Scribonia (gens)

The gens Scribonia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens first appear in history at the time of the Second Punic War, but the first of the Scribonii to obtain the consulship was Gaius Scribonius Curio in 76 BC.[1]

Origin

The nomen Scribonius belongs to a large class of gentilicia derived from cognomina ending in -o, most of which were of plebeian origin. The root of the name is scribo, a writer.[2]

Praenomina

The only praenomina known to have been used by the main families of the Scribonii are Lucius, used by the Scribonii Libones, and Gaius, used by the Curiones. Other praenomina are practically non-existent among the Scribonii appearing in history; the only exception is Marcus, found among one or two of the later Libones, who seem to have adopted it from the Livii.

Branches and cognomina

The two main families of the Scribonii under the Republic bore the cognomina Libo and Curio. Other surnames are found under the Empire.[1]

Libo, the only surname of the Scribonii to occur on coins, is apparently derived from libere, to sprinkle or pour, and was probably given to an ancestor of the family who poured libations.[3] The Scribonii Libones were long associated with a sacred structure in the forum known as the Pueal Scribonianum or Puteal Libonis, frequently depicted on their coins. So called because it resembled a puteal, or wellhead, the structure enclosed a "bidental", a place that had been struck by lightning, or in one tradition the spot where the whetstone of the augur Attius Navius had stood, in the time of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. The Puteal Scribonianum was dedicated by one of the Scribonii Libones, probably either the praetor of 204 BC, or the tribune of the plebs in 149. It was renovated by Lucius Scribonius Libo, either the praetor of 80 BC, or his son, the consul of 34.[4]

Curio became hereditary in one branch of the Scribonii after the first of the family was chosen Curio Maximus in 174 BC.[5][6]

Members

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

Scribonii Libones

Scribonii Curiones

Others

  • Scribonius Aphrodisius, a Latin grammarian, had been a slave of the grammarian Lucius Orbilius Pupillus, but was purchased by Scribonia, the wife of Augustus, who gave him his freedom.[64]
  • Scribonius, an usurper who attempted briefly seized the throne of the Bosporan Kingdom about 16 BC, by claiming to be a descendant of Mithridates. His deception was soon discovered, and he was put to death.[65][66]
  • Scribonius Proculus, a senator in the time of Caligula, slain by his fellows at the prompting of Protogenes, one of the emperor's creatures.[67]
  • Scribonius Largus, a physician of Claudius, whom he accompanied to Britain, and the author of De Compositione Medicamentorum, quoted by Galen, as well as several other works that do not survive.[68][69][70]
  • Scribonius Proculus, the brother of Scribonius Rufus, was governor of either Germania Superior or Germania Inferior in the time of Nero, while his brother was governor of the other province. Both were accused, and summoned to account to Nero in Greece, where they took their own lives, upon perceiving no hope of survival.[71][72]
  • Scribonius Rufus, the brother of Scribonius Proculus, took his life when denounced to Nero.[71][72]

Footnotes

  1. Surprisingly for a central figure in the imperial family, Scribonia's first two husbands have long defied identification; the first is a guess, based on the fact that Scribonia seems to have had a son named Lentulus Marcellinus; the name of her second husband is known, but so far he has not been clearly identified with any of the known consular Scipiones.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 758 ("Scribonia Gens").
  2. Chase, p. 119.
  3. Chase, p. 111.
  4. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, pp. 779, 780 ("Scribonius Libo", No. 4).
  5. Livy, xli. 26.
  6. Broughton, vol. I, pp. 406, 407 (note 7).
  7. Livy, xxii. 61, xxiii. 21, xxix 11, 13.
  8. Broughton, vol. I, pp. 249, 252, 306, 310 (note 2).
  9. Broughton, vol. I, pp. 343, 350, 372.
  10. Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, xii. 5. § 3, xiii. 30, 32, Brutus, 23, De Oratore, ii. 65.
  11. Livy, Epitome, 49.
  12. Valerius Maximus, viii. 1. § 2.
  13. Broughton, vol. I, p. 459.
  14. Broughton, vol. III, pp. 185, 186.
  15. Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, i. 1, Epistulae ad Atticum, vii. 12, viii. 11, b, xvi. 4
  16. Florus, iv. 2. §§ 21, 31.
  17. Lucan, ii. 461.
  18. Caesar, De Bello Gallico, i. 26, De Bello Civili, iii. 5, 15, 16, 18, 23, 24.
  19. Cassius Dio, xli. 40, 48, xlviii. 16, xlix. 38.
  20. Orosius, vi. 15.
  21. Appian, Bellum Civile, v. 52, 53, 69–73, 139.
  22. Broughton, vol. II, p. 248, 269, 384.
  23. Suetonius, "The Life of Augustus", 62, 69.
  24. Appian, Bellum Civile, v. 53.
  25. Cassius Dio, xlviii. 34, lv. 10.
  26. Velleius Paterculus, ii. 100.
  27. Tacitus, Annales, ii. 27.
  28. Cassius Dio, liv. 21.
  29. Fasti Albenses, AE 2012, 437.
  30. 1 2 Cassius Dio, lvii. 15.
  31. Tacitus, Annales, ii. 1.
  32. Tacitus, Historiae, i. 14.
  33. Suetonius, "The Life of Caligula", 28.
  34. Tacitus, Annales, ii. 27–32.
  35. Suetonius, "The Life of Tiberius", 25.
  36. Seneca the Younger, Epistulae, 70.
  37. PIR, vol. III, p. 185.
  38. Livy, xxxiii. 42, xxxiv. 53, 57, xxxv. 6, xli. 21.
  39. Broughton, vol. I, pp. 335, 347, 406, 407 (note 7).
  40. Cicero, Brutus, 32, De Inventione, i. 43, De Oratore, i. 23, 33, Rhetorica ad Herennium, ii. 20.
  41. Pliny the Elder, vii. 41.
  42. Appian, Bella Mithridatica, 60.
  43. Eutropius, vi. 2.
  44. Orosius, iv. 23.
  45. Suetonius, "The Life of Caesar", 9, 49, 52.
  46. Cassius Dio, xxxviii. 16.
  47. Valerius Maximus, ix. 14. § 5.
  48. Pliny the Elder, vii. 12.
  49. Solinus, i. 6.
  50. Quintilian, vi. 3. § 6.
  51. Orelli, Onomasticon Tullianum, ii. pp. 525, ff.
  52. Broughton, vol. II, pp. 26, 56, 59, 80, 82 (note 3), 92, 93, 99, 104, 112, 118, 182, 206, 233.
  53. Caesar, De Bello Civili, ii. 23, ff.
  54. Velleius Paterculus, ii. 48, 55.
  55. Appian, Bellum Civile, ii. 23, ff.
  56. Suetonius, "The Life of Caesar", 29, 36, De Claris Rhetoribus, 1.
  57. Tacitus, Dialogus de Oratoribus, 37.
  58. Livy, Epitome, 109, 110.
  59. Plutarch, "The Life of Caesar", 29, ff, "The Life of Pompeius", 58.
  60. Cassius Dio, xl. 60, ff.
  61. Quintilian, vi. 3. § 76.
  62. Orelli, Onomasticon Tullianum, ii. pp. 526, ff.
  63. Broughton, vol. II, pp. 224, 227 (note 4), 230, 240, 246, 249, 263, 264, 266, 269, 273.
  64. Suetonius, De Illustribus Grammaticis, 19.
  65. Cassius Dio, liv. 24.
  66. Pseudo-Lucian, Macrobii, 17.
  67. Cassius Dio, lix. 26.
  68. Scribonius Largus, De Compositione Medicamentorum, xi. § 60, xliv. § 175, xxii. § 94, xlv. § 171.
  69. Galen, De Compositione Medicamentorum Secundum Locos Conscriptorum, vol. xii. pp. 683, 738, 764, vol. xiii. pp. 67, 280, 284, ff.
  70. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, p. 722 ("Scribonius Largus").
  71. 1 2 Cassius Dio, lxiii. 17.
  72. 1 2 Tacitus, Annales, xiii. 48, Historiae, iv. 41.

Bibliography

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