Papia gens

The Papii were probably of Samnite origin, and several of this family appear in history in connection with the Samnite Wars and the Social War. However, the Papii themselves maintained that they had come from Lanuvium, an ancient city of Latium, and a coin of the gens alludes to one of the founding myths of Lavinium, a town with which Lanuvium was frequently confounded. ==Praenomina==

The Papii who appear in ancient historians and achieved prominence at Rome bore the praenomina Gaius, Lucius, and Marcus, the three most common names throughout Roman history. From the filiation of the consul Mutilus, we know that the Papii had also used Numerius, a much less common name, frequently although not exclusively associated with families of Samnite origin. ==Branches and cognomina==

Among the cognomina borne by the Papii at Rome were Celsus, Mutilus, and Faustus. ==Members==

• Publius Papius, quaestor in 409 BC, and his colleague, Quintus Silius, were the first two plebeians to hold that office. • Papius Brutulus, a Samnite, who encouraged his people to resist Rome during the Second Samnite War. • Gaius Papius Mutilus, leader of the Samnites during the Social War. In 90 BC, he invaded Campania with great success, before suffering a strong defeat by the consul Lucius Julius Caesar. In the following year he was totally defeated by Sulla, and fled to Aesernia. He probably perished a few years later, in the proscriptions of Sulla. • Lucius Papius, one of the triumvir monetalis in 79 BC. • Papia, one of the wives of Oppianicus. • Gaius Papius, tribune of the plebs in 65 BC, was the author of a lex Papia expelling non-citizens from Rome, and punishing those who had wrongfully assumed the Roman franchise. • Lucius Papius L. f. Celsus, triumvir monetalis in 45 BC. He minted a number of coins alluding to the foundation myth of Lavinium, depicting a wolf bringing dry wood to feed the fire that cleared land for the town, and an eagle that fanned the flames with its wings. • Papius Faustus, one of the senators put to death without a trial by Septimius Severus, in the belief that he had sided with his rival Clodius Albinus. ==Footnotes==