Gabinia (gens)

The gens Gabinia was a plebeian family at Rome. Members of this gens first appear in the second century BC.^[1]

Praenomina

All of the Gabinii known from historical records bore the praenomina Aulus, Publius, and possibly Gaius.^[1]

Branches and cognomina

The Gabinii do not seem to have been divided into distinct stirpes. The surnames Capito, Cimber, and Sisenna are associated with individual members.^[1]

Members

This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.

• (Aulus?) Gabinius, placed in command of the garrison at Scodra in Illyricum by the proconsul Lucius Anicius Gallus in 167 BC.^[2]
• Aulus Gabinius, tribune of the plebs in 139 BC, he introduced the first lex tabellaria, permitting voting by ballot.^[3][4]
• Aulus (or Gaius?) Gabinius, a legate in the Social War, who campaigned successfully against the Marsi and Lucani; he was killed while blockading an enemy camp, BC 89.^[5][6][7]
• Aulus Gabinius, a military tribune who fought under Sulla at the Battle of Chaeronea. In BC 81, Sulla sent him to Asia with instructions for Lucius Licinius Murena to end the war with Mithridates VI of Pontus. He was known for his moderation and sense of honour.^{[1][8][9][10]}
• Aulus Gabinius, consul in 58 BC. As tribune of the plebs in 66, he had introduced the law giving Pompeius command in the war against the pirates. As proconsul of Syria, he intervened in an Egyptian dynastic struggle, for which he was later prosecuted, fined, and exiled, although he was later recalled by Caesar.
• Aulus Gabinius A. f. Sisenna, son of the consul, he begged Memmius to stop haranguing his father before the people, but to no avail.^[11][12]
• Publius Gabinius Capito, praetor in 89 BC, he was subsequently propraetor in Achaea. On his return to Rome he was accused of extortion by Lucius Calpurnius Piso,^{[lower-roman 1]} and condemned. In 76 BC he was one of three envoys sent to Erythrae in order to collect Sibylline prophecies.^[13]
• Publius Gabinius Capito, or Gaius Gabinius Cimber, an active member of the conspiracy of Catiline in 63 BC.^[14][15]
• Publius Gabinius Secundus Chaucius (or Cauchius), a general under Claudius.
• Gabinius, a king of the Germanic Quadi, murdered by Valentinian I circa AD 374.
• Gabinius Barbarus Pompeianus, governor of Africa circa AD 400, Gabinius was praefectus urbi at Rome during the invasion of Alaric in 409, and perished at the hands of a mob.

Gabinii in literature

• Cnaeus Gabinius Capito of Roman Britain, mentioned as an ancestor of Lord Northam in the H. P. Lovecraft story "The Descendant".

Footnotes

See also

List of Roman gentes

References

Bibliography

• Titus Livius (Livy), Ab Urbe Condita (History of Rome).
• Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Legibus, Divinatio in Quintum Caecilium, In Catilinam, Laelius de Amicitia, Pro Archia Poeta, Pro Lege Manilia.
• Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust), Bellum Catilinae (The Conspiracy of Catiline).
• Appianus Alexandrinus (Appian), Bella Mithridatica (The Mithridatic Wars).
• Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac Dictorum Memorabilium (Memorable Facts and Sayings).
• Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans.
• Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (Cassius Dio), Roman History.
• Florus, Epitome de T. Livio Bellorum Omnium Annorum DCC.
• Paulus Orosius, Historiarum Adversum Paganos (History against the Pagans).
• Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, ed., Little, Brown, and Company, Boston (1849).
• Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, William Smith, ed., Little, Brown, and Company, Boston (1859).