The gens Norbana was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned toward the beginning of the first century BC, and from then to the end of the second century AD they filled a number of magistracies and other important posts, first in the late Republic, and subsequently under the emperors.[2]
Origin
Because the great majority of Roman gentilicia end in -ius, many writers have supposed Norbanus to have been a cognomen, perhaps belonging to a branch of the Junia gens. In fact, it is itself a nomen gentilicium, belonging to a class of nomina derived from place-names, and ending in -anus.[2][3][4] Such names were common in families of Umbrian origin, although less characteristic of Latin gentes.[5] In the case of the Norbani, the name is likely derived from the town of Norba, in Latium, but, since none of the known members of the gens show any association with the town, it was perhaps an earlier, unknown ancestor who came from there, suggesting the family is of greater antiquity than the available records suggest.[6][7] For the first Norbani appearing in the late Republic, Ronald Syme suggested an Etruscan origin.[8]
Branches and cognomina
The primary surname of the Norbani is Flaccus, a common surname that translates as "flabby" or "flap-eared".[5][9] Other surnames include Balbus, a common name referring to one who stammers; this is also written as Bulbus, perhaps with an intentional change of meaning, since bulbus refers to an onion.[10][11]
Members
This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.
Norbani Flacci
Gaius Norbanus, consul in 83 BC, during the civil war between Sulla and the followers of Marius. He met Sulla in battle near Capua, and was badly defeated. After a second defeat in 82, when Norbanus was proconsul, he fled to Rhodes, but upon learning that Sulla had demanded he be turned over to him, he took his own life.[12][13][14][15][16][17][18]
Lucius Annaeus Florus, Epitome de T. Livio Bellorum Omnium Annorum DCC (Epitome of Livy: All the Wars of Seven Hundred Years).
Appianus Alexandrinus (Appian), Bellum Civile (The Civil War).
Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (Cassius Dio), Roman History.
Aelius Lampridius, Aelius Spartianus, Flavius Vopiscus, Julius Capitolinus, Trebellius Pollio, and Vulcatius Gallicanus, Historia Augusta (Augustan History).
Schulze, Wilhelm, Zur Geschichte lateinischer Eigennamen, in «Abhandlungen der Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Philologisch-Historische Klasse», new series, vol. V, no. 5, Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung (1933), ISSN0931-2013.
James L. Franklin, Jr., "Pantomimists at Pompeii: Actius Anicetus and His Troupe", in The American Journal of Philology, vol. 108, No. 1, pp. 95–107 (1987).