The ''gens Falcidia'' was a
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 ...
family at
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
. It is known chiefly from two individuals, Gaius Falcidius and Publius Falcidius, both of whom were influential in the development of
Roman law
Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I.
Roman law also den ...
during the first century BC.
Members
* Gaius Falcidius,
tribune of the plebs
Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune () was the first office of the Roman Republic, Roman state that was open to the plebs, plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the pow ...
and
legate in uncertain years. He was mentioned by
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...
in his speech in favour of the ''
Lex Manilia
The ''lex Manilia'' (Law of Manilius) was a Roman law passed in 66 BC granting Pompey the military command in the East against Mithridates VI of Pontus.
Background
Previously, the war against Mithridates (commonly known as the Third Mithr ...
'', 66 BC.
*
Publius Falcidius, tribune of the plebs in BC 40, was the author of the ''
Lex Falcidia de Legatis'', which remained in force in the sixth century AD, when it was incorporated by
Justinian
Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...
in the ''
Institutiones''. It enacted that at least a fourth of the estate or property of a testator should be secured to the ''heres scriptus''.
Cassius Dio
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
mentions the law, but apparently misunderstood its purpose.
[ Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, ''Roman History'' xlviii. 33.]
See also
*
List of Roman gentes
The gens (plural gentes) was a Roman family, of Italic or Etruscan origins, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same '' nomen'' and claimed descent from a common ancestor. It was an important social and legal structure in earl ...
References
Roman gentes
{{Roman-gens-stub