The gens Atinia was a minor plebeian family at Ancient Rome, which came to prominence during the late Republic. No members of this gens ever attained the consulship, although several were praetors in the early second century BC, beginning with Gaius Atinius Labeo 195.[1]

Origin

The nomen Atinius belongs to a class of gentilicia originally derived from surnames ending in -inus.[2] The geographical and ethnic origin of this gens is not stated in any surviving authority, but if based on the town of Atina—originally a Volscian city in eastern Latium, subsequently occupied by the Samnites, then a Roman municipium following the Samnite Wars—it would follow the pattern of numerous other localities that gave rise to Roman gentes.[3][4] With the exception of Titus Atinius, a figure ascribed to the mythology of the early Republic, all of the Atinii occurring in history belong to the period following the Second Punic War.

Branches and cognomina

The only distinct family of this gens bore the cognomen Labeo, a surname originally referring to someone with thick or prominent lips, one of an abundant class of cognomina derived from the physical characteristics of an individual.[1][5]

Members

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 406 ("Atinia Gens").
  2. ^ Chase, pp. 125, 126.
  3. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, vol. I, pp. 310, 311 ("Atina", No. 1).
  4. ^ Chase, pp. 113, 114.
  5. ^ Chase, p. 109.
  6. ^ Livy, ii. 36.
  7. ^ Livy, xxxii. 29, xxxiii. 22, 25.
  8. ^ Gellius, xvii. 7.
  9. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 336, 339 (note 3), 340.
  10. ^ Livy, xxxiv. 46.
  11. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 344.
  12. ^ Livy, xxxiv. 47.
  13. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 345.
  14. ^ Livy, xxxvi. 45, xxxvii. 2.
  15. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 356.
  16. ^ Livy, xxxviii. 35.
  17. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 365.
  18. ^ Livy, xxxix. 17.

Bibliography

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