The gens Aebutia was an

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

family that was prominent during the early

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

. The

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; : gentes ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same ''nomen gentilicium'' and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens, sometimes identified by a distinct cognomen, was cal ...

was originally patrician, but also had

plebeian In ancient Rome, the plebeians or plebs were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words "commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of the gro ...

branches. The first member to obtain the

consulship The consuls were the highest elected public officials of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC). Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum''an ascending sequence of public offices to which politicians aspire ...

was Titus Aebutius Helva, consul in 499 BC.

''Praenomina''

During the first century of the Republic, the Aebutii used the

praenomina The praenomen (; plural: praenomina) was a first name chosen by the parents of a Ancient Rome, Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the ...

Titus Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September AD 81) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, becoming the first Roman emperor ever to succeed h ...

, Lucius, Postumus'', and '' Marcus''. In later times, they also used the name '' Publius''.

Branches and ''cognomina''

The patrician Aebutii used the cognomen ''Helva'' (also found as ''Elva'' in some sources). ''Cornicen'' was a personal surname belonging to one of the Helvae. No patrician Aebutius held any curule magistracy from 442 to 176 BC, when Marcus Aebutius Helva obtained the

praetor ''Praetor'' ( , ), also ''pretor'', was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to disch ...

ship. ''Carus'' was a cognomen of the plebeian Aebutii. Later surnames include ''Faustus'', ''Liberalis'', and ''Pinnius''.

Members

Aebutii Helvae

* Titus Aebutius T. f. Helva,

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

in 499 BC. * Lucius Aebutius T. f. T. n. Helva, consul in 463 BC. * Postumus Aebutius Helva Cornicen, consul in 442 BC. * Marcus Aebutius Helva, appointed

triumvir In the Roman Republic, or were commissions of three men appointed for specific tasks. There were many tasks that commissions could be established to conduct, such as administer justice, mint coins, support religious tasks, or found colonies. M ...

for the establishment of a colony at Ardea in 442 BC. * Marcus Aebutius Helva,

in 168 BC, obtained Sicilia as his province.

Other Aebutii

* Lucius Aebutius Faustus, a

freedman A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...

. * Publius Aebutius, brought the existence of the

Bacchanalia The Bacchanalia were unofficial, privately funded popular Roman festivals of Bacchus, based on various ecstatic elements of the Greek Dionysia. They were almost certainly associated with Rome's native cult of Liber, and probably arrived in R ...

at Rome to the attention of the consul Postumius Albinus in 186 BC. * Titus Aebutius Parrus, praetor in 178 BC, assigned to Sardinia. * Aebutius, praetor ''circa'' 125 BC who passed a Lex Aebutia "which probably limited greatly the application of the ''legis actiones'' and increased that of formulae in litigation." * Gaius Aebutius, an

aedile Aedile ( , , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public orde ...

in 51 BC. * Publius Aebutius Pinnius, found on Corinthian coins ''circa'' 39 BC * Aebutius Liberalis, addressee of a letter by Seneca.

References