Surnames of the Fabii

[Nephele]

The Fabia gens was fourth in producing the greatest number of magistrates for the Roman Republic, following the Cornelia gens (first), the Claudia gens (second), and the Valeria gens (third). I have attempted here to list and define the various surnames used by the Fabii of the Republic, particularly those who served in magisterial positions during the time of the Republic as noted in Broughton's Magistrates of the Roman Republic. For the purpose of this list, I have included cognomina, adoptive cognomina, and agnomina under the collective term of "surnames."

 

...read the full article of the Surnames of the Fabii

[M. Porcius Cato]

Another wonderful installment in a fascinating series. I wonder why the Fabii stopped being so prominent after the Punic War.

[Primus Pilus]

Thanks Nephele, these are great to read through.

 

Another wonderful installment in a fascinating series. I wonder why the Fabii stopped being so prominent after the Punic War.

 

Perhaps it's simply a matter of perception. They still produced several consulars in the post Punic War Republic, but they were so overwhelmingly dominant in th early period it just seems as if they declined with time. Of course, many of their early magistracies were in the pre-Plebeian eligibility era (4th and 5th centuries). That certainly might add to the perception. Interesting question though.

[Nephele]

Thanks Nephele, these are great to read through.

 

Another wonderful installment in a fascinating series. I wonder why the Fabii stopped being so prominent after the Punic War.

 

Perhaps it's simply a matter of perception. They still produced several consulars in the post Punic War Republic, but they were so overwhelmingly dominant in th early period it just seems as if they declined with time. Of course, many of their early magistracies were in the pre-Plebeian eligibility era (4th and 5th centuries). That certainly might add to the perception. Interesting question though.

 

Thanks, MPC and PP! As for the waning prominence of the Fabii after the Punic War...

 

Yes, there were several consular Fabii after the time of the Punic War, but as you know (and Munzer explains) the aristocratic families were dying out, to the extent that there weren't enough adult males eligible for nomination every year as candidates for the highest magistracies. And this affected the influence of the families.

 

This is why, by the end of the final Punic War, the Fabii adopted the eldest sons of other leading patrician families (see Aemilianus and Servilianus in my listing above.)

 

It's interesting to note that Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus (consul of 182 and 168 BCE) who gave his eldest son to the Fabii for adoption, also gave up his second son for adoption to the Cornelii Scipiones -- to the family of his sister. (See Aemilianus in my "Surnames of the Cornelii.") Munzer states that the three princely clans of the Fabii, Aemilii, and Cornelii thereby affirmed their unification, and that they considered the Servilii to be of equal birth.

 

-- Nephele

[Pompieus]

Fabian consuls post 202 BCE:

Q Fabius Labeo (Tr 188/7) 183

Q Fabius Maximus Aemilianus L f 145

Q Fabius Maximus Servilianus 142

Q Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus (Tr 120) 121

Q Fabius Maximus Eburnus Servilianus (Cens 108) 116

Q Fabius Maximus (suf)(Tr 45) 45

Paullus Fabius Maximus 11

Africanus Fabius Maximus 10

Edited February 29, 2008 by Pompieus

[Nephele]

Fabian consuls post 202 BCE:

Q Fabius Labeo (Tr 188/7) 183

Q Fabius Maximus Aemilianus L f 145

Q Fabius Maximus Servilianus 142

Q Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus (Tr 120) 121

Q Fabius Maximus Eburnus Servilianus (Cens 108) 116

Q Fabius Maximus (suf)(Tr 45) 45

Paullus Fabius Maximus 11

Africanus Fabius Maximus 10

 

Regarding Q. Fabius Maximus Eburnus (son of Q. Fabius Maximus Servilianus) on your listing above... This particular Fabius serves as another, rather ironic, example of why the Fabii were dying out.

 

This Fabius put one of his sons to death as punishment for "unchastity."

 

-- Nephele

[cornelius_sulla]

Wicked work again, Lady Nephele.

Any idea which Fabian was the original bearer of the cognomen 'Maximus', and what if any great deed he achieved to be so cognominated?

Also, did the blood Fabii Maximii actually die out necessitating they continue their line via adoption? If so (and you know the answers), who was the last blood Fabii Maximii and the first adopted? Was it Fabius Aemilianus?

[Nephele]

Wicked work again, Lady Nephele.

Any idea which Fabian was the original bearer of the cognomen 'Maximus', and what if any great deed he achieved to be so cognominated?

Also, did the blood Fabii Maximii actually die out necessitating they continue their line via adoption? If so (and you know the answers), who was the last blood Fabii Maximii and the first adopted? Was it Fabius Aemilianus?

 

Thank you, CS. Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus (consul of 322 BCE) may have been the first of the Fabii to bear the cognomen of "Maximus", as Livy relates in his History of Rome: "...and Fabius, both for the sake of concord, and at the same time to prevent the elections remaining in the hands of the lowest of the people, purged the rest of the tribes of all the rabble of the forum...And this procedure, we are told, gave such universal satisfaction, that...he obtained the surname of Maximus..." (Book IX, Chapter 49, Trans. D. Spillan and Cyrus Edmonds).

 

But then, later on Livy also relates that it was a descendent of this previously named Fabius -- actually Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, five-time consul -- who first bore the cognomen of "Maximus": "The same year [203 BCE, the year of the curule aediles, M. Valerius Falto and M. Fabius Buteo] died Quintus Fabius Maximus [Verrucosus] at an advanced age, if, indeed, it be true that he was augur sixty-two years, which some historians relate. He was a man unquestionably worthy of the high surname which he bore, even had it begun with him." (Book XXX, Chapter 26, Trans. Cyrus Edmonds).

 

Broughton indicates Rullianus rather than Verrucosus as being the first of the Republican-era magisterial Fabii to bear the cognomen of "Maximus."

 

I'm not certain that the Fabii Maximii completely died out, although they did adopt sons from other gentes. The last of the Republican-era magisterial Fabii Maximi was Quintus Fabius Maximus, consul suffectus for a very brief period (three months, ending in his unexpected death) in 45 BCE. As for the "first adopted"... There's really no way to tell, as all we have to go on are the records of those Fabii who were significant enough to be noted down. Quintius Fabius Maximus Aemilianus appears to have been the first Republican-era magisterial Fabius to have been adopted into the Fabii from another gens.

 

-- Nephele

[cornelius_sulla]

Thankyou Nephele. The Fabii Maximii are one of those gens that have always fascinated me. I have read that Fabius Maximus Verucosus was the grandson of the first Fabius Maximus, but thought it couldn't hurt to ask your thoughts.

Cheers again.

[Viggen]

thanks Nephele, now this article has its own dedicated page in our collection of surnames....

http://www.unrv.com/culture/surnames-of-the-fabii.php

 

cheers

viggen