Lucretia gens

The patrician Lucretii favored the praenomina Titus, Spurius, Lucius, and Publius. They were one of the only gentes known to have used the name Hostus, and may also have used Opiter, which was favored by the Verginii.

The main praenomina used by the plebeian Lucretii were Lucius, Marcus, Spurius, and Quintus. There are also examples of Gaius, Gnaeus, and Titus.

The only patrician family of the Lucretii bore the cognomen Tricipitinus. The plebeian families are known by the surnames Gallus, Ofella, and Vespillo. Gallus was a common name referring either to a Gaul, or a cockerel. Vespillo, an occupational surname referring to one who removes corpses, was bestowed on one of this family who had thrown the body of Tiberius Gracchus into the river.[2][3] Carus, "dear", was a surname belonging to the poet Lucretius. On coins, the cognomen Trio is found, but it is not mentioned in any ancient writer. A few of the Lucretii are mentioned without any surname.[1]

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

• Lucretia, according to some accounts, the wife of Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome. They were supposed to have married after Numa's accession to the throne.[4]
• Publius Lucretius, according to Livy, consul in 506 BC; here Livy's manuscript appears to be corrupt, and list two sets of consuls; Lucretius is probably an error either for Spurius Lartius, apparently consul in this year, or Titus Lucretius, consul in 508 and 504, in both years the colleague of Publius Valerius Poplicola, whom the manuscript makes the colleague of the otherwise unknown Publius Lucretius.[5][6]
• Lucius Lucretius, quaestor in 218 BC, at the commencement of the Second Punic War; he was taken prisoner by the Ligures, along with some other Roman officers, and delivered up to Hannibal.[7]
• Marcus Lucretius, tribunus plebis in 210 BC, took a leading part in the dispute over the appointment of a dictator in that year.[8]
• Spurius Lucretius, praetor in 205 BC, during the Second Punic War, received Ariminum, subsequently called Gallia Cisalpina, as his province. In 203 he rebuilt the city of Genua, which had been destroyed by Mago.[9]
• Gaius Lucretius Gallus, praetor in 171 BC, received the command of the fleet in the war against Perseus. In the following year he was accused of great cruelty, and condemned to pay a heavy fine.[10][11]
• Marcus Lucretius, tribunus plebis in 172 BC, brought forward a bill ut agrum Campanum censores fruendum locarent. In the following year, he served as legate to his brother, Gaius, the praetor, in Greece.[12]
• Spurius Lucretius, praetor in 172 BC, obtained the province of Hispania Ulterior. In 169 he served with distinction under the consul Quintus Marcius Philippus in the war against Perseus. He was one of three ambassadors sent into Syria in 162.[13][14]
• Gnaeus Lucretius Trio, triumvir monetalis circa 136 BC.
• Quintus Lucretius Ofella, a partisan of Sulla, he commanded the army that accepted the surrender of Praeneste in 82 BC. The following year, he made himself a candidate for consul, in violation of Sulla's law de magistratibus, and was slain by one of Sulla's soldiers.
• Lucius Lucretius Trio, triumvir monetalis circa 76 BC.
• Marcus Lucretius, a senator, and one of the judices retained by Verres, in consequence of which he was suspected of having been bribed.[15]
• Titus Lucretius Carus, a celebrated poet of the 1st century BC and writer of De rerum natura, "On the Nature of the Things".
• Quintus Lucretius, an intimate friend of Gaius Cassius Longinus, and a supporter of the aristocratic party. During the Civil War he was obliged to flee the town of Sulmo, when his own troops opened the gates to Marcus Antonius.[16][17]
• Decimus Lucretius Valens, mentioned in a graffito from Pompeii.[18]

• List of Roman gentes

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Ramsay William (1870). "Lucretia Gens et seq.". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 2. p. 828.