Sempronia gens


The gens Sempronia was a Roman family of great antiquity. It included both patrician and plebeian branches. The first of the Sempronii to obtain the consulship was Aulus Sempronius Atratinus, in 497 BC, the twelfth year of the Republic. The patrician Sempronii frequently obtained the highest offices of the state in the early centuries of the Republic, but they were eclipsed by the plebeian families of the gens at the end of the fourth century BC. The glory of the Sempronia gens is confined to the Republican period. Very few persons of this name, and none of them of any importance, are mentioned under the Empire.

Praenomina

The praenomina favored by the patrician Sempronii were Aulus, Lucius, and Gaius. The plebeian families of the gens used the praenomina Gaius, Publius, Tiberius, and Marcus. The Sempronii Tuditani used Marcus, Gaius, and Publius, while their contemporaries, the Sempronii Gracchi, used Tiberius, Gaius, and Publius. Some families, including the Sempronii Rutili and Sempronii Muscae, used the praenomen Titus instead of Tiberius.

Branches and cognomina

The Sempronii were divided into many families, of which those bearing the surname Atratinus were undoubtedly patrician, while all of the others appear to have been plebeian. Their names were Asellio, Blaesus, Densus, Gracchus, Longus, Musca, Pitio, Rufus, Rutilus, Sophus, and Tuditanus. Of these, only Atratinus, Gracchus, and Pitio occur on coins.
Atratinus is derived from , meaning "clad in black". The Atratini were patricians, and were distinguished in the early history of the Republic; but after the year 380 BC, no member of the family is mentioned till 34 BC.
's Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum
Sophus, "a wise man", was the name of a plebeian family of the Sempronii, which flourished during the third and fourth centuries BC. Blaesus, "one who stammers", was the name of a plebeian family which first rose to prominence during the First Punic War. Tuditanus, the name of a family appearing in the second half of the 3rd century BC, was supposed by the philologist Ateius, to have originally been given to one of the Sempronii because he had a head like a tudes, or mallet.
Longus was a common surname, which probably originally referred to a person who was quite tall, although it could also mean "tedious". The family bearing this cognomen appeared at the beginning of the Second Punic War. Rutilus meaning "reddish", may have referred to the color of a person's hair. It was the surname of a family which first appears early in the 2nd century BC. A later family of the Sempronii bore the cognomen Rufus, or "red", suggesting a connection with the Sempronii Rutili. The surname Musca refers to a fly, a nickname that might arise from a person's height, or perhaps his persistence.
The most illustrious family of the Sempronii bore the cognomen Gracchus. This family furnished the Republic with two distinguished generals, as well as the brothers Tiberius and Gaius Sempronius Gracchus, commonly known as the Gracchi, who fell as martyrs to the cause of the plebeians, while attempting to implement vital land reform legislation. The family afterward fell into obscurity, but still existed in imperial times.

Members

Sempronii Atratini