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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 early Roman history. [1] [2] The distinguishing characteristic of a gens was the nomen gentilicium, or gentile name.
The Italian nome is not analogous to the ancient Roman nomen; the Italian nome is the given name (distinct between siblings), while the Roman nomen is the gentile name (inherited, thus shared by all in a gens). Female naming traditions, and name-changing rules after adoption for both sexes, likewise differ between Roman antiquity and modern ...
In ancient Rome, a gens (/ ɡ ɛ n s / or / dʒ ɛ n z /, Latin:; pl.: gentes [ˈgɛnteːs]) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same nomen gentilicium and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of gens, sometimes identified by a distinct cognomen, was called a stirps (pl.: stirpes).
Over centuries, a gens could expand from a single family to a large clan, potentially including hundreds or even thousands of members. Some of these may have been the descendants of freedmen or persons who entered the gens through adoption , while in other cases, different families that had assumed the same nomen in the distant past became ...
The gens Julia was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic . The first of the family to obtain the consulship was Gaius Julius Iulus in 489 BC.
The gens Aemilia, originally written Aimilia, was one of the greatest patrician families at ancient Rome. The gens was of great antiquity, and claimed descent from Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome. Its members held the highest offices of the state, from the early decades of the Republic to imperial times. [1]
The gens Cornelia was one of the greatest patrician houses at ancient Rome. [1] For more than seven hundred years, from the early decades of the Republic to the third century AD, the Cornelii produced more eminent statesmen and generals than any other gens .
The gens Claudia (Latin: [ˈkɫau̯di.a]), sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at ancient Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic .