The gens Cicereia was a Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 family during the time of the Republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

. It is known primarily from a single individual, Gaius Cicereius, the scriba

Scriba (ancient Rome)

In ancient Rome, the scriba was a public notary or clerk . The public scribes were the highest in rank of the four prestigious occupational grades among the apparitores, the attendants of the magistrates who were paid from the state treasury...

, or secretary, of Scipio Africanus

Scipio Africanus

Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus , also known as Scipio Africanus and Scipio the Elder, was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic...

, who was elected praetor

Praetor

Praetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...

 in 173 B.C. He obtained the province of Sardinia

Sardinia

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

, but was ordered by the senate

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

 to conduct the war in Corsica

Corsica

Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....

. After defeating the Corsicans, Cicereius was denied his request for a triumph

Roman triumph

The Roman triumph was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the military achievement of an army commander who had won great military successes, or originally and traditionally, one who had successfully completed a foreign war. In Republican...

, and celebrated one on the Alban mount at his own expense. He was appointed an ambassador to Gentius

Gentius

Gentius was the last Illyrian king of the Ardiaean State. The name appears to derive from PIE *g'en- "to beget", cognate to Latin gens, gentis "kin, clan, race". He was the son of Pleuratus III, a king who kept relations with Rome very strong...

, king of the Illyria

Illyria

In classical antiquity, Illyria was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by the Illyrians....

ns in 172 and 167.

Origin of the gens

The nomen

Roman naming conventions

By the Republican era and throughout the Imperial era, a name in ancient Rome for a male citizen consisted of three parts : praenomen , nomen and cognomen...

 Cicereius is probably derived from the same root as the cognomen

Cognomen

The cognomen nōmen "name") was the third name of a citizen of Ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. The cognomen started as a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary. Hereditary cognomina were used to augment the second name in order to identify a particular branch within...

 Cicero, a surname of the gentes

Gens

In ancient Rome, a gens , plural gentes, referred to a family, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a stirps . The gens was an important social structure at Rome and throughout Italy during the...

 Claudia and Tullia. They appear to be connected with cicer, a chickpea

Chickpea

The chickpea is a legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae...

, and may indicate that the ancestors of these families were engaged in the cultivation of that plant. Similar names include Bulbus, Fabius, Lentulus, Piso, and Tubero.