Wikipedia:Naming conventions (ancient Romans)
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There are about 5,000 citizens of
This convention is intended to support the use of the most common name in English, to cover cases of ambiguity, and to provide guidance for obscure personages.
Article titles
- Titus Livius
- Plinius Minor
- Germanicus Julius Caesar
- Marcus Ulpius Traianus
For most Roman men, articles should be titled using the tria nomina of
- Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus, not Fabius Rullianus.
- Publius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus, not Publius Asiaticus.
- Marcus Junius Brutus, not Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus. Hardly ever known by his adoptive name, even though it was technically correct.
- Publius Pomponius Secundus, not Publius Calvisius Sabinus Gaius Pomponius Secundus. A polyonymous person usually known by a shorter version of his name.
Note that this guideline applies only to article titles—within articles or tables individuals may be referred to in various ways.
Do not use abbreviations or filiations in article titles (see
Honorifics and offices are included in the article title only when necessary for
Emperors
For articles on Roman emperors, use the common name in English sources:
- Roman emperors are usually treated as the .
- Emperors who are clearly not the primary topic of their most common English name are disambiguated by the English title emperor: Julian (emperor).
- Some emperors of late antiquity are most commonly known in English by numerical succession: Theodosius II and Valentinian III.
A few exceptions have been made when a name is far more commonly used in English for another figure.
Abbreviations and filiations
Abbreviations and filiations used in Roman nomenclature by specialist publications unnecessarily confuse the general reader, and are mostly to be avoided. Although abbreviations of
Abbreviations for common praenomina are standardized (for a list, see praenomen#Masculine names). When expanding abbreviations, be aware that C. stands for Gaius, and Cn. for Gnaeus, though Caius and Cnaeus may be found in older literature; M. for Marcus and M'. for Manius are easily confused.
Filiations are sets of abbreviations that denote ancestry:
Marcus Baebius Q. f. Cn. n. Tamphilus
expanded: Marcus Baebius Quinti filius Gnaei nepos Tamphilus
translation: "Marcus Baebius Tamphilus, son of Quintus, grandson of Gnaeus"
article title: Marcus Baebius Tamphilus
Names incorporating filiation should not appear as article titles or in the bold lead, but can be used for redirects, or for prosopographical lists, where the convention should be explained.
Disambiguation
Article titles for the biographies of ancient Romans often need to be
- Highest office. Men who had a public career should usually be distinguished by the highest office held, as in Lucius Valerius Flaccus (consul 195 BC), Lucius Cornelius Scipio (praetor 174 BC), Quintus Servilius Caepio (quaestor 103 BC) and Marcellinus (magister officiorum). If the term of office is one year, then preferably the year should be included beside the office, even if the individual is the only of his name to have held it, so that readers and editors can easily identify the period in which such person flourished. If a man held the office more than once, use only the year of his first term.
- Notability. A Roman who held no office may be distinguished by most notable activity, occupation, or role: Gaius (jurist), Procopius (usurper).
- This form of disambiguation may be used instead of highest office if the figure achieved greater notability in another area: Marcus Antonius (orator).
- "General" is usually too vague to disambiguate Roman men, as the English word represents a broad category of military commands and titles among the Romans, and such commands were common among the ruling elite.
- Personal relationship. If a person's primary notability is a familial or other personal relationship to a better-known person, it may be acceptable to disambiguate accordingly: Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (husband of Claudia Antonia).
Gens articles
There are currently over 450 articles on Roman gentes, most of which were originally created with the titling style "Blankia (gens)". Even though the word gens (plural gentes) should not be considered disambiguating, some editors over the years have deleted it as unnecessary disambiguation, and moved some of the articles to the bare nomina, which would normally designate individual women of these gentes. As a result, this style is now deprecated, and new articles in this series are being created without parentheses, i.e. "Blankia gens", a style followed by a number of notable reference sources. All older articles have been moved to this style as well. The Latin word gens is feminine in gender, thus modifying the gender of the gens (e.g., the Julii), as feminine in agreement, regardless of the gender of the individual members; the name of the gens appears as an adjective, not as an element of a compound word. The articles must therefore be titled with the nomen in the feminine form: e.g. the article for persons named "Caecilius" and "Caecilia" will use "Caecilia".