The gens Patulcia was an obscure plebeian family at Rome. Few members of this gens occur in history, but a number of others are known from inscriptions.
Origin
The Patulcii probably originated at Puteoli in Campania, as evidenced by the large number of inscriptions from that town bearing the name. The derivation of the nomenPatulcius are not immediately apparent; morphologically the name suggests an earlier cognomenPatulcus, which does not appear in inscriptions except perhaps as a rare variant of Patulcius. However, in his discussion of Roman gentilicia, Chase observes that a number of gentile-forming suffixes became stereotyped, so that they were applied to names and other words for which there was no morphological justification. Any connection with the adjective patulus, meaning "broad" or "spreading", is purely speculative.
Praenomina
The chief praenomina of the Patulcii were Lucius and Sextus. Lucius was the most common praenomen throughout all periods of Roman history; Sextus was much more distinctive, but still a common name. A few of the Patulcii used other names, including Quintus, Publius, Gnaeus, and Titus.
Patulcia Cn. l. Auge, a freedwoman named in a funerary inscription from Rome.
Patulcius Calidianus, probably the son of Sextus Patulcius Trophimion, buried at Puteoli, aged one year, ten months, twenty-seven days.
Lucius Patulcius Celsus, named in an inscription from Tarracina in Latium.
Lucius Patulcius T. f. Celsus, a soldier in the twelfth urban cohort, buried at Rome, aged twenty-three, having served three years.
Lucius Patulcius Cerdo, one of the patrons of Lucius Patulcius Felix, buried at Puteoli.
Patulcius Diocles, the son of Diocles, involved in a dispute concerning a tomb at Misenum in Campania.
Lucius Patulcius Epaphroditus, a freedman named in an inscription from Pompeii, probably dating to AD 40.
Patulcia Eros, a freedwoman named in an inscription from Pompeii, probably dating to AD 40.
Patulcia Euche, the wife of Lucius Patulcius Primigenius, for whom she and her sons, Fortunatus, Secundus, and Liberalis, dedicated a monument as part of a family sepulchre at Rome.
Sextus Patulcius Eunus, foster-son of Sextus Patulcius Apolaustus, two whose memory he built a monument at Puteoli.
Patulcius Eutychianus, the master of Marcella, who was buried at Carales in Sardinia, with a monument from her husband, Silvanus.
Patulcia Exoche, wife of Titus Valerius Victor, one of the municipal magistrates at Sutrium in Etruria, to whom she dedicated a monument.
Lucius Patulcius L. l. Faustus, a freedman buried at Puteoli.
Lucius Patulcius Felix, named in a funerary inscription from Puteoli.
Sextus Patulcius Felix, named in an inscription from Herculaneum.
Lucius Patulcius Fortunatus, named in various inscriptions from Pompeii, dating to about AD 61.
Sextus Patulcius Hermes, dedicated a monument at Puteoli to his brother, Lucius Laberius Marcianus, who died aged twenty-four years, three months, eleven days.
Lucius Patulcius Hermia, one of the patrons of Lucius Patulcius Felix, buried at Puteoli.
Lucius Patulcius Jucundus, the former master of Lucius Patulcius Successus, named in an inscription from Telesia in Samnium.
Sextus Patulcius Julianus, a native of Puteoli, listed among the cohorts of the vigiles at Rome in AD 143.
Publius Patulcius Lepos, named in a funerary inscription from Rome.
Gnaeus Patulcius Phileros, named in an inscription from Thermae Himeraeae.
Patulcius Phoenix, named in a funerary inscription from Rome.
Patulcia L. l. Prepusa, a freedwoman buried at Puteoli.
Lucius Patulcius Primigenius, the husband of Patulcia Euche, and father of Fortunatus, Secundus, and Liberalis, who built a sepulchre for the Primigenius and his family at Rome.
Lucius Patulcius Primigenius, buried at Puteoli, aged twenty-three.
Patulcius Primus, buried at Tichilla in Africa Proconsularis, aged eighty-five.
Sextus Patulcius Sex. f. Primus, listed among the vigiles at Rome, probably during the second century.
Patulcia Ↄ. l. Sabbatis, a freedwoman named in a funerary inscription from Rome.
Quintus Patulcius Saturninus, listed among the vigiles at Rome, in an inscription dating to AD 210.
