Decimia gens

The gens Decimia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned towards the end of the third century BC.[1]

Origin

The Decimii appear to have been originally a Samnite family of Bovianum; at least, the first of the name belonged to that place, and the others who occur in history were probably his descendants, who after obtaining the Roman franchise settled at Rome. The name itself is a patronymic surname, formed from the praenomen Decimus. In this respect it may be regarded as a Latin name, although the ancestor of the family may himself have been of Samnite extraction. The Oscan equivalent of Decimus is Dekis or Decius. It gave rise to the Roman gens Decia, which is thus a cognate of Decimius.[1][2]

Praenomina used

The Decimii used the praenomina Numerius, Gaius, Marcus, and Lucius.

Branches and cognomina

The only cognomen among the Decimii is Flavus, meaning "golden" or "golden-brown."[1][2]

Members
  • Numerius Decimius, of Bovianum in Samnium, is called the most illustrious person in all Samnium, both by his noble descent and his wealth. In 217 BC he joined the Roman army against Hannibal with 8,000 foot and 500 horse, at the command of the dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, and attacking Hannibal from the rear, saved the magister equitum, and delivered victory to the Romans.[3]
  • Gaius Decimius Flavus, as tribune of the soldiers in 209 BC, rescued Marcus Claudius Marcellus from defeat by repulsing a charge of Hannibal's elephants. In 184 he was praetor urbanus. He died during his year of office.[4]
  • Marcus Decimius, sent with Tiberius Claudius Nero as an ambassador to Crete and Rhodes in 172 BC, just before the outbreak of the war with Perseus of Macedon, for the purpose of discovering whether they had been tempted by Perseus, and of trying to renew their friendship with Rome.[5]
  • Gaius Decimius, ambassador to Crete in 171 BC, and as praetor peregrinus in 169, ambassador to Antiochus and Ptolemaeus, to bring about a reconciliation of the two kings. He also visited Rhodes, giving the Senate in favour of the Rhodians.[6]
  • Lucius Decimius, sent as ambassador to the Illyrian king Gentius in 171 BC, to try to win him over to the side of the Romans during the war against Perseus. He returned to Rome without having effected anything, and was suspected of having accepted bribes from the king.[7]
  • Gaius Decimius, who had held the office of quaestor, belonged to the party of Pompeius. In 47 BC, he was in the island of Cercina to see to the provisioning of the Pompeians, but on the arrival of Sallust, who was then a general of Caesar, Decimius immediately quitted the island, fleeing in a small vessel. He is probably the same Gaius Decimius who was a friend of Atticus.[8][9]

See also

References
  1. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
  2. George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897).
  3. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, xxii. 24.
  4. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, xxvii. 14, xxxix. 32, 38, 39.
  5. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, xlii. 19.
  6. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, xlii. 35, xliii. 11, 15, xliv. 19, xlv. 10.
  7. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, xlii. 37, 45.
  8. Gaius Julius Caesar (attributed), De Bello Africo, 34.
  9. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, iv. 16.

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