Gegania (gens)

The gens Gegania was a very ancient patrician family at Rome, which was prominent from the earliest period of the Republic to the decades before the First Samnite War. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Titus Geganius Macerinus in 492 BC. The gens drifted into obscurity in the first half of the fourth century BC, and does not appear again in history till the year 100 BC.

The Geganii traced their origin to the mythical Gyas, one of the companions of Aeneas. According to both Livius and Dionysius, the Geganii were one of the most distinguished Alban houses, transplanted to Rome on the destruction of Alba Longa by Tullus Hostilius, and enthroned among the Roman patres. The name, however, occurs even in the reign of Numa Pompilius, who is said to have chosen Gegania as one of the Vestal Virgins. During the reigns of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (Tarquin the Elder) and his successor Servius Tullius, the name is attributed to one or both of their wives. It also appears later in the accounts of King Tarquin the Younger.

The Geganii used the praenomina Titus, Lucius, Marcus, and Proculus.

The only family of the Geganii during the early Republic bore the cognomen Macerinus, a diminutive of Macer. This surname is probably derived from the Latin adjective macer, meaning "lean" or "skinny".

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