Domitia (gens)

The gens Domitia was a plebeian family at Rome. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus, consul in 332 BC. His son, Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus Maximus, was consul in 283, and the first plebeian censor. The family produced several distinguished generals, and towards the end of the Republic, the Domitii were looked upon as one of the most illustrious gentes.

The praenomen most associated with the Domitii was Gnaeus. The Domitii Calvini also used Marcus, while the Ahenobarbi used Lucius.

During the time of the Republic, we meet with only two branches of this gens, the Ahenobarbi and Calvini, and with the exception of a few unknown personages mentioned in isolated passages of Cicero, there is none without a cognomen.

Calvinus, the name of the oldest family of the Domitii, is derived from the Latin adjective calvus, meaning "bald." The lengthened form Calvinus may be considered a diminutive, or could have implied that the first of the Domitii so named was only partly bald.

The family named Ahenobarbus was so called from the red hair which many of its members had. To explain this name, which signifies, "Red-Beard" (literally, "Bronze-Beard"), and to assign a high antiquity to their family, it was said that the Dioscuri announced to one of their ancestors the victory of the Romans over the Latins at Lake Regillus (498 BC), and, to confirm the truth of what they said, that they stroked his black hair and beard, which immediately became red.

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

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