The gens Mamilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome during the period of the Republic. The gens was originally one of the most distinguished families of Tusculum, and indeed in the whole of Latium. It is first mentioned in the time of the Tarquins; and it was to a member of this family, Octavius Mamilius, that Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last King of Rome, betrothed his daughter. The gens obtained Roman citizenship in the 5th century BC, and some of its members must subsequently have settled at Rome, where Lucius Mamilius Vitulus became the first of the family to hold the consulship in 265 BC, the year before the First Punic War.
Octavius Mamilius, prince of Tusculum, on horseback before the Walls of Rome. On his left, in a chariot, is Lars Porsena, the King of Clusium. John Reinhard Weguelin, illustration from Lays of Ancient Rome (1881 edition).
Denarius of Gaius Mamilius Limetanus. The obverse (not pictured) features a head of Mercury; on the reverse, Odysseus is welcomed by his hound.
Tusculum is a ruined Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable distance from Rome.
Archaeological park of Tusculum
Plan of Roman Tusculum (published 1883)
The upper town
The lower town
