Lucretia

1. The wife of Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome, whom, according to some accounts, he married after his accession to the throne. (Plut. Num. 21.)

2. The wife of L. Tarquinius Collatinus, whose rape by Sex. Tarquinius is said to have occasioned the dethronement of Tarquinius Superbus and the establishment of the republic. (Liv. 1.55, &c. ; Dionys. A. R. 4.64, &c.) The details of the legend are given under Tarquinius.

originally patrician, but subsequently plebeian also. It was one of the most ancient gentes, and the name occurs as early as the reign of Numa Pompilius [Lucretia, No. 1]. The surname of the patrician Lucretii was Triciptinus, one of whom, Sp. Lucretius Triciptinus, was elected consul, with L. Junius Brutus, on the establishment of the republic, B. C. 509. The plebeian families are known by the surnames of Gallus * Accidentally omitted under Gallus, and therefore given below. [Lucretius, No. 4.], Ofella, and Vespillo. Carus also occurs as the cognomen of the poet Lucretius. [See below.] On coins we have likewise the cognomen Trio, which is not found in any ancient writer. A few Lucretii are mentioned without any surname.

See Tarquinius.