Nautia (gens)


The gens Nautia was an old patrician family at Rome. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Spurius Nautius Rutilus in 488 BC, and from then until the Samnite Wars the Nautii regularly filled the highest offices of the Roman Republic. After that time, the Nautii all but disappear from the record, appearing only in a handful of inscriptions, mostly from Rome and Latium. A few Nautii occur in imperial times, including a number who appear to have been freedmen, and in the provinces.

Origin

Little is known about the origin of the nomen Nautius, or whether it has any connection with nauta, a sailor. The Nautii themselves claimed to be descended from Nautes or Nautius, a companion of Aeneas, who brought the Palladium, a sacred statue of Athena from Troy. His descendants, the Nautii, were said to have protected and maintained the Palladium into Roman times.

Praenomina

All of the Nautii known from the early Republic bore the praenomina Spurius or Gaius. The later Nautii used Marcus, Gaius, Publius, Lucius, and Quintus, all of which were very common names throughout Roman history.

Branches and cognomina

All of the Nautii mentioned in history bore the surname Rutilus, which means "reddish", and probably signified that one of the early Nautii had red hair.

Members

Early Nautii