Postumia (gens)

The gens Postumia was one of the most ancient patrician gentes at Rome. Its members frequently held the highest office of the state, from the banishment of the kings to the downfall of the Republic. The first of the Postumii who obtained the consulship was Publius Postumius Tubertus in 505 BC, four years after the expulsion of the kings.^[1]

Origin

The nomen Postumius is a patronymic surname, derived from the praenomen Postumus, which presumably belonged to the ancestor of the gens. That name is derived from the Latin adjective, postremus, meaning "last" or "hindmost," originally indicating a last-born or youngest child. However, its meaning has long been confounded with that of posthumous, indicating a child born after the death of the father; this misunderstanding is fostered by the fact that a posthumous child is also necessarily the youngest.^[2]

Praenomina

The most prominent families of the Postumii during the early Republic favored the praenomina Aulus, Spurius, and Lucius, with Marcus, Publius, and Quintus receiving occasional use. Toward the end of the Republic, Postumii named Gaius, Gnaeus, and Titus are found.^[3]

Branches and cognomina

The most distinguished family in the gens bore the cognomen Albus or Albinus; but distinguished families are also found at the commencement of the Republic with the names Megellus and Tubertus. Regillensis was an agnomen of the Albini. In the Punic Wars and subsequently, the surnames Pyrgensis, Tempsanus and Tympanus were used. A few Postumii appear in various sources without any surname.^[4]

Members

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

Postumii Tuberti

• Quintus Postumius Tubertus, father of the consul of 505 and 503 BC.
• Publius Postumius Q. f. Tubertus, consul in 505 and 503 BC.
• Aulus Postumius Tubertus, dictator in 431 BC.

Postumii Albi et Albini

• Aulus Postumius P. f. Albus Regillensis, dictator in 498 and consul in 496 BC.
• Spurius Postumius A. f. P. n. Albus Regillensis, consul in 466 and decemvir in 451 BC.
• Aulus Postumius A. f. P. n. Albus Regillensis, consul in 464 BC.
• Spurius Postumius S. f. A. n. Albus Regillensis, tribunus militum consulari potestate in 432 BC.
• Publius Postumius A. f. A. n. Albinus Regillensis, tribunus militum consulari potestate in 414 BC, killed in an insurrection of the soldiers.
• Marcus Postumius A. f. A. n. Albinus Regillensis, censor in 403 BC.
• Aulus Postumius Albinus Regillensis, tribunus militum consulari potestate in 397 BC.
• Spurius Postumius Albinus Regillensis, tribunus militum consulari potestate in 394 BC.
• Spurius Postumius Albinus, consul in 334 and 321, and censor in 332 BC, a general in the Second Samnite War.
• Lucius Postumius L.f. Albinus, Rex sacrorum c.270 bc
• Aulus Postumius A. f. L. n. Albinus, consul in 242 and censor 234 BC.
• Lucius Postumius A. f. A. n. Albinus, consul in 234 and 229 BC, elected consul a third time in 215, but slain by the Boii before entering into office.
• Spurius Postumius L. f. A. n. Albinus, consul in 186 BC.
• Aulus Postumius A. f. A. n. Albinus Luscus, consul in 180 and censor in 174 BC.
• Spurius Postumius A. f. A. n. Albinus Paullulus, consul in 174 BC.
• Lucius Postumius A. f. A. n. Albinus, consul in 173 BC.
• Aulus Postumius Albinus, an officer in the army of Lucius Aemilius Paullus in Macedonia in 168 BC.
• Lucius Postumius S. f. L. n. Albinus, consul in 154 BC, died shortly after leaving Rome.
• Aulus Postumius A. f. A. n. Albinus, consul in 151 BC, and a Greek scholar.
• Spurius Postumius Albinus Magnus, consul in 148 BC, an orator mentioned by Marcus Tullius Cicero.
• Spurius Postumius S. f. S. n. Albinus, consul in 110 BC.
• Aulus Postumius S. f. S. n. Albinus, propraetor in 110 BC.
• Aulus Postumius A. f. S. n. Albinus, consul in 99 BC, mentioned favorably by Cicero.
• Aulus Postumius Albinus, praetor in 89 BC, murdered by his own soldiers.
• Aulus Postumius Albinus, placed in command of Sicily by Gaius Julius Caesar in 48 BC.
• Decimus Junius (D. f. D. n.) Brutus Albinus (adopted by A. Postumius Albinus, the consul of 99 BC), admiral under Caesar, and later one of his assassins.

Postumii Megelli

• Lucius Postumius L. f. S. n. Megellus, consul in 305, 294, and 291 BC.
• Lucius Postumius L. f. L. n. Megellus, consul in 262 and censor in 253 BC.

Later Postumii

• Marcus Postumius Pyrgensis, tried for fraud and misuse of public funds in 212 BC.
• Lucius Postumius Tympanus, quaestor slain in battle by the Boii in 194 BC.
• Lucius Postumius Tempsanus, praetor assigned to Tarentum in 185 BC.
• Aulus Postumius, tribunus militum in 180 BC.^[5]
• Gaius Postumius, tribunus militum in 168 BC.^[6]
• Postumius, a soothsayer, who predicted success for Lucius Cornelius Sulla in either 90 or 88 BC.^[7][8][9]
• Marcus Postumius, quaestor of Verres in his government of Sicily in 73 BC.^[10]
• Gnaeus Postumius, supporter of Servius Sulpicius Rufus in his prosecution of Lucius Licinius Murena in 63 BC.^[11]
• Titus Postumius, an orator praised by Marcus Tullius Cicero.^[12]
• Postumius (perhaps the same as Titus Postumius), a friend of Cicero, who declined the Senate's appointment as Praetor in 49 BC.^[13]
• Postumius, legate of Gaius Julius Caesar in 48 BC.^[14]
• Publius Postumius, a friend of Marcus Claudius Marcellus.^[15]
• Quintus Postumius, a Roman senator murdered at the order of Marcus Antonius in 31 BC.^[16]
• Lucius Postumius Q. f. Sergius Fabullus, a contemporary of Marcus Aurelius, the equestrian husband of Manlia Silana.^[17][18]
• Marcus Postumius Festus, consul suffectus in AD 160, and ancestor of Titus Flavius Postumius Varus, praetor urbanus in 271.^[19]
• Titus Flavius Postumius Varus, consul circa AD 250, and praetor urbanus in 271.^[19][20]
• Titus Flavius Postumius Quietus, consul in AD 272.^[20]
• Titus Flavius Postumius Titianus, consul in an uncertain year, and a second time AD 301. ^[20]
• Rufius Postumius Festus, consul in AD 472.^[21]

See also

List of Roman gentes

Footnotes

1. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor
2. George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897)
3. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor
4. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor
5. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, xl. 41.
6. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, xlv. 6.
7. Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, Sulla 9.
8. Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Divinatione, i. 33.
9. Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX, i. 6. § 4.
10. Marcus Tullius Cicero, In Verrem, ii. 18.
11. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Murena, 26, 27, 33
12. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Brutus, i. 33.
13. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, vii. 15. § 2, xv. 2. § 3, Epistulae ad Familiares, vi. 12. § 2, xiii. 69.
14. Appianus, B. C. ii. 58.
15. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, iv. 12. § 2.
16. Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History, l. 13.
17. Rodriguez, Era Maria Morales (2013). Las Ciudades Romanas en el Alto Guadalquivir (in Spanish). p. 97.
18. Alföldy, Géza (1973). Flamines provinciae Hispaniae Citerioris (in German). Madrid. p. 95.
19. Palmer, Robert E. A. (1990). Studies of the Northern Campus Martius in Ancient Rome. p. 43.
20. Mennen, Inge (2011). Power and Status in the Roman Empire, AD 193-284. p. 121-122.
21. Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin; Robert, John (1980). The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Parts 395-527. II. Cambridge University Press. p. 467.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "^{article name needed}". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.