Minucia (gens)

The gens Minucia was a Roman family, which flourished from the earliest days of the Republic until imperial times. The gens was apparently of patrician origin, but was better known by its plebeian branches. The first of the Minucii to hold the consulship was Marcus Minucius Augurinus, elected consul in 497 BC.^[1]

The nomen Minucius is frequently confounded with Minicius and Municius. The Minucii gave their name to the street known as the Via Minucia, the Pons Minucius, a bridge on the Via Flaminia, and a columned hall on the Campus Martius. The gate known as the Porticus Minucia was named after the consul of 110 BC.^[1]

Praenomina used by the gens

The Minucii used the praenomina Marcus, Publius, Quintus, Lucius, Tiberius, and Gaius. At least one early Minucius bore the praenomen Spurius. Other praenomina appear rarely, and only in the final centuries of the Republic.^[1]

Branches and cognomina of the gens

The oldest branch of the family, the Minucii Augurini, were originally patrician, but in 439 BC. Lucius Minucius Augurinus went over to the plebeians, and was elected tribune of the plebs. His descendants included the consul of 305 BC and several later tribunes of the plebs. The surname was derived from the position of augur, an important priest specializing in divination. The college of augurs was held in high esteem, and membership was restricted to the patricians until 300 BC.^[1][2]

Some of the early Augurini bore the additional cognomen Esquilinus, presumably because they lived on the Esquiline Hill. Later surnames of the gens included Rufus, Thermus, and Basilus. The Minucii Rufi and Thermi appear from the latter part of the 3rd century BC until the second half of the 1st century AD. Rufus means "red" and probably originally referred to someone with red hair. Thermus might refer to a bath or hot springs. The Minucii Basili appear only in the final century of the Republic. Their surname is derived from basileus, the Greek word for "king." A number of plebeian Minucii had no cognomen.^[1]

Members of the gens

Minucii Augurini

• Marcus Minucius Augurinus, consul in 497 and 491 BC.
• Publius Minucius Augurinus, consul in 492 BC.
• Lucius Minucius P. f. M. n. Esquilinus Augurinus, consul in 458 BC.
• Quintus Minucius P. f. M. n. Esquilinus Augurinus, consul in 457 BC.
• Lucius Minucius Augurinus, left the patricians to become a plebeian, and elected tribune of the plebs, 439 BC.
• Tiberius Minucius Augurinus, consul in 305 BC.
• Marcus Minucius Augurinus, tribunus plebis in 216 BC, introduced the bill for the creation of the triumviri mensarii.^[3]
• Gaius Minucius Augurinus, tribunus plebis in 187 BC, ordered the arrest of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus.
• Tiberius Minucius Augurinus Molliculus, praetor peregrinus in 180 BC, died during the pestilence which visited Rome in that year.^[4]

Minucii Rufi

• Marcus C. f. C. n. Minucius Rufus, consul in 221 BC, slain at Cannae in 216.
• Quintus Minucius C. f. C. n. Rufus, consul in 197 BC.
• Marcus Minucius Rufus, praetor peregrinus in 197 BC.
• Titus Minucius Rufus, served in the campaign against Perseus, king of Macedonia, in 171 BC.^[5]
• Marcus Minucius Q. f. Rufus, tribunus plebis in 121 BC.
• Marcus Minucius Q. f. Rufus, consul in 110 BC.
• Minucius Rufus, one of the commanders of the Roman fleet in the war against Mithradates.^[6]
• Quintus Minucius Rufus, an eques at Syracuse, who opposed Verres and later appeared as one of the witnesses against him.^[7]
• Minucius Rufus, partisan of Gnaeus Pompeius during the civil war.^[8][9]
• Lucius Minucius Rufus, consul in AD 88, with the emperor Domitian.^[10]

Minucii Thermi

• Quintus Minucius Q. f. L. n. Thermus (d. 188 BC), consul in 193 BC.
• Lucius Minucius Q. f. L. n. Thermus, legatus of the consul Aulus Manlius Vulso in 178 BC.^[11][12]
• Minucius Thermus, accompanied the consul Lucius Valerius Flaccus into Asia in 86 BC, and there left in command of the troops.^[13][14]
• Marcus Minucius Thermus, propraetor in 81 BC.
• Aulus Minucius Thermus, twice defended by Cicero in 59 BC.^[15]
• Quintus Minucius Thermus, propraetor in 51 and 50 BC, and a partisan of Gnaeus Pompeius.
• Minucius Thermus, a friend of Lucius Aelius Sejanus, put to death by the emperor Tiberius in AD 32.^[16]
• Minucius Thermus, a man of praetorian rank, was sacrificed by Nero in AD 66, to the hatred of Gaius Ofonius Tigellinus.^[17]

Minucii Basili

• Minucius Basilus, tribune of the soldiers under Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 86 BC, during the campaign against Archelaus.^[18]
• Marcus Minucius Basilus, mentioned by Cicero in his oration, pro Cluentio.^[19]
• Minucius Basilus, buried along the Via Appia. His tomb was a spot infamous for robberies.^[20][21]
• Lucius Minucius Basilus, the uncle of Marcus Satrius, whom he adopted in his will.^[22]
• Lucius Minucius Basilus, born Marcus Satrius (d. 43 BC), one of Caesar's lieutenants during the Gallic Wars, and later one of his assassins.^[23][24][25]
• Minucius Basilus, attacked by Cicero in the second Philippica (circa 41 BC), as a friend of Marcus Antonius.^[26]

Others

• Spurius Minucius, pontifex maximus in 420 BC.^[27][28]
• Marcus Minucius, tribunus plebis in 401 BC, impeached two of the consular tribunes of the previous year for misconduct in the war with Veii.^[29]
• Marcus Minucius Fessus, one of the first augurs elected from the plebs after the extension of the law de Sacerdotiis in 300 BC.^[30]
• Quintus Minucius, legatus of Marcus Claudius Marcellus during the siege of Capua in 210 BC.^[31]
• Publius Minucius, legionary tribune in the war with the Boii in 193 BC.^[32]
• Quintus Minucius, legionary tribune in the war with the Boii in 193 BC.^[32]
• Lucius Minucius, legatus of Quintus Fulvius Flaccus in Hispania Citerior in 182-181 BC.^[33]
• Tiberius Minucius, praetor peregrinus in 180 BC, died early in his official year.^[4]
• Minucius, died intestate before Gaius Verres became praetor urbanus, in 75 or 74 BC. Verres interfered with the passage of his property to his gens.^[34]
• Gnaeus Minucius, a person about whose political opinions Cicero wrote to Cornificius in 43 BC.^[35]
• Minucius Pacatus, better known as Irenaeus, an Alexandrian grammarian, probably in the time of Augustus.^[36][37]
• Minucius Macrinus, enrolled by Vespasian among those of praetorian rank.^[38]
• Minucius Acilianus, friend of the younger Gaius Plinius, held the ranks of quaestor, tribune, and praetor.^[39]
• Minucius Natalis, from the time of Trajan, perhaps the same as the jurist Natalis; also found as Minitius or Minicius.^[1]
• Marcus Minucius Felix (2nd/3rd century), a lawyer and Christian apologist.

See also

List of Roman gentes

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
2. ^ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita iv. 12-16.
3. ^ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xxiii. 21.
4. ^ ^{a b} Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xl. 35, 37.
5. ^ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xlii. 54.
6. ^ Appianus, Mithr. 17.
7. ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, In Verrem ii. 28, 30, 33, iii. 64, iv. 27, 31.
8. ^ Gaius Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Civili, iii. 7.
9. ^ Appianus, Bellum Civile ii. 54.
10. ^ Fasti Capitolini
11. ^ Polybius, The Histories xxii. 26.
12. ^ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xli. 8.
13. ^ Appianus, Mithr. 52.
14. ^ Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Fragmenta 129, p. 52. 31, ed. Reimar.
15. ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Flacco 39.
16. ^ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales vi. 7.
17. ^ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales xvi. 20.
18. ^ Appianus, Mithr. 50.
19. ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Cluentio 38.
20. ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum vii. 9.
21. ^ Quintus Asconius Pedianus, in Cic. Mil. p. 50, ed. Orelli.
22. ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, de Officiis iii. 18.
23. ^ Appianus, B. C. ii. 113, iii. 98.
24. ^ Paulus Orosius, Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII vi. 18.
25. ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares vi. 15.
26. ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Philippicae ii.
27. ^ T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic (1952).
28. ^ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita iv. 44.
29. ^ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita v. 11, 12.
30. ^ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita x. 9.
31. ^ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xxvi. 33.
32. ^ ^{a b} Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xxxv. 5.
33. ^ Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xl. 35, 36.
34. ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, In Verrem i. 45. § 115.
35. ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares xii. 25.
36. ^ Suda, s. v. Ειρηναιος and Πακατος.
37. ^ Johann Albert Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca, vi. pp. 170, 171.
38. ^ Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, Epistulae, i. 14, ii. 16.
39. ^ Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, Epistulae, i. 14, ii. 16.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).