Gentes

Gentes, or Gens, are a family group in both ancient and modern Rome, consisting of individuals that share the same common ancestor, designated by a shared Nomen. A branch of gentes is called a stirpes. The gentes were important to the social structure of Roman society, comparable to the dynasties of medieval Europe or the clan systems of the Celtic world. They make up a place of thought and concern in modern Rome and there are many arguments over what exactly the power of the gentes should be.

Origins

The word gens is sometimes translated as “race”, or “nation”, meaning a people descended from a common ancestor (rather than sharing a common physical trait). It can also be translated as “clan”, “kin”, or “tribe”, although the word tribus has a separate and distinct meaning in Roman culture. A gens could be as small as a single family, or could include hundreds of individuals. According to tradition, in 479 BCE, the gens Fabia alone were able to field a militia consisting of three hundred and six men of fighting age. The concept of the gens was not uniquely Roman, but was shared with communities throughout Italy, including those who spoke Italic languages such as Latin, Oscan, and Umbrian as well as the Etruscans. All of these peoples were eventually absorbed into the sphere of Roman culture.

The oldest gentes were said to have originated before the foundation of Rome (traditionally 753 BCE), and claimed descent from mythological personages as far back as the time of the Trojan War (traditionally ended 1184 BC). However, the establishment of the gens cannot long predate the adoption of hereditary surnames. The nomen gentilicium, or “gentile name”, was its distinguishing feature, for a Roman citizen's nomen indicated his membership in a gens.

The nomen could be derived from any number of things, such as the name of an ancestor, a person's occupation, physical appearance, character, or town of origin. Because some of these things were fairly common, it was possible for unrelated families to bear the same nomen, and over time to become confused.

Persons could be adopted into a gens and acquire its nomen. A libertus, or “freedman”, usually assumed the nomen (and sometimes also the praenomen) of the person who had manumitted him, and a naturalized citizen usually took the name of the patron who granted his citizenship. Freedmen and newly enfranchised citizens were not technically part of the gentes whose names they shared, but within a few generations it often became impossible to distinguish their descendants from the original members. In practice, this meant that a gens could acquire new members, and even new branches, by either design or accident.

Stirpes

Different branches or stirpes of a gens were typically distinguished by their cognomina, additional surnames following the nomen, which could be either personal or hereditary. Some particularly large stirpes themselves became divided into multiple branches, distinguished by additional cognomina.

Praenomina

Most gentes regularly employed a limited number of personal names, or praenomina, the selection of which helped to distinguish members of one gens from another. Sometimes different branches of a gens would vary in their names of choice. The most conservative gentes would sometimes limit themselves to three or four praenomina, while others made regular use of six or seven.

There were two main reasons for this limited selection: first, it was traditional to pass down family names from one generation to the next; such names were always preferred. Second, most patrician families limited themselves to a small number of names as a way of distinguishing themselves from the plebeians, who often employed a wider variety of names, including some that were seldom used by the patricians. However, several of the oldest and most noble patrician houses frequently used rare and unusual praenomina.

Certain families also deliberately avoided particular praenomina. In at least some cases, this was because of traditions concerning disgraced or dishonored members of the gens bearing a particular name. For example, the gens Junia carefully avoided the praenomina Titus and Tiberius after two members with these names were executed for treason. A similar instance supposedly led the assembly of the gens Manlia to forbid its members from bearing the praenomen Marcus, although this prohibition does not seem to have been strictly observed.

Social Function

Currently, the power of the Gentes is in debate and the historical divide of Plebian and Patrician Gentes has been ignored. However, amongst certain Gentes such as gens Usonia and gens Syagria there have emerged the beginnings of religious traditions that are unique to the family. Though it is too early now to formally decide the powers of each Gens, and the current Princeps Firmius has declared his intention to establish the familia before the gentes, there are still many groups interested in raising the Gentes. Additionally, there has been discussion on how to decide the Genspater and how the succession of the Gentes should be established, even what powers a Genspater should have.