Gegania (gens)

The gens Gegania was an old patrician family at Rome, which was prominent from the earliest period of the Republic to the middle of the fourth century BC. The first of this gens to obtain the consulship was Titus Geganius Macerinus in 492 BC. The gens fell into obscurity even before the Samnite Wars, and is not mentioned again until the final century of the Republic.[1]

Origin

The Geganii claimed to be descended from Gyas, who accompanied Aeneas to Italy. They were said to be one of the noblest families of the Alban aristocracy, and were incorporated into the Roman state after that city's destruction by Tullus Hostilius. However, a certain Gegania is supposed to have been one of the first Vestal Virgins appointed by Numa Pompilius. Plutarch and Dionysius mention traditions in which either Servius Tullius or Lucius Tarquinius Priscus married a Gegania, and another woman of this family is mentioned by Plutarch during the time of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus.[2][3][4][5]

Praenomina

The Geganii used the praenomina Titus, Lucius, Marcus, and Proculus.

Branches and cognomina

The only family of the Geganii during the early Republic bore the cognomen Macerinus, a diminutive of Macer, meaning "lean" or "skinny".[1][6]

Members

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

• Gegania, one of the first Vestal Virgins, selected by Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome.[7]
• Gegania, according to one tradition, the wife of Servius Tullius, the sixth King of Rome. Dionysius makes Gegania the wife of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome. However, according to most traditions, Tarquin's wife, Tanaquil, survived him and ensured the succession of Servius Tullius.[8][9]
• Gegania, the mother of Pinarius, lived during the time of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last king of Rome; her quarrel with her daughter-in-law Thalaea was cited by Plutarch as a rare example of domestic disharmony at early Rome.[10]
• Titus Geganius Macerinus, consul in 492 BC, faced a severe famine, which was blamed on the first secession of the plebeians. He dispatched his brother, Lucius, to Sicily in order to acquire grain.[11][12][13][14]
• Lucius Geganius Macerinus, brother of Titus Geganius Macerinus, the consul of 492 BC, sent to Sicily in hopes of obtaining grain.[12][14]
• Marcus Geganius M. f. Macerinus, consul in 447, 443, and 437 BC, and censor in 435. During his second consulship, he defeated the Volscians, and was awarded a triumph.[15][16][17][18][19]
• Proculus Geganius (M. f.) Macerinus, consul in 440 BC.[20][21][22]
• Lucius Geganius Macerinus, consular tribune in 378 BC.[23][24][25]
• Marcus Geganius Macerinus, consular tribune in 367 BC, the year that the lex Licinia Sextia was passed into law, admitting plebeians to the consulship, and abolishing the consular tribunate.[26][27]
• Lucius Geganius, together with Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella, was killed in the unrest instigated by Lucius Appuleius Saturninus in 100 BC.[28]

See also

• List of Roman gentes

References

1. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, p. 233 ("Gegania Gens").
2. Servius, Ad Virgilii Aeneidem, v. 117.
3. Livy, i. 30.
4. Dionysius, iii. 29, iv. 7.
5. Plutarch, "The Life of Numa", 10, De Fortuna Romanorum, p. 323, Comparison of Lycurgus and Numa, 3.
6. Chase, pp. 109, 110.
7. Plutarch, "The Life of Numa", 10.
8. Plutarch, De Fortuna Romanorum, p. 323.
9. Dionysius, iv. 7.
10. Plutarch, "Comparison of Lycurgus and Numa", 3.
11. Livy, ii. 34.
12. Dionysius, vii. 1.
13. Orosius, ii. 5.
14. Broughton, vol. I, pp. 16, 17.
15. Livy, iii. 65, iv. 8–10, 17, 22, 24, ix. 33, 34.
16. Dionysius, xi. 51, 63.
17. Diodorus Siculus, xii. 29, 33, 43.
18. Zonaras, vii. 19.
19. Broughton, vol. I, pp. 50, 51 (and note 1), 53, 58.
20. Livy, iv. 12.
21. Diodorus Siculus, xii. 36.
22. Broughton, vol. I, p. 55.
23. Livy, vi. 31.
24. Diodorus Siculus, xv. 57.
25. Broughton, vol. I, p. 107.
26. Livy, vi. 42.
27. Broughton, vol. I, p. 113.
28. Orosius, v. 17.

Bibliography

• Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica (Library of History).
• Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Romaike Archaiologia (Roman Antiquities).
• Titus Livius (Livy), History of Rome.
• Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, De Fortuna Romanorum.
• Paulus Orosius, Historiarum Adversum Paganos (History Against the Pagans).
• Maurus Servius Honoratus (Servius), Ad Virgilii Aeneidem Commentarii (Commentary on Vergil's Aeneid).
• Joannes Zonaras, Epitome Historiarum (Epitome of History).
• Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).
• George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897).
• T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association (1952–1986).