Ninnia (gens)

The gens Ninnia was a plebeian family at Rome. Members of the gens first appear at Capua during the Second Punic War, and are found at Rome towards the end of the Republic.[1]

Origin of the gens

The Ninnii appear to have been of Campanian origin. Two brothers of this family hosted Hannibal when he entered the city of Capua in 216 B.C., in the aftermath of the Battle of Cannae. The historian Titus Livius identifies them as members of the noble Capuan house of the Ninnii Celeres.[2]

Praenomina used by the gens

The Ninnii Celeres used the Oscan praenomina Sthenius and Pacuvius. A branch of the family at Rome in the 1st century BC used the Latin praenomen Lucius.

Branches and cognomina of the gens

Two cognomina of the gens are known from Republican times: Celer, which means "swift", belonged to a family of the Ninnii at Capua during the Second Punic War. The surname Quadratus is found amongst the Ninnii at Rome in the time of Cicero.[3]

Members of the gens

See also

Footnotes

 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. 

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