Abstract
This article is a prosopographical study that summarizes epigraphic and narrative data on the generations of the Ancharii/Ancarii gens from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD. When tracing family ties we start with Quintus Ancharius, praetor of 56 BC, is used as the starting point. The gens' primary territory is located in Samnium (originating from the Sabine Hills) and Picenum. The cognomens Rufus and Priscus are recorded within the gens. The presence of frequently repeated personal names Quintus and Gaius in the epitaphs of representatives of the Ancharii gens allows us to assume that the grandfather of Quintus Ancharius the Younger (praetor 56 BC) and, accordingly, the father of Ancharius the Elder (praetor 88 BC) were called Gaius, but the equestrian Ancharius (CIL I. 1569) from the ala of Scaeva mentioned with such a praenomen cannot be him, and Gaius Ancharius Rufus, named by Priscianus (Prisc. Inst. VII. 70), is unlikely to be him. The author presents arguments in support of the idea that the inscription from Falerio (CIL IX. 5449; AE 2008. 487) refers to Octavia the Elder (granddaughter of Ancharius the Elder and niece of Ancharius the Younger), and not to Octavian Augustus's second sister, Octavia the Younger. Titus Ancarius, mentioned in an inscription from Norcia (AE 1991. 472; AE 2004. 903), may correspond chronologically (in terms of his lifetime) to Ancharius Priscus in Tacitus (Tac. Ann. III. 38.1; 70.1), but no other arguments are found to confirm this. The author believes, using the example of the great-grandson of Ancharius the Elder, Sextus Appuleius (consul of 29 BC), that political leaders who did not have consuls among their ancestors, but had praetors on their father's and mother's lines, should be considered part of the stable core of the Roman ruling elite of the Republican era.
Keywords
Roman Republic, prosopographical studies, family ties, political elite, praetor, inscriptions.
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