Pompilia (gens)

The gens Pompilia was a plebeian family at Rome during the time of the Republic. The only member of the gens to attain any prominence in the Roman state was Sextus Pompilius, who was tribune of the plebs in 420 BC; however, persons by this name are occasionally found throughout the history of the Republic.

The first and most illustrious of the Pompilii at Rome was Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome. By all accounts, Pompilius was a Sabine, renowned for his wisdom, and living at the town of Cures at the time of the death of Romulus. The tradition reported by the Roman historians is that the selection of a foreigner over one of the leading Roman citizens was urged by Rome's considerable Sabine populace, which had not only enjoyed equal status with the Latin inhabitants of Rome, but had their own king, Titus Tatius, ruling alongside Romulus for part of his reign. Tatius had been killed in a riot some years earlier, and the Sabines at Rome were eager to be governed by one of their kindred once more.

A common practice in the later Republic was for gentes to claim descent from figures associated with the founding of Rome, the companions of Aeneas, or individuals who lived in the time of the kings. At least five prominent gentes claimed descent from Numa Pompilius, but if the Pompilii themselves did so, that tradition has not survived.

The nomen Pompilius is a patronymic surname, based on the Sabine praenomen Pompo, the Oscan cognate of the Latin praenomen Quintus, meaning "fifth". The Latin equivalent of Pompilius was therefore Quinctilius, and in fact there was a family of that name at Rome. Tradition states that Numa's father was named Pompo, and that he had a son by that name as well, which seems to confirm the etymology. The Pomponii claimed descent from this son, and both their nomen and that of Pompeius are occasionally confounded with Pompilius in the ancient writers.

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