Turrania gens
The gens Turrania, occasionally written Turania or Tyrannia, was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the time of Varro, but none of them ever rose any higher than the praetorship.
Origin
The nomen Turranius belongs to a class of gentilicia formed from the names of places ending in ', and cognomina ending in ', usually also derived from place-names.Members
- Decimus Turranius Niger, a friend of both Varro and Quintus Cicero, with whom he traveled to Cilicia, when Cicero was serving as legate to his brother, proconsul of that province in 51 BC. Varro dedicated the second book of Rerum Rusticarum, a treatise on agricultural topics, to Turranius. He might be the same person as Turranius Gracilis.
- Manius Turranius, praetor in 44 BC. Following the murder of Caesar, Marcus Antonius offered him the governorship of a province, which Turranius declined. In his third Philippic, Cicero describes this as the act of an innocent man of the highest integrity.
- Turranius, a tragic poet mentioned by Ovid in one of his letters from Pontus, celebrating the fame of the poets remaining at Rome, amongst whom Ovid had kept company, instead languishing in exile.
- Gaius Turranius, governor of Egypt from 7 to 4 BC, and praefectus annonae in AD 14, the year that Augustus died. Upon the accession of Tiberius, he was one of the first officials to offer his allegiance to the new emperor. He still held this post in AD 48, and some time after this was succeeded by Pompeius Paulinus.
- Spurius Turranius L. f. Sp. n. L. pr. Proculus Gellianus, held a number of minor appointments under the early emperors, including prefect of the Cohors I Gaetulorum, a cohort of auxilia, and a military tribune in one of the legions. He had been a flamen. Gellianus was praefectus jure dicundo of Lavinium, and honored by a decree of the decurions at Pompeii.
- Turranius Gracilis, an author cited by Pliny the Elder with respect to the length and breadth of the Straits of Gibraltar, which he reckoned to be fifteen miles long and five miles across. According to Pliny, Turranius was a native of Africa. He might be the same person as Decimus Turranius Niger.
- Turranius or Tyrannius Priscus, described by Josephus as a commander in the army of Gaius [Cestius Gallus (governor of Syria)|Gaius Cestius Gallus] in AD 66, during the Jewish War. According to Josephus, Gessius Florus, the governor of Judaea, corrupted Priscus and a number of cavalry officers in order to divert Gallus from taking the royal palace and ending the war quickly. The same Priscus is probably the commander of the Legio VI Ferrata who was slain along with a number of other officers during the disorderly withdrawal of Gallus' forces.
- Lucius Turranius Venustus Gratianus, praetor circa AD 300.
- Turranius Rufinus, surnamed Aquileiensis, better known as Tyrannius, Rufinus, a historian and theologian of the fourth and early fifth century.