, from the
National Roman Museum of Palazzo Massimo, Rome. • Gaius Herennius, according to some sources one of the commissioners for assigning land to the
colony at
Placentia in 218 BC. He and his colleagues were obliged to seek refuge at
Mutina following an insurrection of the
Boii, but according to
Polybius they were captured by the
Gauls. • Herennius Bassus, one of the leading senators at
Nola in 215 BC, during the
Second Punic War. In answer to the embassy of
Hannibal urging the town to desert the Roman cause, Bassus said that the city was satisfied with its alliance with Rome, and had no desire to change sides. • Herennius Cerrinius, a priest who officiated at the
Bacchanalia held at Rome in 186 BC, having been initiated into
the rites by his mother, Minia Paculla. The exposure of the rites and rumours about the immoral behaviour of participants caused a general panic at Rome, and they were brutally suppressed, in the course of which Cerrinius probably perished. • Marcus Octavius Herennius, according to legend, a
flute-player who became a successful trader. He dedicated a tenth of his gains to
Hercules, and after successfully fending off an attack by pirates, the god appeared to him in a dream, stating that he had given Herennius the strength. In gratitude, Herennius built a chapel to Hercules at the foot of the
Aventine Hill, near the
Porta Trigemina. • Gaius Herennius, the
patron of
Gaius Marius, who was summoned to testify against Marius on a charge of bribery. Herennius refused, on the grounds that it would be unlawful for a
patron to do injury to his
client. He probably lived near
Arpinum. • Titus Herennius, a banker at
Leptis Magna, whom
Verres had put to death during his
praetorship, despite more than one hundred
Roman citizens at
Syracuse who attested to his good character and innocence of any crime. • Gaius Herennius, the addressee of a treatise on
rhetoric attributed to
Cicero; he does not seem to be identified with any of the other men of this name. • Marcus Herennius, a
decurion at
Pompeii in 63 BC, he was struck and
killed by lightning out of a cloudless sky. Under
augural law, this constituted a prodigy, and the event was later viewed as foreshadowing the
treason of Catiline. • Sextus Herennius, father of the
tribune. • Gaius Herennius Sex. f., tribune of the
plebs in 59 BC, lent considerable support to
Publius Clodius Pulcher, when he illegally procured his
adoption into a plebeian gens, in order to obtain the tribunician power. • Lucius Herennius Balbus, assisted
Lucius Sempronius Atratinus in the prosecution of
Marcus Caelius Rufus for
vis in 56 BC. Cicero, who was a friend of all three men, successfully defended Caelius in his oration
Pro Caelio, in which he asserted that Herennius and Sempronius were being exploited by
Clodia, Caelius' former lover, and the sister of Cicero's enemy, Publius Clodius Pulcher. • Lucius Herennius Balbus, perhaps the same person as the friend of Cicero, demanded that the slaves belonging to
Titus Annius Milo and his wife, Fausta, be tortured in order to obtain evidence concerning the death of Publius Claudius Pulcher. • Herennius Gallus, an
actor at
Gades, whom
Lucius Cornelius Balbus raised to the rank of an
eques, presenting him with a gold ring, and seating him in the part of the theatre that was reserved for the
equites. • Herennius, a young man expelled from the army by
Augustus on account of his profligate habits.
Macrobius relates two anecdotes concerning their conversations. • Marcus Herennius, father of the consul of 34 BC. •
Marcus Herennius M. f. Picens, consul
suffectus in November and December, 34 BC. • Herennius Pollio, an orator in the time of
Pliny the Younger, might be the same as either Publius or Marcus, consuls in AD 85. • Publius Herennius Pollio, consul
suffectus alongside his son, Marcus, in July and August of AD 85. •
Marcus Annius Herennius P. f. Pollio, consul
suffectus together with his father, Publius, in July and August, AD 85. •
Lucius Herennius Saturninus, consul
suffectus in AD 100. • Marcus Herennius Pollio, consul
suffectus before AD 103. • Herennius Severus, consul
suffectus in a
nundinium between the years 118 and 138. • Gaius Herennius Capella, consul
suffectus in AD 119. •
Marcus Herennius Faustus, consul
suffectus in AD 121. • Marcus Herennius Secundus, consul
suffectus in AD 183. •
Herennius Modestinus, a celebrated
jurist of the third century AD; he was a pupil of
Ulpian, and considered one of the great jurists in the classical period of
Roman law. •
Herennia Cupressenia Etruscilla, wife of the emperor
Decius, and Roman empress from AD 249 to 251. She is not mentioned by the historians, but is known from coins and inscriptions bearing her name and likeness. •
Quintus Herennius Etruscus Messius Decius, son of the emperor Decius, was appointed consul in AD 251, and subsequently elevated to the rank of
Augustus, becoming emperor together with his father; but both father and son were slain in battle against the
Goths in
Thrace before the end of the year. ==See also==