Juventia gens

The gens Juventia, occasionally written Jubentia, was an ancient plebeian family at Rome. After centuries of obscurity, the gens emerges into history with the appearance of Titus Juventius, a military tribune, in the beginning of the second century BC. The first of the Juventii to obtain the consulship was Marcus Juventius Thalna in 163 BC. But the family is renowned less for its statesmen than for its jurists, who flourished during the second century AD.

Origin

The Juventii were said to have come to Rome from Tusculum, probably during the fourth century BC. Cicero reports a claim, which he regards as incorrect, that the first of the plebeian aediles was a Juventius, and in fact the Juventii are not mentioned until BC 197, although there is no reason to doubt that the family had already been at Rome for some generations. The nomen Juventius is certainly derived from the Latin juventas, "youth", personified by the goddess Juventas, but the family is probably of Etruscan origin, as the surname Thalna, borne by a number of the earliest Juventii, has the same meaning; Juventius is simply the Latin version of their original name.

Praenomina

The earlier Juventii used the praenomina Titus, Lucius, Manius, Publius, and Gaius. From the first century BC we also find Marcus. All were very common names, except for Manius, which was used by many fewer families.

Branches and cognomina

There were several families of the Juventii in the time of the Republic, with the surnames Celsus, Laterensis, Pedo, and Thalna. However, several Juventii are mentioned without any surname. Thalna, occasionally found as Talna, is an Etruscan name, and was probably the original nomen of the gens, before it came to be known as Juventia.

Members

This list includes abbreviated praenomina.