
Rennia L. f. Maxima, named in an inscription from Atria in Venetia and Histria.^[29]
Renius Onesimus, named in an inscription from Pompeii in Campania.^[30]
Lucius Rennius Orientis, named in an inscription from the present site of Geiselprechting, formerly in Rhaetia, dating to AD 64.^[31]
Lucius Rennius Pamphilus, named in an inscription from Narbo in Gallia Narbonensis.^[32]
Lucius Rennius L. l. Philodoxus, a freedman who became one of the quinquennial magistrates of the carpenters' guild at Ostia in Latium, early in the second century AD. He was buried in a tomb built by his son, Lucius Rennius Proculus, but his name also appears on a tomb built by Lucius Rennius Platanus.^[33]^[34]^[35]
Lucius Rennius Platanus, the freedman of Asper, built a tomb at Ostia for himself, Egrilia Quarta, Rennia Procula, and Lucius Rennius Philodoxus.^[33]
Rennia Prima, buried at Rome, aged forty-two years, eleven months, and thirteen days, in a tomb built by her husband, Rennius Legitimus.^[28]
Rennia Procula, a house-slave, probably manumitted, buried at Ostia in a tomb built by Lucius Rennius Platanus.^[33]
Lucius Rennius L. f. Proculus, son of Lucius Rennius Philodoxus, for whom he built a tomb at Ostia.^[34]
Rennius Secundus, named in an inscription from Rome.^[36]
Marcus Rennius M. f. Tertius, the former master of Rennia Urbana, for whom he provided in his third century will.^[37]
Decimus Rennius D. l. Rufus, a freedman named on a monument from Pisaurum, together with Decimus Rennius Chresimus.^[18]
Rennia M. l. Urbana, the freedwoman of Marcus Rennius Tertius, who provided for her in his third century will.^[37]
Rennius L. f. Valerianus, named in an inscription from the present site of Revilla del Campo, formerly in Hispania Citerior.^[13]
Marcus Rennius Venustus, named in an inscription from Londinium in Britain, dating to AD 62.^[38]
Rennius Yagrus,^{[lower-roman 1]} buried at Rome, aged thirty-four, with a monument from his wife, Rennia Caris.^[17]

Oderzo is a town and comune in the province of Treviso, Veneto, northern Italy. It lies in the heart of the Venetian plain, about 66 kilometres to the northeast of Venice. Oderzo is traversed by the Monticano River, a tributary of the Livenza.

A centurion was a professional officer of the Roman army after the Marian reforms of 107 BC. Most centurions commanded groups of centuries of around 100 legionaries, but senior centurions commanded cohorts or took senior staff roles in their legion. Centurions were also found in the Roman navy. In the Byzantine Army, they were also known by the name kentarch. Their symbol of office was the vine staff, with which they disciplined even Roman citizens protected from other forms of beating by the Porcian Laws.

Hispania Citerior was a Roman Province in Hispania during the Roman Republic. It was on the eastern coast of Iberia down to the town of Cartago Nova, today's Cartagena in the autonomous community of Murcia, Spain. It roughly covered today's Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia and Valencia. Further south there was the Roman Province of Hispania Ulterior, being further away from Rome. The two provinces were formed in 197 BC, four years after the end of the Second Punic War. During this war Scipio Africanus defeated the Carthaginians at the Battle of Ilipa in 206 BC. This led to the Romans taking over the Carthaginian possessions in southern Spain and on the east coast up to the River Ebro. Several governors of Hispania Citerior commanded wars against the Celtiberians who lived to the west of this province. In the late first century BC Augustus reorganised the Roman provinces in Hispania and Hispania Citerior was replaced by the larger province of Hispania Tarraconensis, which included the territories the Romans had conquered in central, northern and north-western Hispania. Augustus also renamed Hispania Ulterior Hispania Baetica and created a third province, Hispania Lusitania.

Footnotes

↑ This otherwise unknown cognomen seems to be a variant of Syagrius.

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References

1 2 3 Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, pp. 264, 265.
1 2 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 645 ("Renia Gens").
1 2 Eckhel, vol. v, pp. 291, 292.
1 2 PW, s. v. Renius.
↑ Chase, p. 131.
↑ New College Latin & English Dictionary, s. v. aestivus, candidus, crispus.
↑ Chase, p. 110.
↑ Chase, pp. 110, 111, 145, 150, 165, 167, 171, 172.
↑ New College Latin & English Dictionary, s. v. faustus, felix, firmus, hilarus, rufus, venustus, laetus, oriens.
↑ CIL V, 1977.
↑ CIL VI, 2447.
↑ AE 1984, 564.
1 2 ERLara, 201.
↑ Speidel, Die römischen Schreibtafeln von Vindonissa, 14.
↑ Castrén, "Graffiti di Bolsena", 24.
↑ AE 1947, 33.
1 2 AIIRoma, vi. 7.
1 2 CIL XI, 6443.
↑ AE 1981, 193.
↑ CIL VIII, 6912.
↑ CIL X, 629.
↑ CIL XIV, 1232.
↑ CIL X, 1118.
↑ CIL VI, 1056.
↑ CIL III, 5550.
↑ CIL X, 5499.
↑ CIL X, 6493.
1 2 ICUR, viii, 23265.
↑ CIL V, 2359.
↑ CIL IV, 3317.
↑ CIL XVI, 5.
↑ CIL XII, 5967.
1 2 3 AE 1988, 199.
1 2 CIL X, 629.
↑ CIL XIV, 4563.
↑ CIL XV, 5423,5.
1 2 CIL V, 8444.
↑ Tomlin, Roman London's First Voices, 45.

Bibliography

Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum (The Study of Ancient Coins, 1792–1798).
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology , William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).
Theodor Mommsen et alii, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated CIL), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present).
Giovanni Battista de Rossi, Inscriptiones Christianae Urbis Romanae Septimo Saeculo Antiquiores (Christian Inscriptions from Rome of the First Seven Centuries, abbreviated ICUR), Vatican Library, Rome (1857–1861, 1888).
René Cagnat et alii, L'Année épigraphique (The Year in Epigraphy, abbreviated AE), Presses Universitaires de France (1888–present).
George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII, pp. 103–184 (1897).
Antonio Ferrua, Antiche Inscrizione Inedite di Roma (Unedited Ancient Inscriptions from Rome, abbreviated AIIRoma, 1939–1980).
Paavo Castrén, "Graffiti di Bolsena" (Graffiti of Volsinii), in Mélanges de l'École française de Rome , vol. 84, pp. 623–638 (1972).
José A. Abásolo, Epigrafia Romana de la Region de Lara de los Infantes (Roman Inscriptions from the Area around Lara de los Infantes, abbreviated ERLara), Burgos (1974).
Michael Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, Cambridge University Press (1974, 2001).
John C. Traupman, The New College Latin & English Dictionary, Bantam Books, New York (1995).
Michael A. Speidel, Die römischen Schreibtafeln von Vindonissa (The Roman Writing Slates of Vindonissa), Baden (1996).
Roger S.O. Tomlin, Roman London's First Voices: Writing Tablets from the Bloomberg Excavations, 2010–14, London (2016).

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[39] This otherwise unknown cognomen seems to be a variant of Syagrius.

[Crawford_264-1] 1 2 3 Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, pp. 264, 265.

[DGRBM_Renia_Gens-2] 1 2 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 645 ("Renia Gens").

[Eckhel_v_291-3] 1 2 Eckhel, vol. v, pp. 291, 292.

[PW_Renius-4] 1 2 PW, s. v. Renius.

[5] Chase, p. 131.

[6] New College Latin & English Dictionary, s. v. aestivus, candidus, crispus.

[7] Chase, p. 110.

[8] Chase, pp. 110, 111, 145, 150, 165, 167, 171, 172.

[9] New College Latin & English Dictionary, s. v. faustus, felix, firmus, hilarus, rufus, venustus, laetus, oriens.

[10] CIL V, 1977.

[11] CIL VI, 2447.

[12] AE 1984, 564.

[ERLara_201-13] 1 2 ERLara, 201.

[14] Speidel, Die römischen Schreibtafeln von Vindonissa, 14.

[15] Castrén, "Graffiti di Bolsena", 24.

[16] AE 1947, 33.

[AIIRoma_vi_7-17] 1 2 AIIRoma, vi. 7.

[CIL_11_6443-18] 1 2 CIL XI, 6443.

[19] AE 1981, 193.

[20] CIL VIII, 6912.

[21] CIL X, 629.

[22] CIL XIV, 1232.

[23] CIL X, 1118.

[24] CIL VI, 1056.

[25] CIL III, 5550.

[26] CIL X, 5499.

[27] CIL X, 6493.

[ICUR_viii_23265-28] 1 2 ICUR, viii, 23265.

[29] CIL V, 2359.

[30] CIL IV, 3317.

[31] CIL XVI, 5.

[32] CIL XII, 5967.

[AE_1988_199-33] 1 2 3 AE 1988, 199.

[CIL_10_629-34] 1 2 CIL X, 629.

[35] CIL XIV, 4563.

[36] CIL XV, 5423,5.

[CIL_5_8444-37] 1 2 CIL V, 8444.

[38] Tomlin, Roman London's First Voices, 45.