The gens Titia was a plebeian family at Rome. The gens is rarely mentioned in the Republican period, and did not rise out of obscurity till a very late time. None of its members obtained the consulship under the Republic, and the first person of the name who held this office was Marcus Titius in BC 31.
The nomen Titius is a patronymic surname, based on the praenomen Titus, which must have belonged to the ancestor of the gens. Titus was roughly the sixth-most common Latin praenomen throughout Roman history. However, it has been conjectured that it was introduced to Latin through Titus Tatius, a Sabine king in the time of Romulus, who came to Rome with many of his subjects. If Titus was originally a Sabine praenomen, then the Titii may have been Sabines. But it is also possible that Titus was common to both the Latin and Oscan tongues.
The Titii used a wide variety of praenomina, including Gaius, Quintus, Sextus, Lucius, Publius, Marcus, and Titus. All of these were very common names.
Branches and cognomina
During the later years of the Republic, some of the Titii appear with the surnames Rufus, meaning "red" or "reddish", and Strabo, referring to one who squints. These may have been family-names, as at least two individuals in the gens bore these cognomina. Numerous surnames occur in imperial times, including Sabinus, Proculus, Aquilinus, and Gemellus, amongst others.
This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.
Gaius Titius, an eques of the 2nd century BC, and an orator of considerable merit, praised by Cicero.
Gaius Titius, a pleader of causes, who excited a mutiny of the soldiers against the consul Lucius Porcius Cato in 89 BC, and escaped punishment.
Sextus Titius, tribunus plebis in 99 BC, attempted to follow in the footsteps of Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, but was resisted by the consul Marcus Antonius.
Quintus Titius, triumvir monetalis in 90 BC.
Lucius Titius, a Roman citizen at Agrigentum, who was robbed of his ring by Verres.
Titus Titius T. f., the legate of Gnaeus Pompeius, when the latter was entrusted with the superintendence of the corn-market.
Gaius Titius L. f. Rufus, praetor urbanus in 50 BC.
Quintus Titius, sent by Caesar into Epirus in 48 BC to obtain corn for his troops.
Lucius Titius, tribunus militum during the Alexandrine war, 48 BC.
Gaius Titius Strabo, an opponent of Caesar at the time of his death.
Lucius Titius Strabo, an eques, whom Cicero introduced to Marcus Junius Brutus.
Publius Titius, tribunus plebis in 43 BC, proposed the law for the creation of the second triumvirate.
Marcus Titius, proscribed by the triumvirs in 43 BC, but escaped to Sextus Pompeius in Sicilia. He married Munatia, the sister of the orator Lucius Munatius Plancus.
Marcus Titius M. f., consul suffectus in 31 BC, routed the cavalry of Marcus Antonius shortly before the Battle of Actium.
Titius Julianus, probably a mistake for Tettius Julianus.
Titius Septimius, a minor poet, about whose welfare Quintus Horatius Flaccus inquired in 20 BC.
Titius Sabinus, an eques, and friend of Germanicus, betrayed by Sejanus and put to death.
Titius Rufus, put to death in the reign of Caligula, for saying that the senate thought differently from what it said.
Titius Proculus, put to death in AD 48, because he had been privy to the adulteries of Gaius Silius and Messalina.
Titius Aquilinus, consul in AD 125.
Publius Titius Perpetuus, consul in AD 237.
Titius Gemellus, a sculptor, of uncertain date.
