Thegens Pinaria was one of the most ancientpatrician families atRome. According to tradition, thegens originated long before the founding of the city. The Pinarii are mentioned under thekings, and members of this gens attained the highest offices of the Roman state soon after the establishment of theRepublic, beginning withPublius Pinarius Mamercinus Rufus,consul in 489 BC.^[1]

The origin of the Pinarii is related in two different traditions. The more famous of these held that a generation before theTrojan War,Hercules came to Italy, where he was received by the families of thePotitii and the Pinarii. He taught them a form of worship, and instructed them in the rites by which he was later honored; but due to the tardiness of the Pinarii to the sacrificial banquet, Hercules assigned them the subordinate position. For centuries, these families supplied the priests for the cult of Hercules, until nearly the entire Potitian gens perished in a plague at the end of the fourth century BC.^[2][3][4][1]

The extinction of the Potitii was frequently attributed to the actions ofAppius Claudius Caecus, who in hiscensorship in 312 BC, directed the families to instruct public slaves in the performance of their sacred rites. Supposedly the Potitii were punished for their impiety in doing so, while the Pinarii refused to relinquish their office, which they held until the latest period.^{[i][4][2][5][6][7][8][9]}

In the later Republic, it was sometimes asserted that the Pinarii were descended from Pinus, a son ofNuma Pompilius, the secondKing of Rome. Several other families made similar claims; theAemilii had long claimed to be descended from Mamercus, the son of Numa, while in later times thePomponii andCalpurnii claimed to be descended from sons namedPompo andCalpus.Mamercus andPompo were genuinepraenomina ofSabine origin, like Numa himself, althoughCalpus andPinus are not otherwise attested. TheMarcii also claimed descent from Numa's grandson,Ancus Marcius, the fourth Roman king.^{[10][11][12][13][14][15]}

The Pinarii of the early Republic used the praenominaPublius andLucius. They are also thought to have usedMamercus, although no examples of this name as a praenomen amongst the Pinarii are found in ancient writers; however, the use ofMamercus orMamercinus as acognomen by the oldest family of the gens seems to prove that the praenomen was once used by the gens. In later times, some of the Pinarii bore the namesMarcus andTitus.

The only family of the Pinarii mentioned in the early days of the Republic bore the cognomenMamercinus. Later, the surnames ofNatta, Posca, Rusca, andScarpus appear, but no members of these families obtained the consulship.Natta andScarpus are the only cognomina that occur on coins.^[1]

The family of the Pinarii Mamercini, all of whom bore theagnomen Rufus, meaning "red", derived their surname from the praenomenMamercus, which must have been borne by an ancestor of the gens. In Greek authors, it is sometimes found asMamertinus, apparently by analogy with theMamertini, a group of Italian mercenaries.^[16][17]

Natta orNacca, referring to afuller, was the surname of an old and noble family of the Pinarii, which flourished from the fourth century BC intoimperial times.Cicero mentions the family, and an ancient bronze statue of one of its members, which was struck by lightning in 65 BC.^[18][19][20]

This list includes abbreviatedpraenomina. For an explanation of this practice, seefiliation.

• Publius Pinarius, father of the Vestal.
• Pinaria P. f., aVestal Virgin put to death for violating her vow of chastity during the reign ofLucius Tarquinius Priscus.^[21]
• Pinarius, husband of Thalaea, whose quarrel with her mother-in-law, Gegania, during the reign of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, is mentioned byPlutarch as a rare example of domestic disharmony in early Rome.^[22]

• Publius Pinarius Mamercinus Rufus,consul in 489 BC.
• Lucius Pinarius Mamercinus Rufus, consul in 472 BC.^{[23][24][25][26]}
• Lucius Pinarius L. f. P. n. Mamercinus Rufus,consular tribune in 432 BC.^[27][28]

• Lucius Pinarius Natta,magister equitum in 363 BC, andpraetor in 349.^[29]
• Lucius Pinarius Natta, brother-in-law ofPublius Clodius Pulcher.
• Pinaria Natta, possible wife of Publius Clodius Pulcher.^[30][31]
• Pinarius Natta, a client ofSejanus, and one of the accusers ofAulus Cremutius Cordus in AD 25.^[32]
• (Pinarius) Natta, a person satirized byHoratius for his meanness.^[33]

• Publius Pinarius,censor in 430 BC, levied heavy taxes, leading to the passage of a law allowing the payment of fines incoin instead of livestock.^[34][35]
• Lucius Pinarius, commander of the Roman garrison atEnna in 214 BC, during theSecond Punic War, vigororously suppressed an attempted insurrection by the inhabitants.^[36]
• Marcus Pinarius Posca,praetor in 181 BC, obtainedSardinia as his province; he put down an insurrection onCorsica, and returning to Sardinia, he successfully carried on the war against theIlienses.^[37][38]
• Marcus Pinarius Rusca, brought forward alex annalis, which was opposed by Marcus Servilius; he is mentioned only byCicero, and may perhaps have been the same person as Marcus Pinarius Posca.^[39][38]
• Titus Pinarius, ridiculed by the oratorGaius Julius Caesar Strabo,curule aedile in 90 BC.^[40]
• Pinarius, the husband ofJulia Major, sister of thedictatorGaius Julius Caesar.^[41][42]
• Titus Pinarius, a friend of Cicero, mentioned several times in his letters.^[43]
• Lucius Pinarius, a grand-nephew ofCaesar, who was named one of his heirs in his will. He later served in the army of thetriumvirs during the war againstBrutus andCassius. He is likely the same person as Lucius Pinarius Scarpus, placed byMarcus Antonius overCyrene shortly before theBattle of Actium, he submitted toOctavianus, and was subsequently given the command of Libya.^[41][42][44]
• Pinarius, aneques, put to death by order ofAugustus.^[45]
• Gaius Pinarius Scarpus, a veteran soldier in either theLegio VII Claudia or theLegio VII Gemina, buried atSalona inDalmatia, along with his son, in a tomb built by his freedwoman, Pinaria, dating between the latter half of the first century, and the first half of the second.^[46][47]
• Pinaria C. l., the freedwoman of Gaius Pinarius Scarpus, for whom she built a tomb at Salona, dating from the latter half of the first century, or the first half of the second.^[46]
• Gnaeus Pinarius Cornelius Clemens, consulsuffectus during the reign of Vespasian.
• Gnaeus Pinarius Aemilius Cicatricula, consulsuffectus in AD 72.
• Gnaeus Pinarius Cornelius Severus, consulsuffectus in AD 112.^[48]

The Pinarii are the focus of the novelsRoma,Empire, andDominus bySteven Saylor. These novels follow the history of Rome, and concern the fortunes of the Potitii and Pinarii, through the passing down of a family heirloom. Most of the Pinarii depicted in the novels are fictional, though Saylor keeps to the known facts about the family.

• List of Roman gentes

• Pinarii
• Roman gentes

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