Potitia gens

The story of the Potitii is inextricably intertwined with that of the Pinarii. According to legend, Hercules came to Italy a generation before the Trojan War, and was received by the families of the Potitii and the Pinarii. He instructed them in a form of worship by which they honoured him for generations. The priesthood of this cult was carried out exclusively by members of these two families, as a sacrum gentilicium—the sacred duty of a particular gens. Michael Grant suggests that the worship overseen by these families was originally introduced to Italy by the Phoenicians, and was devoted to one of the Phoenician gods, who afterwards became assimilated with Hercules. The position of the Potitii in this cult was superior to that of the Pinarii, who were excluded from partaking of the entrails of the sacrifice, supposedly because they had arrived late to the sacrificial banquet given by Hercules. The two families are said to have carried out their religious obligations for centuries, as hereditary priests of Hercules, until the period of the Samnite Wars, at the end of the fourth century BC. ==Destruction==

In 312 BC, Appius Claudius Caecus, during his censorship, attempted to persuade the Potitii and the Pinarii to instruct the public slaves in these rites. The Pinarii refused, but the Potitii accepted Claudius' offer of 50,000 pounds of copper. Niebuhr explains that Claudius' intention was to introduce the worship of Hercules, formerly sacra privata, into the religion of the Roman state, thus making them sacra publica. However, because no flamen could be appointed for a foreign god, it was necessary to entrust the rites to slaves. For their impiety, Hercules sent a plague that carried off the entire gens in the span of thirty days; twelve families and thirty grown men perished, and Claudius himself was struck blind, which is how he obtained his cognomen. There is some uncertainty as to the chronology of this legend; Claudius could hardly have been blinded during his censorship, as he went on to be consul in 307, and again in 296 BC, and was then nominated dictator in 292 and 285. Niebuhr suggests that the Potitii may instead have died in a terrible plague that struck Rome in 292. ==In popular culture==

The Potitii are the focus of the novels Roma and Empire, by Steven Saylor. These novels follow the history of Rome, up to the reign of Hadrian, and concern the fortunes of the Potitii and Pinarii, through the passing down of a family heirloom. As depicted by Saylor, the Potitii who suddenly died were in fact murdered, a clever and ruthless killer poisoning them one by one and never being discovered. ==Members==

• Potitia, named in an inscription from Rome. • Potitia, mentioned in an inscription from Tarraco in Hispania. • Potitia, named in an inscription from Ateste in Venetia and Histria. • Decimus Potitius, along with Gaius and Lucius Potitius, named in a maker's mark from a work of pottery found at Telo Martius in Gallia Lugdunensis. • Gaius Potitius, along with Decimus and Lucius Potitius, named in a maker's mark from a work of pottery found at Telo Martius. • Marcus Potitius Aurelianus, buried at Tichilla in Africa Proconsularis, aged eighty-five. • Lucius Potitius Bulicus, husband of Potitia Secundina and father of Potitia Paterna, buried at Nemausus in Gallia Narbonensis. • Potitia L. f. Paterna, daughter of Lucius Potitius Bulicus and Potitia Secundina. • Potitia Secundina, wife of Lucius Potitius Bulicus and mother of Potitia Paterna. • Seia Potitia Consortiana, the mother of Roscius Potitius Memmianus, buried at Thibaris. ==See also==