The gens Poetelia or Poetilia 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

ancient Rome 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 ...

. Members of this

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 ...

are first mentioned in the time of the

Decemvirs The decemviri or decemvirs (Latin for "ten men") refer to official ten-man commissions established by the Roman Republic. The most important were those of the two decemvirates, formally the decemvirate with consular power for writing laws () w ...

, and from thence down to the

Second Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of Punic Wars, three wars fought between Ancient Carthage, Carthage and Roman Republic, Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For ...

, they regularly held the chief magistracies of the Roman state. After this, however, they fade into obscurity, and are only occasionally mentioned. The nomen ''Poetelius'' is sometimes confused with '' Petillius'', and can be found with either a single or double 'l'.Dionysius, x. 58.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. III, p. 435 (" Poetelia Gens").

Branches and cognomina

The only distinct family of the Poetelii is ''Libo'', a sprinkler, probably referring to one who pours libations during a sacrifice. Most of this family also bore the surname ''Visolus''.

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

refers to the consul of 360 BC as Gaius Poetelius ''Balbus'', but other sources refer to him as ''Libo''.

Members

* Quintus Poetelius Libo Visolus, one of the plebeian members of the second decemvirate, which held power at Rome from 450 to 449 BC, before being overthrown. * Gaius Poetelius Q. f. Libo Visolus, the father of Gaius Poetilius Libo Visolus, consul in 360 BC.''Fasti Capitolini'', ; 1904, 114; ; 1940, 59, 60. * Gaius Poetelius C. f. Q. n. Libo Visolus,

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 360 BC, defeated the Tiburtines and the

Gauls The Gauls (; , ''Galátai'') were a group of Celts, Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age Europe, Iron Age and the Roman Gaul, Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). Th ...

, and was awarded a triumph. As

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 ...

in 358, he had passed a law intended to curb ''ambitus'' (bribery). He was consul again in 346 and 326, and in the latter year passed the '' lex Poetelia Papiria'', abolishing a form of

debt bondage Debt bondage, also known as debt slavery, bonded labour, or peonage, is the pledge of a person's services as security for the repayment for a debt or other obligation. Where the terms of the repayment are not clearly or reasonably stated, or whe ...

. * Gaius Poetelius C. f. C. n. Libo Visolus,

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute Power (social and political), power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a polity. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to r ...

in 313 BC, during the

Second Samnite War The First, Second, and Third Samnite Wars (343–341 BC, 326–304 BC, and 298–290 BC) were fought between the Roman Republic and the Samnites, who lived on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains south of Rome and north of the Lucanians, Lucania ...

, he had some success against the

Samnites The Samnites () were an ancient Italic peoples, Italic people who lived in Samnium, which is located in modern inland Abruzzo, Molise, and Campania in south-central Italy. An Oscan language, Oscan-speaking Osci, people, who originated as an offsh ...

, but some authorities credit the consul,

Gaius Junius Bubulcus Brutus Gaius Junius Bubulcus Brutus ( late 4th century BC) was a Roman general and statesman, he was elected consul of the Roman Republic thrice, he was also appointed '' dictator'' or ''magister equitum'' thrice, and censor in 307 BC. In 311, he made a ...

. Niebuhr and

Müller Müller may refer to: Companies * Müller (company), a German multinational dairy company ** Müller Milk & Ingredients, a UK subsidiary of the German company * Müller (store), a German retail chain * GMD Müller, a Swiss aerial lift manufacturi ...

suggest that it was he, rather than his father, who brought forward the ''lex Poetelia Papiria''. * Marcus Poetelius M. f. M. n. Libo, consul in 314 BC, and

magister equitum The , in English Master of the Horse or Master of the Cavalry, was a Roman magistrate appointed as lieutenant to a dictator. His nominal function was to serve as commander of the Roman cavalry in time of war, but just as a dictator could be n ...

to the dictator ''Gaius'' Poetelius Libo in 313. Despite his victories over the Samnites, he was denied the honour of a triumph. * Publius Poetelius, one of three ambassadors sent to

Syphax Syphax (, ''Sýphax''; , ) was a king of the Masaesyli tribe of western Numidia (present-day Algeria) during the last quarter of the 3rd century BC. His story is told in Livy's ''Ab Urbe Condita'' (written c. 27–25 BC).

, the king of

Numidia Numidia was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisia and Libya. The polity was originally divided between ...

, in 210 BC. * Gaius Poetilius C. f. Paullus, a soldier in the

praetorian guard The Praetorian Guard (Latin language, Latin: ''cohortes praetoriae'') was the imperial guard of the Imperial Roman army that served various roles for the Roman emperor including being a bodyguard unit, counterintelligence, crowd control and ga ...

, buried at Rome, aged twenty-seven, having served for eight years. * Publius Poetellius P. l. Syrys, a freedman who worked as a ''lanista'', or

gladiator A gladiator ( , ) was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their ...

trainer, buried at Rome, aged forty-eight..

Footnotes

References

{{reflist, 30em

Bibliography

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...

, ''

Bibliotheca Historica ''Bibliotheca historica'' (, ) is a work of Universal history (genre), universal history by Diodorus Siculus. It consisted of forty books, which were divided into three sections. The first six books are geographical in theme, and describe the h ...

'' (Library of History). * Titus Livius (

), '' History of Rome''. *

Dionysius of Halicarnassus Dionysius of Halicarnassus (, ; – after 7 BC) was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary style was ''atticistic'' – imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime. ...

, ''Romaike Archaiologia''. * Censorinus, ''De Die Natali''. *

Barthold Georg Niebuhr Barthold Georg Niebuhr (27 August 1776 – 2 January 1831) was a Danish–German statesman, banker, and historian who became Germany's leading historian of Ancient Rome and a founding father of modern scholarly historiography. By 1810 Niebuhr wa ...

, ''The History of Rome'', Julius Charles Hare and Connop Thirlwall, trans., John Smith, Cambridge (1828). * ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' is a biographical dictionary of classical antiquity, edited by William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith and originally published in London by John Taylor (English publisher), Tayl ...

'', William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). *

Theodor Mommsen Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; ; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th ce ...

''et alii'', ''

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum The ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (''CIL'') is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw ...

'' (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated ''CIL''), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present). * 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). Roman gentes

Branches and cognomina

Members

Footnotes

See also

References

Bibliography