Rullia gens
The gens Rullia was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome. No members of this gens are mentioned in history, but a number are known from inscriptions.
Origin
The nomen Rullius is derived from the cognomen Rullus, a beggar. The surname is better known in its derivative form, Rullianus, from Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus, one of the greatest statesmen and generals of the Roman Republic, who as a young man defied the orders of the dictator Lucius Papirius Cursor by engaging the enemy while his commander was away, winning a famous victory, but was then obliged to beg the Roman people to spare his life, when Cursor declared it forfeit.[1] Chase classifies Rullius among those gentilicia that either originated at Rome, or cannot be shown to have come from anywhere else.[2]
Praenomina
The main praenomina of the Rulii were Gaius and Gnaeus, although there are also instances of Servius and Sextus. Servius was an uncommon name, although not especially rare; it tended to run in families. All of the others were quite common throughout Roman history.
Members
- This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.
- Rullia, named in an inscription from Tusculum in Latium.[3]
- Alaucus Rullius, probably a slave, named in an inscription Canusium in Apulia.[4]
- Servius Rullius C. s., a slave named in an inscription from Canusium.[5]
- Rullia Ɔ. l. Adepta, a freedwoman, built a tomb at Casilinum in Campania for herself, her husband, Publius Brittius Epicius, and Gaius Rullius Communis, dating to the first half of the first century AD.[6]
- Rullia Agathe, buried at Rome, with a monument from her husband, Gaius Rullius Felix.[7]
- Gnaeus Rullius Calais, one of the Seviri Augustales at Aesernia in Samnium, where he built a tomb for himself and his wife, Maria, the slave of Corinthidius.[8]
- Gnaeus Rullius Ɔ. l. Ceramylla, a freedman buried at Rome, together with Rullia Proposis.[9]
- Gaius Rullius Ɔ. l. Communis, a freedman buried at Casilinum, in a tomb built by Rullia Adepta.[6]
- Gaius Rullius Felix, dedicated a tomb at Rome to his wife, Rullia Agathe.[7]
- Gnaeus Rullius Felix, named among the members of one of the artisanal guilds at Ostia in AD 173.[10]
- Rullia Sp. f. Galla, buried at Aquileia in Venetia and Histria, in a tomb built by Lucius Cluvius Ingenuus, perhaps her husband.[11]
- Rullia Inventa, aged twenty, buried at Rome during the second century AD, with a tomb dedicated by her husband, Gaius Arminius Hermes.[12][13]
- Rullius Lysimachus, named in an inscription from Canusium in Apulia.[14]
- Rullia C. f. Maximilla, one of the children of Gaius Rullius Maximus, who dedicated a tomb to their father at Vibinum in Apulia.[15]
- Rullius C. f. Maximus, one of the children of Gaius Rullius Maximus, who dedicated a tomb to their father at Vibinum.[15]
- Gaius Rullius Maximus, one of the municipal duumvirs at Vibinum, where he was buried with a tomb dedicated by his children, Maximus, Priscus, and Maximilla.[15]
- Rullius Princeps, named in an inscription from Rome, dating to the first half of the first century AD.[16]
- Rullius C. f. Priscus, one of the children of Gaius Rullius Maximus, who dedicated a tomb to their father at Vibinum.[15]
- Sextus Rullius Ɔ. l. Princeps, a freedman, built a tomb at Rome for himself and his family.[17]
- Rullia Cn. l. Proposis, a freedwoman buried at Rome, together with Gnaeus Rullius Ceramylla.[9]
- Gaius Rullius Sp. f. Rufus, named in an inscription from Atina in Latium.[18]
- Rullia Vitalis, together with Maniaca Ursilla and Flavius Niceros, dedicated a late second century tomb at Rome to Ursilla's son, Quintus Vibulenus Arruntianus, a soldier in the fourth cohort of the vigiles at Rome, aged twenty-one, having served in the vigiles for five years and two months.[19]
See also
References
- ^ Livy, viii. 31–36.
- ^ Chase, pp. 111, 131.
- ^ CIL I, 2849.
- ^ Grelle & Pani, Le Epigrafi Romane di Canosa, 66.
- ^ Grelle & Pani, Le Epigrafi Romane di Canosa, 65.
- ^ a b CIL X, 4319.
- ^ a b CIL VI, 25594.
- ^ CIL IX, 2682.
- ^ a b CIL VI, 38841.
- ^ CIL XIV, 4565.
- ^ CIL V, 1170.
- ^ BCAR 1985, 393.
- ^ Gregori, Comunale del Celio, 446.
- ^ Grelle & Pani, Le Epigrafi Romane di Canosa, 64.
- ^ a b c d AE 1980, 265.
- ^ CIL VI, 5564.
- ^ CIL VI, 10339.
- ^ AE 1981, 216.
- ^ AE 2014, 228.
Bibliography
- Titus Livius (Livy), History of Rome.
- Theodor Mommsen et alii, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated CIL), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present).
- Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale in Roma (Bulletin of the Municipal Archaeological Commission of Rome, abbreviated BCAR), (1872–present).
- René Cagnat et alii, L'Année épigraphique (The Year in Epigraphy, abbreviated AE), Presses Universitaires de France (1888–present).
- George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII, pp. 103–184 (1897).
- Francesco Grelle, Mario Pani, Le Epigrafi Romane di Canosa (The Roman Epigraphy of Canusium), Edipuglia, Bari (1985, 1990).
- Gian Luca Gregori, La collezione epigrafica dell'antiquarium comunale del Celio (The Epigraphic Collection of the Ancient Community of the Caelian Hill), Quasar, Rome (2001).