The gens Numonia, occasionally written Nummonia, was a minorplebeian family at Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the early years of the Empire. Few if any of the Numonii held any Roman magistracies.
Origin
The nomenNumoniusbelongs toa class of gentilicia ending in -onius, typical of plebeian gentes, or those of Oscan origin. It is likely based on the cognomennummus, "money".
Praenomina
As was often the case in imperial times, all of the individuals known from the family of the Valae bore the same praenomen, Gaius, as do most of the other Numonii mentioned in inscriptions. However, a set of inscriptions from the ancient Etruscancity ofCaere, likely among the oldest, as the individuals named have no cognomina, demonstrate that the Numonii also used Aulus and Lucius. In other inscriptions we find examples of Gnaeus and Quintus.
Branches and cognomina
The only distinct family of the Numonia gens bore the surname Vala, also spelled Vaala, apparently obtained by an ancestor of the family who had stormed a vallum. A coin of the gens depicts this feat.
Members
Numonii Valae
Gaius Numonius C. f. Vala, an acquaintance of Horace, who lived near Velia and Salernum in Campania. About 22 BC, Horace, seeking a place to spend the winter, addressed a letter to Vala, inquiring as to the climate of the area. He may be the same Gaius Numonius Vala who was quattuorvir monetalis in 41 BC.
Gaius Numonius, named in an inscription from Lambaesis in Numidia.
Gaius Nummonius, named in an inscription from Rome.
Numonia Alexandrea, buried at Catina in Sicily, aged twenty-five.
Gnaeus Numonius Cn. l. Aristo, a freedman named in an inscription from Rome.
Numonia Bellia, wife of Julius Alexander, and mother of Julius Alexius, Julius Felix, Julius Gallonius, and Numonia Belliosa, buried with her husband at Lugdunum.
Numonia Belliosa, daughter of Julius Alexander and Numonia Bellia.
Numonia Candida, buried at Ammaedara in Africa, aged thirty-eight.
Gaius Numonius C. l. Canthus, a freedman named in an inscription from Rome.
Quintus Numonius Q. l. Dibus, a freedman, named in an inscription from Salernum.
Gaius Numonius Felix, the father of Gaius Numonius Rufus.
Numonia Q. l. Gaza, a freedwoman named in an inscription from Salernum.
Gaius Numonius Honoratus, named in a list of soldiers of the Praetorian Guard stationed at Rome, circa AD 200.
Numonia Q. f. Marciana, the wife of Manilius Justus, buried at Volcei in Lucania.
Numonia L. l. Megisthe, erected a monument at Rome for herself and her husband, Gnaeus Pompeius Prothesilavus.
Gaius Numonius C. l. Miccalio, a freedman buried at Rome.
Numonia Musa, a freedwoman formerly belonging to the wife of Gaius Numonius.
Gaius Numonius C. l. Phoenix, a freedman buried at Rome.
