Fonteia (gens)

The gens Fonteia was a plebeian family at Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned toward the end of the third century BC; Titus Fonteius was a legate of Publius Cornelius Scipio during the Second Punic War. The first of the Fonteii to obtain the consulship was Gaius Fonteius Capito, consul suffectus in 33 BC.^[1][2]

Origin

In his oration, Pro Fonteio, Cicero mentions that the Fonteii came originally from Tusculum, of which municipium it was one of the most distinguished families. The Fonteii claimed descent from Fontus, the son of Janus. A two-faced head appears on a coin of the gens, which Vaillant and others suppose to be the head of Janus, in reference to this tradition. But as Janus is always represented in later times with a beard, Eckhel maintains that the two heads refer to the Dioscuri, who were worshipped at Tusculum with especial honours, and who may be regarded as the Di Penates of the gens. The heads of the Dioscuri occur on other coins of the Fonteia gens.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Praenomina used

The Fonteii used the praenomina Titus, Publius, Marcus, Gaius, Manius, and Lucius.^[2]

Branches and cognomina

The Fonteii bore the cognomens Agrippa, Balbus, and Capito, which is the only cognomen which occurs on coins of this gens. The cognomen Crassus is an error of the manuscripts, since there were no Fonteii Crassi.^[2]

Members

This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.

• Titus Fontieus was legate of Publius Cornelius Scipio in Spain, BC 212. After Scipio's defeat and death, the soldiers chose Lucius Marcius to lead them, in place of Fonteius, who was the senior officer of the legions. However, Fonteius remained second in command, and if he is the same Fonteius mentioned by Frontinus, he was a brave, if not an able officer.^[7][8]
• Publius Fonteius Balbus, praetor in Spain, BC 169.^[9]
• Marcus Fonteius, praetor of Sardinia, BC 167.^[10]
• Gaius Fonteius, legate of the praetor Gnaeus Servilius Caepio, with whom he was slain in a popular tumult at Asculum in Picenum on the breaking out of the Social War, BC 90.^{[3][11][12][13][14]}
• Fonteia C. f., one of the Vestal Virgins in BC 69, and sister of Marcus Fonteius, defended by Cicero in his oration, Pro Fonteio. Cicero produced Fonteia at her brother's trial, to move the compassion of the judges.^[15]
• Marcus or Manius Fonteius C. f., praetor in an uncertain year, and propraetor in Gallia Narbonensis from 76 to 73 BC. He was prosecuted for extortion and misgovernment in 69, and defended by Cicero.^[16]
• Publius Fonteius, a youth of obscure family, whom Publius Clodius Pulcher chose for his adopted father, although Fonteius was only twenty years old, and Clodius was thirty-five. The object was to permit Clodius, a patrician, to pass over to the plebeians and serve as tribune of the plebs. The adoption, though illegal and absurd, was passed in BC 60, and Fonteius' first and only paternal act was to emancipate his adopted son.^[17]
• Gaius Fonteius Agrippa, one of the accusers of Libo in AD 16. In 19, he offered his daughter for a Vestal Virgin.^[18]
• Fonteia C. f., offered for a Vestal Virgin in AD 19.^[19]
• Gaius Fonteius (C. f.) Agrippa, proconsul of Asia in AD 69, he was recalled by Vespasian and placed over Moesia in 70. He was shortly afterwards killed in battle by the Sarmatians.^[20][21]
• Fonteius Magnus, probably a native of Bithynia, was a pleader of causes, and one of the accusers of Varenus Rufus for extortion while proconsul of Bithynia. The younger Plinius defended Varenus, and Fonteius spoke in reply.^[22]

Fonteii Capitones

• Titus Fonteius Capito was praetor in BC 178, and obtained the command in Hispania Ulterior, which was left to him also for the year following, with the title of proconsul.^[23]
• Publius Fonteius Capito was praetor in BC 169, and obtained Sardinia as his province.^[24]
• Publius Fonteius P. f. Capito, a moneyer of uncertain date, from his praenomen perhaps related to the praetor of BC 169.^[2]
• Manius Fonteius (Capito), named on a coin issued by the moneyer Publius Fonteius Capito; from the inscription he had been military tribune.^[2]
• Gaius Fonteius Capito, consul suffectus in 33 BC. He is probably the same Gaius Fonteius Capito who accompanied Maecenas in 37 BC, when the latter was dispatched by Octavian to restore friendship between himself and Marcus Antonius.^[25][26]
• Gaius Fonteius C. f. Capito, consul in AD 12, together with Germanicus. Afterward he was appointed proconsul of Asia. In 25, he was accused by Vibius Severus of maladministration during his government of Asia, but Fonteius was acquitted due to lack of evidence.^[27][28][29]
• Gaius Fonteius Capito, consul in AD 59.^[30][31][32]
• Lucius Fonteius Capito, consul in AD 67. May be the same Fonteius Capito who was put to death in Germania during the reign of Galba, in AD 68, on the ground of having attempted to excite an insurrection.^[33][34][35]

See also

List of Roman gentes

References

1. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Domo Sua 44.
2. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
3. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Fonteio 14.
4. Arnobius, Adversus Gentes iii. 29.
5. Jean Foy-Vaillant, Numismata Imperatorum Romanorum (1674).
6. Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum vol. v. p. 214 ff.
7. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xxv. 32, 34, 38, xxvi. 17
8. Sextus Julius Frontinus, Strategemata i. 5. § 12, iv. 5. § 8.
9. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xliv. 17.
10. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xlv. 44.
11. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita Epitome 72.
12. Marcus Velleius Paterculus, Compendium of Roman History ii. 15.
13. Appianus, Bellum Civile i. 38.
14. Paulus Orosius, Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII v. 18
15. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Fonteio 17.
16. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Fonteio.
17. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Domo Sua 13; De Haruspicum Responsis 27.
18. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales ii. 30, 86.
19. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales ii. 86.
20. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Historiae iii. 46.
21. Flavius Josephus, Bellum Judaicum vii. 4. § 3.
22. Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, Epistulae v. 20, vii. 6.
23. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xl. 59, xli. 2, 19.
24. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita xliii. 13, 17.
25. Quintus Horatius Flaccus, Satirae i. 5, 32.
26. Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, "Antonius" 36.
27. Fasti Capitolini.
28. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum Caligula 8.
29. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales iv. 36.
30. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales xiv. 1.
31. Gaius Plinius Secundus, Historia Naturalis ii. 72, vii. 20.
32. Gaius Julius Solinus, De Mirabilis Mundi 6.
33. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Historiae i. 7, 37, 52, iii. 62, iv. 13.
34. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum Galba 11.
35. Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, "Galba" 15.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "^{article name needed}". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.