Sabucia gens

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The gens Sabucia was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in imperial times. The most illustrious of the family was Gaius Sabucius Major Caecilianus, who obtained the consulship in AD 186. Other Sabucii are known from inscriptions. [1] [2]

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.

Ancient Rome History of Rome from the 8th-century BC to the 5th-century

In historiography, ancient Rome is Roman civilization from the founding of the 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, dating from the 8th century 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.

Contents

Origin

The historian Anthony Birley indicates that the Sabucii were of Etruscan origin. [2]

Anthony Richard Birley is a British ancient historian, archaeologist and academic. He was the Professor of Ancient History at the University of Manchester (1974–1990) and at University of Düsseldorf (1990–2002). He is the son of the archaeologist Eric Birley, who bought the house next to Vindolanda where Anthony and his brother Robin began to excavate the site. They have both taken part in many of the excavations there, and Robin now runs them. He was educated at Clifton College, 1950–1955; Magdalen College, Oxford, 1956–1963 : BA, 1st cl. Hons., 1960;

Etruscan civilization Pre-Roman civilization of ancient Italy

The Etruscan civilization is the modern name given to a powerful and wealthy civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany, south of the Arno river, western Umbria, northern and central Lazio, with offshoots also to the north in the Po Valley, in the current Emilia-Romagna, south-eastern Lombardy and southern Veneto, and to the south, in some areas of Campania. As distinguished by its unique language, this civilization endured from before the time of the earliest Etruscan inscriptions until its assimilation into the Roman Republic, beginning in the late 4th century BC with the Roman–Etruscan Wars.

Branches and cognomina

The Sabucii used a variety of personal cognomina. The only family surname known from inscriptions is Major, typically given to the elder of two or more siblings; the cognomen Magnus, great, borne by one of the other Sabucii, might suggest a connection to this family. Sabinus usually designated someone of Sabine ancestry, but might also refer to one who resembled a Sabine in his manner or habits. [3] Aper, found in one inscription of the consul Gaius Sabucius Major, refers to a wild boar. [4]

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 in order to identify a particular branch within a family or family within a clan. The term has also taken on other contemporary meanings.

Sabines ancient Italic tribe

The Sabines were an Italic people that lived in the central Apennine Mountains of ancient Italy, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome.

Members

This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.
Marino, Lazio Comune in Lazio, Italy

Marino is an Italian city and comune in Lazio, on the Alban Hills, Italy, 21 kilometres southeast of Rome, with a population of 37,684 and a territory of 26.10 square kilometres (10.08 sq mi). It is bounded by other communes, Castel Gandolfo, Albano Laziale, Rocca di Papa, Grottaferrata, and Ciampino. Marino is famous for its white wine, and for its Grape Festival, which has been celebrated since 1924.

Latium region of central western Italy in which city of Rome was founded

Latium is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil on which resided the tribe of the Latins or Latians. It was located on the left bank of the River Tiber, extending northward to the River Anio and southeastward to the Pomptina Palus as far south as the Circeian promontory. The right bank of the Tiber was occupied by the Etruscan city of Veii, and the other borders were occupied by Italic tribes. Subsequently, Rome defeated Veii and then its Italic neighbours, expanding Latium to the Apennine Mountains in the northeast and to the opposite end of the marsh in the southeast. The modern descendant, the Italian Regione of Lazio, also called Latium in Latin, and occasionally in modern English, is somewhat larger still, but not as much as double the original Latium.

Tribunus plebis, rendered in English as tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune, was the first office of the Roman state that was open to the plebeians, and throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power of the Roman Senate and magistrates. These tribunes had the power to convene and preside over the Concilium Plebis ; to summon the senate; to propose legislation; and to intervene on behalf of plebeians in legal matters; but the most significant power was to veto the actions of the consuls and other magistrates, thus protecting the interests of the plebeians as a class. The tribunes of the plebs were sacrosanct, meaning that any assault on their person was prohibited by law. In imperial times, the powers of the tribunate were granted to the emperor as a matter of course, and the office itself lost its independence and most of its functions. During the day the tribunes used to sit on the tribune benches on the Forum Romanum.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ PIR, vol. III, p. 156.
  2. 1 2 3 Birley, The Fasti of Roman Britain, pp. 216, 405, 459.
  3. ↑ Chase, pp. 111, 114.
  4. ↑ New College Latin & English Dictionary, s. v. aper.
  5. ↑ ICUR, iii. 9133, iv. 10154.
  6. ↑ CIL VI, 32116.
  7. ↑ De Rossi, Bovillae, p. 322.
  8. ↑ EE, ix. 960.
  9. 1 2 CIL VI, 1510.
  10. ↑ CIL VI, 2100, AE 1974, 345, AE 1976, 690.
  11. ↑ CIL XI, 6884.
  12. ↑ AE 1907, 222, {{{2}}}, AE 1994, 338.
  13. ↑ CIL XI, 6712,387.

Bibliography

Theodor Mommsen German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist and writer

Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He was one of the greatest classicists of the 19th century. His work regarding Roman history is still of fundamental importance for contemporary research. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1902 for being "the greatest living master of the art of historical writing, with special reference to his monumental work, A History of Rome", after having been nominated by 18 members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. He was also a prominent German politician, as a member of the Prussian and German parliaments. His works on Roman law and on the law of obligations had a significant impact on the German civil code.

<i>Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum</i> comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions

The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw light on all aspects of Roman life and history. The Corpus continues to be updated in new editions and supplements.

Giovanni Battista de Rossi Italian archaeologist

Giovanni Battista (Carlo) de Rossi was an Italian archaeologist, famous even outside his field for rediscovering early Christian catacombs.

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