Curiatier

The Curiatians (Latin singular Curiatius ) were a Roman family .

The Roman legend derives its origin from a family from Alba Longa . According to this legend, the Roman king Tullus Hostilius and the ruler of Alba Longa, Mettius Fufetius , agreed to let two groups of triplets from the respective army compete against each other instead of decimating each other in an open battle. On the side of the Romans these were the Horatians , on the side of Alba Longa the triple brothers Curiatius . With a trick, the last surviving Horatius managed to kill the three Curiatians.

It is unclear whether the Curiatii were actually a patrician sex. After the victory of Rome, it is said to have immigrated from Alba Longa to Rome and become patrician there, as the Roman legend claimed. The only known patrician name bearer is Publius Curiatius Fistus Trigeminus , the consul of the year 453 BC. BC - a time when the consular fasts are highly unreliable. It could also be a later, rather insignificant plebeian family that traced its origins back to the legendary family from Alba Longa. For the plebeianism speaks that later members of the sex were tribunes , which only plebeians could be. However, this fact could also be explained by the fact that there was a connection between the patricians and the plebeians of the name, for example via freed slaves of the patrician Curiatii who took the name of their previous owners.

Significant namesake are:

Publius Curiatius Fistus Trigeminus , alleged consul 453 BC Chr.
Publius Curiatius , Tribune of the People 401 BC Chr.
Gaius Curiatius , Tribune of the people 138 BC Chr.
Curiatius Maternus (poet) , Roman poet in the 1st century, main character in Tacitus' Dialogus de oratoribus
Marcus Cornelius Nigrinus Curiatius Maternus (before 60 – after 97), Roman knight and senator, legate
Lucius Stertinius Quintilianus Acilius Strabo Gaius Curiatius Maternus Clodius Nummus (2nd century), legate

literature

Friedrich Münzer : Curiatius . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume IV, 2, Stuttgart 1901, Col. 1830 f. (partly out of date).
Hans Georg Gundel : Curiatius. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 1, Stuttgart 1964, column 1343.

Remarks

↑ Livy 1,24,1.
↑ Livy 1,30,2; Dionysius of Halicarnassus , Antiquitates Romanae 3,29,7.
↑ Friedrich Münzer doubts the existence of a patrician gens Curiatia ( Curiatius . In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE). Volume IV, 2, Stuttgart 1901, column 1830 f. (Here column 1831, cf. also Curiatius 5 , Sp. 1831 f.).), But later rejects this view again ( Roman noble parties and noble families , Stuttgart 1920, 133 f., Note 1). She also counts among the patricians Theodor Mommsen , Römische Forschungen 1 , Berlin 1864, p. 143.

[1] Livy 1,24,1.

[2] Livy 1,30,2; Dionysius of Halicarnassus , Antiquitates Romanae 3,29,7.

[3] Friedrich Münzer doubts the existence of a patrician gens Curiatia ( Curiatius . In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswwissenschaft (RE). Volume IV, 2, Stuttgart 1901, column 1830 f. (Here column 1831, cf. also Curiatius 5 , Sp. 1831 f.).), But later rejects this view again ( Roman noble parties and noble families , Stuttgart 1920, 133 f., Note 1). She also counts among the patricians Theodor Mommsen , Römische Forschungen 1 , Berlin 1864, p. 143.