The Pontii were of Samnite origin, and are first mentioned in connection with the Samnite Wars, after which some of them removed to Rome. Their nomen, Pontius, is a patronymic surname derived from the OscanpraenomenPontus or Pomptus, cognate with the Latin praenomen Quintus. Thus, Pontius is the Samnite equivalent of the Roman gentes Quinctia and Quinctilia.[2] Alternatively, it may be connected to the Latin word pons (bridge) and mean "bridge builder".[3]
Branches and cognomina
The only surname borne by the Pontii of the Republic is Aquila, an eagle. Various cognomina are found in imperial times.[1]
Members
This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.
Pontius Cominius, a young soldier who volunteered to convey a message from the army to the senate, following the Battle of the Allia, when the Capitol was besieged by the Gauls. Floating down the river on some driftwood until he reached the Capitol, he asked that Marcus Furius Camillus, who was then in exile, be nominated dictator.[4][5][6]
Herennius Pontius, an aged resident of Caudium at the time of the Roman surrender in 321 BC, who advised the victorious Samnites either to release the Romans unharmed, or put them to the sword, concluding that imposing terms of peace on a conquered army would only lead the Romans to return seeking revenge.[7]
Gaius Pontius Herenni f., the Samnite leader who engineered the entrapment of a Roman army at the Caudine Forks in 321 BC. In Roman literary tradition, he imposed peace terms on the defeated army against his father's advice, and was later himself captured and beheaded by the Romans in revenge, but this is thought to be ahistorical.[8][9][10][11][12]
Pontius Telesinus, younger brother of the Samnite leader, was besieged at Praeneste by Sulla. He attempted to arrange the escape of Marius the Younger, but finding their passage guarded, they fell by their own hands.[17][18]
Titus Pontius, a centurion mentioned by Cicero on account of his great strength. He may be the same person as the Pontius mentioned by Lucilius.[19]
Pontius Titinianus, a son of Quintus Titinius, who was adopted by one of the Pontii. Cicero asserts that he joined Caesar out of fear on the outbreak of the Civil War, which if correct would distinguish him from the soldier later captured by Scipio.[20]
Pontius, a soldier serving under Caesar, was captured by Metellus Scipio during the Civil War, and urged to go over to the side of Pompeius; but he stated that he would prefer death to betraying Caesar.[21]
Pontius, punished with castration by Publius Cerennius, after the latter discovered him in the act of adultery with his wife.[31]
Pontius Aufidianus, learned that his daughter's tutor had allowed a certain Fannius Saturninus to deflower her, he put both the slave and his daughter to death.[32]
Pontius Lupus, a man of equestrian rank, who lost his eyesight, but continued as an advocate in the law courts.[33]
Pontius Fregellanus, a senator, deprived of his rank for aiding in the adulteries of Albucilla, in AD 36.[42]
Gaius Petronius Pontius Nigrinus, consul in AD 37, the year in which Tiberius died.[43][44][45]
Pontia Postumia, murdered by Octavius Sagitta, tribune of the plebs in AD 58, having broken off their engagement. Sagitta was banished to an island.[46]
Pontia, the wife of Petronius, who was put to death as one of the conspirators against Nero. Pontia poisoned her children, and opened her veins.[47][48]
Pontius Laelianus, mentioned in the testamentum Dasumii, perhaps the father of Marcus Pontius Laelianus, the consul of AD 145.[49]
Pontius, a deacon of the early Church at Carthage, was the friend and companion of Cyprian. He authored a work on the life and martyrdom of Cyprian, which was much praised by Jerome, but it is not clear whether the Vita et Passione Sancti Cypriani that has survived is the original text.[54]
Mericius Pontius Anicius Paulinus, bishop of Nola from AD 409 until his death in 431. He authored a number of letters and some poems that are still extant, some lost religious tracts, and apparently the Passio Sancti Genesii, or "Passion of Saint Genesius".[55]
Werner Eck, "Die Fasti consulares der Regierungszeit des Antoninus Pius, eine Bestandsaufnahme seit Géza Alföldys Konsulat und Senatorenstand" (The Consular Fasti for the Reign of Antoninus Pius: an Inventory since Géza Alföldy's Konsulat und Senatorenstand), in Studia Epigraphica in Memoriam Géza Alföldy, Werner Eck, Bence Fehér, Péter Kovács, eds., Bonn, pp. 69–90 (2013).