The gens Quinctia, sometimes written Quintia, was a
patrician family at
ancient Rome. Throughout the history of the
Republic, its members often held the highest offices of the state, and it produced some men of importance even during the imperial period. For the first forty years after the expulsion of the kings the Quinctii are not mentioned, and the first of the gens who obtained the
consulship was
Titus Quinctius Capitolinus Barbatus in 471 BC; but from that year their name constantly appears in the
Fasti consulares.[2][3][4]
As with other patrician families, in later times there were also
plebeian Quinctii. Some of these may have been the descendants of
freedmen of the gens, or of patrician Quinctii who had voluntarily gone over to the plebs. There may also have been unrelated persons who happened to share the same
nomen.[2]
Pliny the Elder relates that it was the custom in the Quinctia gens for even the women not to wear any ornaments of gold.[5]
Origin
The Quinctia gens was one of the
Alban houses removed to Rome by
Tullus Hostilius, and enrolled by him among the patricians. It was consequently one of the minores gentes. The nomen Quinctius is a patronymic surname based on the
praenomenQuintus, which must have belonged to an ancestor of the gens. The spelling Quintius is common in later times, but Quinctius is the ancient and more correct form, which occurs on coins and in the Fasti Capitolini.[2][6]
Praenomina
The main praenomina used by the Quinctii were Lucius and Titus. The family also used the names Caeso,
Gnaeus, and Quintus. All were very common throughout Roman history, except Caeso, which initially was principally borne among the patrician
Fabii.
Ernst Badian therefore suggests that the use of Caeso may reflect an old family connection between the Fabii and the Quinctii.[7] Other praenomina were used by the plebeian Quinctii, such as Decimus, Titus, or Publius.
Branches and cognomina
The three great patrician families of the Quinctia gens bore the
cognominaCapitolinus, Cincinnatus, and Flamininus. Besides these we find Quinctii with the surnames Atta, Claudus, Crispinus, Hirpinus, Scapula, Trogus, and Valgus. A few members of the gens bore no cognomen. The only surname that occurs on coins is that of Crispinus Sulpicianus, which is found on coins struck in the time of
Augustus.[2][8] The cognomen Flamininus is also implied on a denarius.
The eldest branches of the gens, those that bore the surnames Capitolinus and Cincinnatus, may have sprung from two brothers, Titus Quinctius Capitolinus Barbatus, six times consul, and
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, twice
dictator, two of the greatest men of their age. The Fasti show that both men were the son and grandson of Lucius, and the two were well acquainted with one another.[9]
The cognomen Capitolinus is derived from the Mons Capitolinus, or Capitoline Hill, one of the famous seven hills of Rome.[10] The
agnomenBarbatus of this family means "bearded".[11] The surname Cincinnatus refers to someone with fine, curly hair, as does the agnomen Crispinus, which belonged to the later Capitolini.[11] A few of the Quinctii bear both the surnames Cincinnatus and Capitolinus, and men of both families also bore the cognomen Pennus (sometimes found as Poenus). According to
Isidore, this surname had the meaning of "sharp": "pennum antiqui acutum dicebant."[12][11] Alternately the name could be connected with penna, a feather, or wing.[13]
Claudus appeared in the beginning of the third century, but was rapidly replaced by Flamininus, which derived from flamen, and also gave rise to the gens Flaminia. This cognomen was likely adopted by the descendants of Lucius Quinctius, who was
Flamen Dialis during the third quarter of the third century BC.[14] The family remained prominent over the next century; their most famous member was
Titus Quinctius Flamininus, who defeated
Philip V of Macedon in 197 BC.[15][16]
Members
This list includes abbreviated
praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see
filiation.
Titus Quinctius (T. f. L. n. Cincinnatus) Capitolinus, tribunus militum consulari potestate in 385 BC, and
magister equitum in the same year to the dictator
Aulus Cornelius Cossus.[20]
Gnaeus Quinctius Capitolinus, one of the first two
Curule aediles elected in 366 BC.[21]
Lucius Quinctius (L. f. L. n.) Cincinnatus, consular tribune in 386, 385, and 377 BC.[36][37]
Gaius Quinctius Cincinnatus, consular tribune in 377 BC.[38]
Quintus Quinctius Cincinnatus, consular tribune in 369 BC.[39]
Titus Quinctius Pennus Cincinnatus Capitolinus, consular tribune in 368 BC, and magister equitum in 367.[40][41]
Quinctii Claudi et Flaminini
Lucius Quinctius Cn. f. T. n. (Claudus), a military tribune in 326 BC under
Quintus Publilius Philo. He was probably the son of Gnaeus Quinctius Capitolinus, dictator in 331, and the father of Caeso Quinctius Claudus, consul in 271.[7]
Caeso Quinctius L. f. Cn. n. Claudus, consul in 271 BC.[42][43][44]
Lucius Quinctius K. f. L. n. (Claudus), Flamen Dialis during the third quarter of the third century BC. He was probably a son of Caeso Quinctius Claudus, consul in 271.[45][46]
Titus Quinctius L. f. K. n. Flamininus, son of Lucius Quinctius, the Flamen Dialis, and father of Titus and Lucius Quinctius Flamininus, the consuls of 198 and 192 BC.
Caeso Quinctius L. f. K. n. Flamininus, one of the
duumviri ordered to contract for the building of the temple of
Concordia, in 217 BC.[47]
Quinctius L. f. K. n. Claudus Flamininus,[i] praetor in 208 BC, sent to
Tarentum, where he stayed as propraetor until 205. He was either the third son of Lucius Quinctius, the Flamen Dialis, or the same man as Caeso Quinctius Flamininus, the duumvir of 217.[48]
Caeso Quinctius K. f. L. f. Flamininus,[ii]praetor peregrinus in 177 BC. He was the likely son of Caeso Quinctius Flamininus, the duumvir of 217.[50][51][52]
Titus Quinctius T. f. Flamininus, ambassador to
Cotys, the King of
Thrace, in 167 BC; elected augur the same year.[53]
Titus Quinctius T. f. T. n. Flamininus, consul in 150 BC.[54][55]
Titus Quinctius T. f. T. n. Flamininus, triumvir monetalis in 126 BC. He was probably the son of the consul of 123.[1]
Others
Decimus Quinctius, a man of obscure birth, but great military reputation, commanded the Roman fleet at Tarentum in 210 BC, during the Second Punic War, and was slain in a naval engagement that year.[56]
Titus Quinctius Trogus, accused by the quaestor Marcus Sergius.[57]
^His name is found under a completely corrupted form in the manuscripts of Livy, as "Quintus Claudius Flamen". Badian has shown that since his praenomen was not recorded, later historians amended his name to fit into a plausible tria nomina.
^His praenomen is often found as Gaius, but Badian has shown that it is a corruption in the manuscript of Livy.
^Badian, "Family and Early Career", pp. 107, 108, who notes that the mistake predates the composition of Livy's book. Badian also adds that Titus Flamininus, the consul of 198, succeeded his uncle as propraetor of Tarentum in 205 BC, thus making sense of this important appointment very early in Titus' career.
George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897).
Friedrich Münzer, Roman Aristocratic Parties and Families, translated by Thérèse Ridley, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 (originally published in 1920).
T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association (1952).
Martha W. Hoffman Lewis, The Official Priests of Rome under the Julio-Claudians, American Academy, Rome (1955).
D.P. Simpson, Cassell's Latin and English Dictionary, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York (1963).
Jörg Rüpke, Anne Glock, David Richardson (translator), Fasti Sacerdotum: A Prosopography of Pagan, Jewish, and Christian Religious Officials in the City of Rome, 300 BC to AD 499, Oxford University Press, 2008.