Quinctia (gens)


The gens Quinctia, sometimes written Quintia, was a patrician family at Rome. Throughout the history of the Republic, its members often held the highest offices of the state, and it produced some men of importance even during the imperial period. For the first forty years after the expulsion of the kings the Quinctii are not mentioned, and the first of the gens who obtained the consulship was Titus Quinctius Capitolinus Barbatus in 471 BC; but from that year their name constantly appears in the Fasti consulares.
As with other patrician families, in later times there were also plebeian Quinctii. Some of these may have been the descendants of freedmen of the gens, or of patrician Quinctii who had voluntarily gone over to the plebs. There may also have been unrelated persons who happened to share the same nomen.
Pliny the Elder relates that it was the custom in the Quinctia gens for even the women not to wear any ornaments of gold.

Origin

The Quinctia gens was one of the Alban houses removed to Rome by Tullus Hostilius, and enrolled by him among the patricians. It was consequently one of the minores gentes. The nomen Quinctius is a patronymic surname based on the praenomen Quintus, which must have belonged to an ancestor of the gens. The spelling Quintius is common in later times, but Quinctius is the ancient and more correct form, which occurs on coins and in the Fasti Capitolini.

Praenomina

The main praenomina used by the Quinctii were Lucius and Titus. The family also used the names Caeso, Gnaeus, and Quintus. All were very common throughout Roman history, except Caeso, which initially was principally borne among the patrician Fabii. Ernst Badian therefore suggests that the use of Caeso may reflect an old family connection between the Fabii and the Quinctii. Other praenomina were used by the plebeian Quinctii, such as Decimus, Titus, or Publius.

Branches and cognomina

The three great patrician families of the Quinctia gens bore the cognomina Capitolinus, Cincinnatus, and Flamininus. Besides these we find Quinctii with the surnames Atta, Claudus, Crispinus, Hirpinus, Scapula, and Trogus. A few members of the gens bore no cognomen. The only surname that occurs on coins is that of Crispinus Sulpicianus, which is found on coins struck in the time of Augustus. The cognomen Flamininus is also implied on a denarius.
The eldest branches of the gens, those that bore the surnames Capitolinus and Cincinnatus, may have sprung from two brothers, Titus Quinctius Capitolinus Barbatus, six times consul, and Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, twice dictator, two of the greatest men of their age. The Fasti show that both men were the son and grandson of Lucius, and the two were well acquainted with one another.
The cognomen Capitolinus is derived from the Mons Capitolinus, or Capitoline Hill, one of the famous seven hills of Rome. The agnomen Barbatus of this family means "bearded". The surname Cincinnatus refers to someone with fine, curly hair, as does the agnomen Crispinus, which belonged to the later Capitolini. A few of the Quinctii bear both the surnames Cincinnatus and Capitolinus, and men of both families also bore the cognomen Pennus. According to Isidore, this surname had the meaning of "sharp": "pennum antiqui acutum dicebant." Alternately the name could be connected with penna, a feather, or wing.
Claudus appeared in the beginning of the third century, but was rapidly replaced by Flamininus, which derived from flamen, and also gave rise to the gens Flaminia. This cognomen was likely adopted by the descendants of Lucius Quinctius, who was Flamen Dialis during the third quarter of the third century BC. The family remained prominent over the next century; their most famous member was Titus Quinctius Flamininus, who defeated Philip V of Macedon in 197 BC.

Members

Quinctii Capitolini et Crispini