The gens Herminia was an ancient patrician house at Rome

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....

. Members of the gens

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...

appear during the first war between the Roman 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...

 and the Etruscans, circa 508 BC, and from then to 448 BC. Two members of the family held the consulship

Roman consul

A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...

, Titus Herminius Aquilinus

Titus Herminius Aquilinus

Titus Herminius, surnamed Aquilinus, was one of the heroes of the Roman Republic. He participated in two of the most famous conflicts that attended the birth of the Republic, and was elected consul in 506 BC...

 in 506 BC, and Lars Herminius Aquilinus

Lars Herminius Aquilinus

Lars Herminius Aquilinus was consul in 448 BC with Titus Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus. Their year of office was relatively peaceful, as neither consul took sides in the conflict between the patricians and the plebeians....

 in 448.

Origin of the gens

The Roman antiquaries regarded the Herminii as an Etruscan family. Silius Italicus

Silius Italicus

Silius Italicus, in full Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus , was a Roman consul, orator, and Latin epic poet of the 1st century CE,...

 mentions an Etruscan fisherman by this name. The Herminii are one of the only Roman families known to have used distinctly Etruscan praenomina

Praenomen

The praenomen was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the dies lustricus , the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the birth of a boy...

. However, in the traditions relating to the stand of Horatius

Horatius Cocles

Publius Horatius Cocles was an officer in the army of the ancient Roman Republic who famously defended the Pons Sublicius from the invading army of Lars Porsena, king of Clusium in the late 6th century BC, during the war between Rome and Clusium.-Background:...

 and his companions at the Sublician Bridge

Pons Sublicius

The earliest known bridge of ancient Rome, Italy, the Pons Sublicius, spanned the Tiber River near the Forum Boarium downstream from the Tiber Island, near the foot of the Aventine Hill. According to tradition, its construction was ordered by Ancus Martius around 642 BC, but this date is...

, Titus Herminius appears to represent the ancient tribe of the Titienses, the Sabine element of the Roman populus. A number of Sabine and Oscan

Oscan language

Oscan is a term used to describe both an extinct language of southern Italy and the language group to which it belonged.The Oscan language was spoken by a number of tribes, including the Samnites, the Aurunci, the Sidicini, and the Ausones. The latter three tribes were often grouped under the name...

 names begin with the syllable, Her-.

Praenomina used by the gens

The praenomina associated with the Herminii are Titus

Titus (praenomen)

Titus is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, and was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Titia. The feminine form is Tita or Titia...

and Lars, although in place of Lars, some sources give Spurius

Spurius (praenomen)

Spurius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was used primarily during the period of the Roman Republic, and which fell into disuse in imperial times. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Spurilia. The feminine form is Spuria...

or Lucius

Lucius (praenomen)

Lucius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. The feminine form is Lucia . The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gentes Lucia and Lucilia, as well as the cognomen Lucullus...

.

Branches and cognomina of the gens

The only Heminii appearing in the consular fasti

Fasti

In ancient Rome, the fasti were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events...

 bore 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...

 Aquilinus, apparently derived from aquila, an eagle.

Members of the gens

This list includes abbreviated praenomina

Praenomen

The praenomen was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the dies lustricus , the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the birth of a boy...

. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.

• Titus Herminius Aquilinus
  Titus Herminius Aquilinus
  Titus Herminius, surnamed Aquilinus, was one of the heroes of the Roman Republic. He participated in two of the most famous conflicts that attended the birth of the Republic, and was elected consul in 506 BC...
  
  , consul in 506 BC; fell in the Battle of Lake Regillus
  Battle of Lake Regillus
  The Battle of Lake Regillus was a legendary early Roman victory, won over the Latin League led by the expelled Etruscan former king of Rome. It is usually said to have occurred in 498 BC, but other dates have been proposed, including 499 BC, 496 BC and 493 BC.The battle may be entirely legendary,...
  
  , circa 498.
• Lars Herminius T. f. Aquilinus
  Lars Herminius Aquilinus
  Lars Herminius Aquilinus was consul in 448 BC with Titus Verginius Tricostus Caeliomontanus. Their year of office was relatively peaceful, as neither consul took sides in the conflict between the patricians and the plebeians....
  
  , consul in 448 BC.