Monument of Gaius Rabirius Hermodorus, Rabiria Demaris, and Usia Prima, priestess of Isis. Located on the Via Appia, probably dating to the late first century BC.
The gens Rabiria was a minor plebeian family at Ancient Rome. Although of senatorial rank, few members of this gens appear in history, and the only one known to have held any of the higher offices of the Roman state was Gaius Rabirius Postumus, who was praetorcirca 48 or 47 BC.[1]
Origin
The great majority of Rabirii known from inscriptions lived in Italy, and a large family of this name seems to have lived at Tusculum, an ancient city of Latium not far from Rome. Another of the Rabirii bears the cognomenTiburtinus, indicating that he or his ancestors probably came from Tibur, another city of northern Latium, not far from Rome and Tusculum, and strongly suggesting that the Rabirii were Latins.
Rabiria, sister of the senator Rabirius, married Gaius Curius, a publican, and was the mother of Gaius Rabirius Postumus.
Gaius Rabirius C. f. Postumus, born Gaius Curius, was adopted by his uncle, the senator Gaius Rabirius. He earned his fortune as a money-lender, and his chief client was Ptolemy Auletes, the exiled King of Egypt. He was subsequently tried and banished for repetundae, or extortion, despite Cicero's defense in 54 BC, but was recalled by Caesar, under whom he served during the Civil War.[5][6][7]
Gaius Rabirius, an epic poet of the early first century. He seems to have written about the civil wars that attended the end of the Republic.[9][10][11][12]
Rabirius, a physician and author on medical topics, mentioned by Pliny.[13]
Rabirius, an architect active during the reign of Domitian, whose palace has been attributed to Rabirius. His artistic skill and virtuous life are described by Martial.[14][15]
Rabiria, apparently the wife of a certain Cossus, presumably one of the Cornelii Lentuli, although which is uncertain.[16]
Rabirii from inscriptions
Rabiria, possibly the wife of Cornelius, named in a funerary inscription from Venusia in Apulia belonging to Rabiria Modesta, perhaps her daughter, dating between AD 71 and 130.[17]
Rabirius, named in an inscription from Tusculum in Latium.[18]
Rabirius, named in an inscription from Pompeii in Campania.[19]
Rabirius, named in an inscription from Rome.[20]
Gaius Rabirius, named together with Sextus Rabirius in an inscription from Fermum in Picenum.[21]
Gaius Rabirius M. f., named in n inscription from Tusculum.[22]
Gaius Rabirius, named in an inscription from Salernum in Campania, dating from the early or middle first century AD.[23]
Gnaeus Rabirius Cn. f., named in an inscription from Tusculum.[24]
Lucius Rabirius N. f., named in an inscription from Tusculum.[25]
Publius Rabirius P. l. Apollonius, a freedman buried at Rome.[28]
Rabiria P. Ɔ. l. Aucta, a freedwoman named in a funerary inscription from Rome.[27]
Rabiria Chrysa, buried at Rome with Rabiria Verna in a tomb built by their patron, Italus.[32]
Publius Rabirius P. l. Dama, a freedman buried at Rome.[28][27]
Rabiria Demaris, named in an inscription from Rome.[33]
Rabiria Q. l. Demetria, a freedwoman buried at Rome.[30]
Rabiria Donata, wife of Marcus Numisius Hilarus, named in an inscription from Casilinum.[34]
Gaius Rabirius Eniochus, a soldier in the century of Decimus Roetius Secundus, stationed at Rome in AD 70.[35]
Gaius Rabirius C. l. Faustus, a freedman named in an inscription from Rome, dating to between AD 6 and 10.[36]
Gaius Rabirius Postumi l. Hermodorus, a freedman, probably of Gaius Rabirius Postumus, named in an inscription from Rome.[33]
Gaius Rabirius C. l. Hilarius, a freedman and courier, buried at Narbo in Gallia Narbonensis.[37]
Publius Rabirius P. l. Hilarus, a freedman named in a funerary inscription from Rome.[38]
Publius Rabirius Hymnus, infant son of Rabiria Phoebe, buried at Puteoli in Campania, aged eight months and five days.[39]
Publius Rabirius P. Ɔ. l. Isio, a freedman buried at Rome.[29]
Rabiria Modesta, possibly the daughter of Cornelius and Rabiria, buried at Venusia, aged five?[17]
Publius Rabirius P. l. Nicias, a freedman buried at Rome.[29]
Rabiria Oecumene, buried at Rome in a tomb built by Lucius Marcius Antiochus, dating to the first century AD; perhaps the same Rabiria Eucumene mentioned in an inscription dating to AD 9.[40]
Publius Rabirius P. l. Philargurus, a freedman buried at Rome.[29]
Rabiria Phoebe, buried her infant son, Publius Rabirius Hymnus, at Puteoli.[39]
Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (Cassius Dio), Roman History.
Karl Otfried Müller, Handbuch der Archäologie der Kunst (Handbook of Ancient Art, or Ancient Art and its Remains), 3rd ed., J. Leitch, trans., London (1847).
Inscriptiones Italiae (Inscriptions from Italy, abbreviated InscrIt), Rome (1931-present).
Herbert Bloch, "The Roman Brick-stamps Not Published in Volume XV 1 of Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum" in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vols. LVI, LVII (1947).
T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association (1952–1986).
Elizabeth Rawson, Intellectual Life in the Late Roman Republic, Johns Hopkins University Press (1985).