Thegens Fabia was one of the most ancientpatrician families atancient Rome. Thegens played a prominent part in history soon after the establishment of theRepublic, and three brothers were invested with seven successiveconsulships, from 485 to 479 BC, thereby cementing the high repute of the family.[1] Overall, the Fabii received 45 consulships during the Republic. The house derived its greatest lustre from the patriotic courage and tragic fate of the 306 Fabii in theBattle of the Cremera, 477 BC. But the Fabii were not distinguished as warriors alone; several members of the gens were also important in the history ofRoman literature and the arts.[2][3][4]
The family is generally thought to have been counted amongst thegentes maiores, the most prominent of the patrician houses at Rome, together with theAemilii,Claudii,Cornelii,Manlii, andValerii; but no list of thegentes maiores has survived, and even the number of families so designated is a complete mystery. Until 480 BC, the Fabii were staunch supporters of the aristocratic policies favoring the patricians and thesenate against theplebs. However, following a great battle that year against theVeientes, in which victory was achieved only by cooperation between the generals and their soldiers, the Fabii aligned themselves with the plebs.[5][6]
One of the thirty-five votingtribes into which the Roman people were divided was named after the Fabii; several tribes were named after important gentes, including the tribesAemilia, Claudia, Cornelia, Fabia, Papiria, Publilia, Sergia, andVeturia. Several of the others appear to have been named after lesser families.[2]
The most famous legend of the Fabii asserts that, following the last of the seven consecutive consulships in 479 BC, the gens undertook the war withVeii as a private obligation. A militia consisting of over three hundred men of the gens, together with their friends and clients, a total of some four thousand men, stationed itself in arms on a hill overlooking theCremera, a small river between Rome and Veii. The cause of this secession is said to have been the enmity between the Fabii and the patricians, who regarded them as traitors for advocating the causes of the plebeians. The Fabian militia remained in their camp on the Cremera for two years, successfully opposing the Veientes, until at last, on the fifteenth day before the kalends of Sextilis—July 18, 477 BC—they werelured into an ambush and destroyed.[7][8] Three hundred and six Fabii of fighting age were said to have perished in the disaster, leaving only a single survivor to return home. By some accounts he was the only survivor of the entire gens; but it seems unlikely that the camp of the Fabii included not only all of the men, but the women and children of the family as well. They and the elders of the gens probably remained at Rome.
This story was considerably embellished at a later date in order to present theBattle of the Cremera as a Roman counterpart to the GreekBattle of Thermopylae.[i] However, historianTim Cornell writes that there is no reason to doubt the historicity of the battle, because thetribus Fabia—presumably where the Fabii had their country estates—was located near the Cremera, on the border with Veii.[9] The day on which the Fabii perished was forever remembered, as it was the same day that theGauls defeated the Roman army at theBattle of the Allia in 390 BC.[10][11][12][13][14][15] The Gauls had marched on Rome only in retaliation afterQuintus Fabius Ambustus, sent as an ambassador, broke a truce to attack the Gauls atClusium.[16]
Throughout the history of the Republic, the Fabii made several alliances with other prominent families, especially plebeian and Italian ones, which partly explains their long prominence. The first of such alliances that can be traced dates from the middle of the fifth century and was with thePoetelii; it lasted for at least a century.[17] In the fourth century, the Fabii were allied to the patrician Manlii and the plebeianGenucii andLicinii, whom they supported during theConflict of the Orders.[18] They then occupied an unprecedented leading position in the third century, as three generations of Fabii wereprinceps senatus—a unique occurrence during the Republic.[ii][19][20] During this period, they allied with the plebeianAtilii fromCampania, where the Fabii had significant estates, theFulvii andMamilii fromTusculum, theOtacili fromBeneventum, theOgulnii fromEtruria, and theMarcii.[21] They also sponsored the emergence of theCaecilii Metelli andPorcii, who owed their first consulate to the Fabii,[22] as well as the re-emergence of the patricianQuinctii.[23] The main direction of thesecond war against Carthage was disputed between the Fabii and the Cornelii Scipiones.[24] The death of Fabius Verrucosus in 203 marks the end of the Fabian leadership on Roman politics, by now assumed by their rivals:Scipio Africanus and his family.[25] After the consulship ofFabius Maximus Eburnus in 116, the Fabii entered a century-long eclipse, until their temporary revival underAugustus.[26]
The name of the Fabii was associated with one of the two colleges of theLuperci, the priests who carried on the sacred rites of the ancient religious festival of theLupercalia. The other college bore the name of theQuinctilii, suggesting that in the earliest times these two gentes superintended these rites as asacrum gentilicum, much as thePinarii andPotitii maintained the worship ofHercules. Such sacred rites were gradually transferred to the state, or opened to the Romanpopulus; a well-known legend attributed the destruction of the Potitii to the abandonment of its religious office. In later times the privilege of the Lupercalia had ceased to be confined to the Fabii and the Quinctilii.[2][27][28][29]
TheCapitoline Wolf withRomulus and Remus. One legend holds that their respective followers were called theQuinctilii and theFabii.
According to legend, the Fabii claimed descent from Hercules, who visited Italy a generation before theTrojan War, and fromEvander, his host, throughFabius. This brought the Fabii into the same tradition as the Pinarii and Potitii, who were said to have welcomed Hercules and learned from him the sacred rites which for centuries afterward they performed in his honor.[12][30][31][32][33]
Another early legend stated that at the founding of Rome, the followers of the brothersRomulus and Remus were called the Quinctilii and the Fabii, respectively. The brothers were said to have offered up sacrifices in the cave of theLupercal at the base of thePalatine Hill, which became the origin of the Lupercalia. This story is certainly connected with the tradition that the two colleges of the Luperci bore the names of these ancient gentes.[34][35][36][37][2]
Thenomen of the Fabii is said originally to have beenFovius, Favius, orFodius;Plinius stated that it was derived fromfaba, a bean, a vegetable which the Fabii were said to have first cultivated. A more fanciful explanation derives the name fromfovea, ditches, which the ancestors of the Fabii were said to have used in order to capture wolves.[38][2]
It is uncertain whether the Fabii were ofLatin orSabine origin.Niebuhr, followed by Göttling, considered them Sabines. However, other scholars are unsatisfied with their reasoning, and point out that the legend associating the Fabii with Romulus and Remus would place them at Rome before the incorporation of the Sabines into the nascent Roman state.[2]
It may nonetheless be noted that, even supposing this tradition to be based on actual historical events, the followers of the brothers were described as "shepherds," and presumably included many of the people then living in the countryside where the city of Rome was to be built. The hills of Rome were already inhabited at the time of the city's legendary founding, and they stood in the hinterland between the Latins, Sabines, andEtruscans. Even if many the followers of Romulus and Remus were Latins from the ancient city ofAlba Longa, many may also have been Sabines already living in the surrounding countryside.[39][40]
The earliest generations of the Fabii favored thepraenominaCaeso,Quintus, andMarcus. They were the only patrician gens to make regular use ofNumerius, which appears in the family after the destruction of the Fabii at the Cremera. According to the tradition related byFestus, this praenomen entered the gens whenQuintus Fabius Vibulanus, the consul of 467, married a daughter of Numerius Otacilius of Maleventum, and bestowed his father-in-law's name on his son.[iii][2][44]
Although the Fabii Ambusti and some later branches of the family used the praenomenGaius,Quintus is the name most frequently associated with the Fabii of the later Republic. The Fabii Maximi used it almost to the exclusion of all other names until the end of the Republic, when they revived the ancient praenomenPaullus.[iv] This was done in honor of theAemilii Paulli, from whom the later Fabii Maximi were descended, having been adopted into the Fabia gens at the end of the 3rd century BC. A variety of surnames associated with the Aemilii were also used by this family, and one of the Fabii was calledAfricanus Fabius Maximus, although his proper name wasQuintus Fabius Maximus Africanus.[2][51] In a manuscript of Cicero,Servius appears among the Fabii Pictores, but this seems to have been a corruption in the manuscript, which originally readNumerius.[52]
Denarius of Gaius Fabius Hadrianus, 102 BC. On the obverse is the head ofCybele, a possible allusion to the visit to Rome of Battaces, a priest of Magna Mater.[53] The reverse depicts Victoria driving a biga, with a flamingo below.
Thecognomina of the Fabii under the Republic wereAmbustus, Buteo, Dorso orDorsuo, Labeo, Licinus, Maximus (with theagnominaAemilianus, Allobrogicus, Eburnus, Gurges, Rullianus, Servilianus, andVerrucosus),Pictor, andVibulanus. Other cognomina belonged to persons who were not, strictly speaking, members of the gens, but who werefreedmen or the descendants of freedmen, or who had been enrolled asRoman citizens under the Fabii. The only cognomina appearing on coins areHispaniensis, Labeo, Maximus, andPictor.[2][54]
Inimperial times it becomes difficult to distinguish between members of the gens and unrelated persons sharing the same nomen. Members of the gens are known as late as the second century, but persons bearing the name ofFabius continue to appear into the latest period of the Empire.[2]
The eldest branch of the Fabii bore the cognomenVibulanus, which may allude to an ancestral home of the gens. The surnameAmbustus, meaning "burnt", replacedVibulanus at the end of the fifth century BC; the first of the Fabii to be calledAmbustus was a descendant of the Vibulani. The most celebratedstirps of the Fabia gens, which bore the surnameMaximus, was in turn descended from the Fabii Ambusti. This family was famous for its statesmen and its military exploits, which lasted from theSamnite Wars, in the fourth century BC until the wars with the Germanic invaders of the second century BC. Most, if not all of the later Fabii Maximi were descendants ofQuintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus, one of theAemilii Paulli, who as a child was adopted into that illustrious family.[2][v]
Buteo, which described a type of hawk,[55] was originally given to a member of the Fabia gens because such a bird on one occasion settled upon his ship with a favorable omen. This tradition, related by Plinius, does not indicate which of the Fabii first obtained this surname, but it was probably one of the Fabii Ambusti.[2][56] Crawford suggests that thebuteo of the legend was not a hawk, but aflamingo, based on the appearance of a bird resembling a flamingo on the coins of Gaius Fabius Hadrianus, who may have sought to associate himself with that family by the use of such a symbol. Hadrianus and his descendants form the last distinguishable family of the Fabii. Their surname was probably derived from the Latin colony ofHatria, and it is likely that they were not lineal descendants of the Fabii Buteones, but newly-enfranchised citizens.[57] The flamingo might also allude to the family's coastal origins.[58]
The surnamePictor, borne by another family of the Fabii, signifies a painter,[59] and the earliest known member of this family was indeed a painter, famed for his work in the temple ofSalus, built byGaius Junius Bubulcus Brutus between 307 and 302 BC. The later members of this family, several of whom were distinguished in the arts, appear to have been his descendants, and must have taken their cognomen from this ancestor.[2] The cognomenLabeo—originally denoting someone with prominent lips[60]—appears at the beginning of the second century BC; Quintus Fabius Labeo, the first of that name, was also a poet, but his line vanished before the end of the century.
Marcus Fabius K. f. Vibulanus, consul in 483 and 480 BC. He resigned two months before the end of his second consulship, after sustaining injuries in a battle against Veii, during which his brother Quintus was slain.[76][77][78][79][80]
Quintus Fabius M. f. K. n. Vibulanus, consul in 467, 465, and 459. The only survivor of the Battle of the Cremera. He fought against the Aequi in each of his consulships, and was awarded a triumph during the last one. He was finally a member of the secondDecemvirate in 450, and also urban prefect in 462 and 458.[44][81][82][83]
Quintus Fabius M. f. N. n. Maximus Rullianus, magister equitum in 325 or 324, consul in 322, 310, 308, 297, and 295 BC, dictator in 315 andcensor in 304,princeps senatus; triumphed in 322, 309, and 295.
Quintus Fabius Q. f. Q. n. Maximus Verrucosus, nicknamedCunctator, consul in 233, 228, 215, 214 and 209 BC, censor in 230, and dictator in 221 and 217,princeps senatus; triumphed in 233.
(Fabia) Eburna, inferred byRonald Syme from an inscription naming Eutychia, the slave-girl of a woman named Eburna; another inscription names a slave-woman named Alexa, perhaps belonging to the same Eburna.[140][141]
Fabius Numantinus, one of eight young men admitted to an undetermined sacerdotal college, possibly thesodales Titii, between AD 59 and 64.[142]
Denarius of Numerius Fabius Pictor, 126 BC. On the obverse is the head of Roma; on the reverse is Quintus Fabius Pictor, the praetor of 189, holding anapex and shield inscribed QVIRIN, alluding to his status of Flamen Quirinalis.
Quintus Fabius C. f. C. n. Pictor, ambassador in 216 BC, he was sent to consult theoracle of Delphi in order to find ways to appease the gods after thedisaster of Cannae. Pictor is known as the earliest of the Latin historians, although he wrote in Greek; he was an important source for later annalists, but most of his own work has been lost.[151][152]
Denarius of Quintus Fabius Labeo, 124 BC. The obverse depicts the head of Roma, while the obverse showsJupiter driving a quadriga. Theprow below alludes to his grandfather's naval triumph.
Quintus Fabius Q. f. Q. n. Labeo, quaestor urbanus in 196 BC. Praetor thenpropraetor in 189 and 188, he defeated the naval forces ofAntiochus III, for which he received a naval triumph the following year. He was triumvir for establishing the colonies ofPotentia andPisaurum in 184, andSaturnia in 183. He was consul in 183, and proconsul inLiguria the following year. He also became pontiff in 180, and was part of a commission of ten men sent to adviseAemilius Paullus on the settlement ofMacedonia in 167. He was also a poet, according toSuetonius.[168][169][170][171]
Quintus Fabius Q. f. Q. n. Labeo, a learned orator known whose eloquence is mentioned by Cicero. He must have lived about the middle of the second century BC, and either he or more probably his son was proconsul in Spain, where the name occurs on some milestones.[172][173][174]
Quintus Fabius Q. f. Q. n. Labeo,triumvir monetalis in 124 BC. He was probably proconsul in Spain between 120 and 100 BC.[175][173][176][174]
Tetradrachm of Gaius Fabius Hadrianus, as proconsul atPergamon (with the local magistrate Demeas),circa 57 BC. On the obverse is aCista mystica within ivy wreath; on the reverse is a bow case between two serpents, with athyrsus on the right.
Lucius Fabius Hispaniensis, quaestor underGaius Annius Luscus inHispania from 82 to 81 BC. Like all magistrates in the year, he was probably appointed by Sulla. In late 81 he defected toSertorius amidsthis rebellion, probably after being proscribed. He was one of the conspirators in Sertorius' assassination in 73.[191]
Fabius, perhapstribune of the plebs in 64 BC. He might have carried a bill reducing the number of attendants a candidate could bring with him at an election.[192][193]
Gaius Fabius, tribune of the plebs in 55 BC, passed a law complementingCaesar's agrarian law. He served under Caesar as a legate from 54 to 49 BC, during the second half of theGallic Wars and at the start of theCivil War.[194]
Publius Fabius Blandus, named in a sepulchral inscription fromFirmum Picenum, dating between the late first century BC and the first half of the first century AD.[199]
Fabia P. f. Pollitta, probably the daughter of Publius Fabius Blandus, named in the same inscription from Firmum Picenum.[199]
Fabia P. l. Bassa, the freedwoman of Publius Fabius Blandus, named in the same inscription from Firmum Picenum.[199]
Publius Fabius Firmanus, consulsuffectus in the early years of the reign of the emperor Claudius.[200]
Fabius Fabullus, legate ofLegio V Alaudae, chosen as a leader of the soldiers who mutinied againstAulus Caecina Alienus in AD 69; perhaps the same man to whom the murder of the emperorGalba was attributed.[202][203]
Ceionia Fabia, an adoptive granddaughter ofHadrian, and sister of the emperorLucius Verus. Her name indicates descent from the gens Fabia, though her ancestry is obscure.
Saint Fabiola, a Christian ascetic of the late fourth century, she was later declared a saint.
Quintus Fabius Memmius Symmachus, a politician of the late fourth and early fifth century, who was appointedQuaestor at the age of ten. Possibly a pagan, he was alleged to have built a temple toFlora.
^In 479 BC, not long before the disaster of the Cremera, three hundred Spartans fell holding off the advance of Persian forces at Thermopylae; the near-contemporary dates and the number of the Fabii who fell—three hundred and six six—may have made the parallel inevitable.
^Ryan dismisses Pliny's account of the three consecutiveprincipes: Ambustus, Rullianus, and Gurges. He suggests instead Rullianus, Gurges, and Verrucosus, but does not believe that they served consecutively.
^This story is doubted byMünzer andOgilvie, who consider it to be anachronistic, as Otacilius is described as a Samnite, and there was no significant contact between Rome and the Samnites for another century.[41] Münzer argues thatNumerius appears only among the collateralstirpes of theButeones andPictores, but never among the main line of the family, the Vibulani, Ambusti, and Maximi. Manuscripts of Livy giveGnaeus instead ofNumerius among the older Fabii, which has generally been amended toNumerius, following theCapitoline Fasti.Carolus Sigonius followed this scheme in hiseditio princeps of Livy in 1555, as have most later historians. However, Münzer prefersGnaeus, otherwise unused by the Fabii, as Livy had access to sources predating the chronology ofVarro, which was used to compile the Fasti. According to Münzer, the first of the Fabii to bear the name was Numerius Fabius Buteo, the consul of 247; his father, Marcus, did not follow the usual convention of giving his praenomen to his eldest son, and must therefore have been the Fabius to whom Festus referred.[42][43][41]
^Besides Paullus and Africanus Fabius Maximus—the latter originally named "Quintus"—all of the Fabii Maximi mentioned in history bore the praenomenQuintus, including some who were brothers. Epigraphy supplies examples of Fabii Maximi with other praenomina, dating from imperial times, although it is unknown whether any of them were descended from the Fabii Maximi of the Republic, or had assumed the surname as an allusion to the illustrious Fabii of previous centuries: Decimus Fabius Maximus,[45] Lucius Fabius Maximus,[46] Marcus Fabius Maximus,[47] Publius Fabius Maximus.[48][49][50]
^Although some sources state that they were adopted byQuintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, who died in 203 BC, it has been argued that their father,Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus, as the only surviving member of the Aemilii Paulli following theBattle of Cannae, would not have allowed his two elder children to be adopted out of the gens until after the birth of his two younger sons,circa 180–177 BC.
^Broughton thought he could have been the son of Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges, the consul of 292 and 276, and thus assigned him the consulship of 265. However, Ryan disagrees and gives the three consulships to Gurges.
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