List of Roman tribes


Tribes were groupings of citizens in ancient Rome, originally based on location. Voters were eventually organized by tribes, with each tribe having an equal vote in the Tribal Assembly.

Original tribes

Latin tribus perhaps derives from trēs, since the Romans believed that in the earliest period of Roman history, the legendary time of Romulus, there were only three tribes:
records that, in 495 BC, the number of tribes was increased to 21, and the official number of tribes was set at 35 in 242 BC:

Urban tribes

Attributed by Livy to the sixth Roman king, Servius Tullius, these tribes were named for districts of the city and were the largest and had the least political power. In the later Republic, poorer people living in the city of Rome itself typically belonged to the four urban tribes.
Landowners and aristocracy traditionally belonged to the 31 smaller rural tribes. Many rural tribes derive from prominent Roman gentes, or family names, such as Cornelia or Fabia.
Two of the tribes are unclear; the thirty-fifth tribe has been found listed as both Succusana and Pupinia.

The official order of the tribes

There was an official order of the tribes. Literature and archaeological documentation show that the urban tribes are enumerated according to a counter-clockwise circuit of the city. On that basis, Lily Ross Taylor suggested that the same held for the rural tribes.
Archaeological findings of tesserae led Michael Crawford to suggest that the tribes were ordered according to the principal roads leading counter-clockwise from Rome.

Abbreviation of the tribeName of the tribeCharacter of the tribeDate of establishment#
AEMAemiliaolder rural tribe 6th century BCVIII
ANIAniensislater rural tribeXXIV
ARNArnensislater rural tribeXXXV
CAMCamiliaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXXIII
CLAClaudiaolder rural tribesXXII
CLUClustuminaolder rural tribeXXVIII
COLCollinaurban tribe 6th century BCIV
CORCorneliaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXXI
ESQEsquilinaurban tribe 6th century BCIII
FABFabiaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXXV
FALFalernalater rural tribeXIII
GALGaleriaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXXXIII
HORHoratiaolder rural tribe 6th century BCIX
LEMLemoniaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXIV
MAEMaecialater rural tribeX
MENMeneniaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXIX
OVFOufentinalater rural tribeXVI
PALPalatinaurban tribe 6th century BCII
PAPPapiriaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXV
POBPoblilialater rural tribeXX
POLPolliaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXXVI
POMPomptinalater rural tribeXII
PVPPupiniaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXVIII
QVIQuirinalater rural tribeXXIX
ROMRomiliaolder rural tribe 6th century BCV
SABSabatinalater rural tribeXXXIV
SCAScaptialater rural tribeXI
SERSergiaolder rural tribe 6th century BCXXVII
STEStellatinalater rural tribeXXXI
SVBSuburanaurban tribe 6th century BCI
TERTeretinalater rural tribeXVII
TROTromentinalater rural tribeXXXII
VELVelinalater rural tribeXXX
VOLVoltiniaolder rural tribe 6th century BCVI
VOTVoturiaolder rural tribe 6th century BCVII