Menenia gens

The gens Menenia was a very ancient and illustrious patrician house at ancient Rome from the earliest days of the Roman Republic to the first half of the fourth century BC. The first of the family to obtain the consulship was Agrippa Menenius Lanatus in 503 BC. The gens eventually drifted into obscurity, although its descendants were still living in the first century BC.[1]

Origin

During the first secession of the plebs in 493 BC, Agrippa Menenius Lanatus, the former consul, was despatched by the Senate as an emissary to the plebeians, who were gathered on the Mons Sacer. He said that he was sprung from the plebs, although he and several generations of his descendants held the consulship at a time when it was open only to the patricians. This suggests that the Menenii must have been made patricians, probably during the reign of one of the later Roman kings.[2][3]

Praenomina

The Menenii are known to have used the praenomina Agrippa, Gaius, Titus and Lucius. Together with the gens Furia, they were amongst the only patrician families to make regular use of the praenomen Agrippa, which was later revived as a cognomen in many families. For this reason, later sources erroneously refer to members of this gens as Menenius Agrippa.

Licinus, the praenomen of one of the Menenii, was likewise a rare name, meaning upturned.[4] Like Agrippa, Licinus was later known primarily as a surname, but it is most frequently confused with the nomen Licinius, which was probably derived from it, although perhaps connected to the Etruscan lecne, which seems to have been its equivalent. Livy preserves the praenomen as Licinius, but later historians appear to have amended it to the more common praenomen Lucius.[3][5]

Branches and cognomina

The only cognomen associated with the Menenii is Lanatus. This surname is derived from the Latin adjective, meaning "wooly", and perhaps originally referred to a person with particularly fine, curly, or abundant hair.[6][3]

Members

See also

Footnotes

  1. Livy gives his praenomen as Licinius, apparently confusing the rare praenomen with the common nomen gentilicium. Diodorus, apparently unfamiliar with the name, amends it to Lucius, and in one passage to Gaius.

References

  1. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 1040 ("Menenia Gens").
  2. Livy, ii. 32.
  3. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 716 ("Lanatus").
  4. Chase, p. 109.
  5. Lanzi, vol. II, p. 389.
  6. Chase, p. 110.
  7. Livy, ii. 16, 32, 33.
  8. Dionysius, v. 44–47, vi. 49–89, 96.
  9. Zonaras, vii. 13, 14.
  10. Broughton, vol. I, p. 8.
  11. Livy, ii. 51, 52.
  12. Dionysius, ix. 18–27.
  13. Diodorus Siculus, xi. 53.
  14. Aulus Gellius, xvii. 21.
  15. Livy, iii. 32.
  16. Dionysius, x. 54.
  17. Diodorus Siculus, xii. 22.
  18. Livy, iv. 12.
  19. Diodorus Siculus, xii. 36.
  20. Livy, iv. 13, 44, 47.
  21. Diodorus Siculus, xii. 37, xiii. 7.
  22. Livy, vi. 5, 27, 31.
  23. Diodorus Siculus, xv. 50, 57, 71.
  24. Appian, Bellum Civile, iv. 44.

Bibliography

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Missing or empty |title= (help)

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.