Scutaria gens
The gens Scutaria was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome. Few members of this gens are mentioned in history, but others are known from inscriptions.
Origin
The nomen Scutarius belongs to a class of gentilicia derived from occupations; a scutarius was a shield-maker. The family seems to have come from Venusia in Apulia, originally a Samnite town, captured during the Third Samnite War. A Roman colony was established there in 291 BC.Praenomina
The only praenomina found in the inscriptions of the Scutarii are Lucius and Sextus, both of which were common throughout all periods of Roman history.Members
- Scutaria, named in a late second- or early third-century inscription from Aleria in Corsica.
- Scutarius, named in an inscription from Anicium in Gallia Aquitania.
- Lucius Scutarius, quaestor at Venusia in Apulia in 32 BC, and one of the duumviri in the following year.
- Sextus Scutarius Aethrius, built a tomb for himself and his family at Rome.
- Lucius Scutarius Andrea, dedicated an early first-century tomb at Venusia to the freedman Marcus Turellius Diomedes.
- Scutaria L. l. Epistolio, a freedwoman buried at Allifae in Campania.
- Sextus Scutarius Successus, named in a funerary inscription from Pisae in Etruria.