Pantuleia (gens)


The gens Pantuleia, occasionally written Patuleia, was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned during the first century of the Empire. According to Tacitus, at least some of the Pantuleii were of equestrian rank, but few of them achieved any of the higher offices of the Roman state.

Origin

Pantuleius belongs to a large class of nomina formed using the gentile-forming suffix -eius. Such names were typically, although not exclusively, of Oscan derivation, suggesting that the family may have been of Sabine or Samnite origin. Such an origin is supported by the surname Sabinus, belonging to one of the family, and while a number of Pantuleii are known from inscriptions found in Latium, several are mentioned in an inscription from the Sabine city of Trebula Mutusca.

Praenomina

Most of the Pantuleii known from inscriptions bore the praenomina Gaius, Lucius, or Marcus, which were the three most common names throughout Roman history. The only other name of which there is an example in this gens was Aulus, also a common praenomen.

Members