Titia (gens)
Encyclopedia
The gens Titia was a plebeian
family at Rome
. The gens
is rarely mentioned in the Republican period
, and did not rise out of obscurity till a very late time. None of its members obtained the consulship
under the Republic, and the first person of the name who held this office was Marcus Titius in BC 31.
Titius is a patronymic surname, based on the praenomen
Titus
, which must have belonged to the ancestor of the gens. Titus was roughly the sixth-most common Latin praenomen throughout Roman history. However, it has been conjectured that it was introduced to Latin through Titus Tatius
, a Sabine king in the time of Romulus
, who came to Rome with many of his subjects. If Titus was originally a Sabine praenomen, then the Titii may have been Sabines. But it is also possible that Titus was common to both the Latin and Oscan
tongues.
, Quintus
, Sextus
, Lucius
, Publius
, Marcus
, and Titus. All of these were very common names.
. Numerous surnames occur in imperial times, including Sabinus, Proculus, Aquilinus, and Gemellus, amongst others.
Plebs
The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...
family at Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
. The gens
Gens
In ancient Rome, a gens , plural gentes, referred to 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...
is rarely mentioned in the Republican period
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
, and did not rise out of obscurity till a very late time. None of its members obtained the consulship
Roman consul
A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...
under the Republic, and the first person of the name who held this office was Marcus Titius in BC 31.
Origin of the gens
The nomenRoman naming conventions
By the Republican era and throughout the Imperial era, a name in ancient Rome for a male citizen consisted of three parts : praenomen , nomen and cognomen...
Titius is a patronymic surname, based on the praenomen
Praenomen
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...
Titus
Titus (praenomen)
Titus is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, and was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Titia. The feminine form is Tita or Titia...
, which must have belonged to the ancestor of the gens. Titus was roughly the sixth-most common Latin praenomen throughout Roman history. However, it has been conjectured that it was introduced to Latin through Titus Tatius
Titus Tatius
The traditions of ancient Rome held that Titus Tatius was the Sabine king of Cures, who, after the rape of the Sabine women, attacked Rome and captured the Capitol with the treachery of Tarpeia. The Sabine women, however, convinced Tatius and the Roman king, Romulus, to reconcile and subsequently...
, a Sabine king in the time of Romulus
Romulus
- People:* Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome* Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor* Valerius Romulus , deified son of the Roman emperor Maxentius* Romulus , son of the Western Roman emperor Anthemius...
, who came to Rome with many of his subjects. If Titus was originally a Sabine praenomen, then the Titii may have been Sabines. But it is also possible that Titus was common to both the Latin and Oscan
Oscan language
Oscan is a term used to describe both an extinct language of southern Italy and the language group to which it belonged.The Oscan language was spoken by a number of tribes, including the Samnites, the Aurunci, the Sidicini, and the Ausones. The latter three tribes were often grouped under the name...
tongues.
Praenomina used by the gens
The Titii used a wide variety of praenomina, including GaiusGaius (praenomen)
Gaius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. The feminine form is Gaia. The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Gavia...
, Quintus
Quintus (praenomen)
Quintus is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was common throughout all periods of Roman history. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gentes Quinctia and Quinctilia. The feminine form is Quinta...
, Sextus
Sextus (praenomen)
Sextus is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was common throughout all periods of Roman history. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gentes Sextia and Sextilia. The feminine form is Sexta...
, Lucius
Lucius (praenomen)
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 cognomen Lucullus...
, Publius
Publius (praenomen)
Publius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and was very common at all periods of Roman history. It gave rise to the patronymic gens Publilia, and perhaps also gens Publicia. The feminine form is Publia...
, Marcus
Marcus (praenomen)
Marcus is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. The feminine form is Marca or Marcia. The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Marcia, as well as the cognomen Marcellus...
, and Titus. All of these were very common names.
Branches and cognomina of the gens
During the later years of the Republic, some of the Titii appear with the surnames Rufus, meaning "red" or "reddish", and Strabo, referring to one who squints. These may have been family-names, as at least two individuals in the gens bore these cognominaCognomen
The cognomen nōmen "name") was the third name of a citizen of Ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. The cognomen started as 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...
. Numerous surnames occur in imperial times, including Sabinus, Proculus, Aquilinus, and Gemellus, amongst others.
Members of the gens
- This list includes abbreviated praenominaPraenomenThe 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...
. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.- Gaius Titius, an eques of the 2nd century BC, and an orator of considerable merit, praised by CiceroCiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
. - Gaius Titius, a pleader of causes, who excited a mutiny of the soldiers against the consul Lucius Porcius Cato in 89 BC, and escaped punishment.
- Sextus Titius, tribunus plebisTribuneTribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...
in 99 BC, attempted to follow in the footsteps of Lucius Appuleius SaturninusLucius Appuleius SaturninusLucius Appuleius Saturninus was a Roman popularist and tribune; he was a political ally of Gaius Marius, and his downfall caused a great deal of political embarrassment for Marius, who absented himself from public life until he returned to take up a command in the Social War of 91 to 88...
, but was resisted by the consul Marcus AntoniusMarcus Antonius OratorMarcus Antonius Orator was a Roman politician of the Antonius family and one of the most distinguished Roman orators of his time. He was also the grandfather of the famous general and triumvir, Mark Antony.-Career:...
. - Quintus Titius, triumvir monetalisMoneyerA moneyer is someone who physically creates money. Moneyers have a long tradition, dating back at least to ancient Greece. They became most prominent in the Roman Republic, continuing into the empire.-Roman Republican moneyers:...
in 90 BC. - Lucius Titius, a Roman citizen at AgrigentumAgrigentoAgrigento , is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy, and capital of the province of Agrigento. It is renowned as the site of the ancient Greek city of Akragas , one of the leading cities of Magna Graecia during the golden...
, who was robbed of his ring by VerresVerresGaius Verres was a Roman magistrate, notorious for his misgovernment of Sicily. It is not known what gens he belonged to, though some give him the nomen Licinius.-As governor:...
. - Titus Titius T. f., the legateLegatusA legatus was a general in the Roman army, equivalent to a modern general officer. Being of senatorial rank, his immediate superior was the dux, and he outranked all military tribunes...
of Gnaeus PompeiusPompeyGnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
, when the latter was entrusted with the superintendance of the corn-market. - Gaius Titius L. f. Rufus, praetor urbanusPraetorPraetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...
in 50 BC. - Quintus Titius, sent by CaesarJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
into EpirusEpirusThe name Epirus, from the Greek "Ήπειρος" meaning continent may refer to:-Geographical:* Epirus - a historical and geographical region of the southwestern Balkans, straddling modern Greece and Albania...
in 48 BC to obtain corn for his troops. - Lucius Titius, tribunus militumMilitary tribuneA military tribune was an officer of the Roman army who ranked below the legate and above the centurion...
during the Alexandrine war, 48 BC. - Gaius Titius Strabo, an opponent of Caesar at the time of his death.
- Lucius Titius Strabo, an eques, whom Cicero introduced to Marcus Junius Brutus.
- Publius Titius, tribunus plebis in 43 BC, proposed the law for the creation of the second triumvirateSecond TriumvirateThe Second Triumvirate is the name historians give to the official political alliance of Octavius , Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Mark Antony, formed on 26 November 43 BC with the enactment of the Lex Titia, the adoption of which marked the end of the Roman Republic...
. - Marcus Titius, proscribed by the triumvirsSecond TriumvirateThe Second Triumvirate is the name historians give to the official political alliance of Octavius , Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Mark Antony, formed on 26 November 43 BC with the enactment of the Lex Titia, the adoption of which marked the end of the Roman Republic...
in 43 BC, but escaped to Sextus Pompeius in SiciliaSicilySicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
. He married Munatia, the sister of the orator Lucius Munatius PlancusLucius Munatius PlancusLucius Munatius Plancus was a Roman senator, consul in 42 BC, and censor in 22 BC with Aemilius Lepidus Paullus...
. - Marcus Titius M. f., consul suffectus in 31 BC, routed the cavalry of Marcus AntoniusMark AntonyMarcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...
shortly before the Battle of ActiumBattle of ActiumThe Battle of Actium was the decisive confrontation of the Final War of the Roman Republic. It was fought between the forces of Octavian and the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII. The battle took place on 2 September 31 BC, on the Ionian Sea near the city of Actium, at the Roman...
. - Titius Julianus, probably a mistake for Tettius Julianus.
- Titius Septimius, a minor poet, about whose welfare Quintus Horatius FlaccusHoraceQuintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
inquired in 20 BC. - Titius Sabinus, an eques, and friend of GermanicusGermanicusGermanicus Julius Caesar , commonly known as Germanicus, was a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and a prominent general of the early Roman Empire. He was born in Rome, Italia, and was named either Nero Claudius Drusus after his father or Tiberius Claudius Nero after his uncle...
, betrayed by SejanusSejanusLucius Aelius Seianus , commonly known as Sejanus, was an ambitious soldier, friend and confidant of the Roman Emperor Tiberius...
and put to death. - Titius Rufus, put to death in the reign of CaligulaCaligulaCaligula , also known as Gaius, was Roman Emperor from 37 AD to 41 AD. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula's father Germanicus, the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, was a very successful general and one of Rome's most...
, for saying that the senateRoman SenateThe Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
thought differently from what it said. - Titius Proculus, put to death in AD 48, because he had been privy to the adulteries of Gaius SiliusGaius SiliusGaius Silius was the name of two consuls of the Roman Empire, during the 1st century. The elder was a consul and commander in the Roman Army during the reign of Emperors Augustus and Tiberius and the younger a consul in the reign of Emperor Claudius....
and Messalina. - Titius Aquilinus, consul in AD 125.
- Publius Titius Perpetuus, consul in AD 237.
- Titius Gemellus, a sculptor, of uncertain date.
- Gaius Titius, an eques of the 2nd century BC, and an orator of considerable merit, praised by Cicero