A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

occurs as a name of several distinguished Romans towards the latter end of the republic, but they appear to have had no gentile name. Many modern writers suppose that C. Norbanus, who was consul B. C. 83 [see below, No. 1], belonged to the Junia gens, but for this there is no authority whatsoever. In fact, Norbanus came to be looked upon as a kind of gentile name, and hence a cognomen was attached to it. Thus, in some of the Fasti, the C. Norbanus just mentioned bears the cognomen Babu or Bulbs; and subsequently several of the family are called by the surname of Flaccus. It is quite uncertain to which member of the family the following coin belongs. It bears on the obverse the head of Venus, and on the reverse ears of corn, a caduceus, and faces with an axe. (Eckhel, vol. v. p. 262.)