Jacques-Louis David, Louvre Museum (1785)
The gens Horatia was a patrician family at ancient Rome. In legend, the gens dates back to the time of Tullus Hostilius, the third King of Rome. One of its members, Marcus Horatius Pulvillus, was consul suffectus in 509 BC, the first year of the Republic, and again in 507. The most famous of the Horatii was his nephew, Publius Horatius Cocles, who held the Sublician bridge against the army of Lars Porsena circa 508 BC.[1]
- ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, p. 518 ("Horatia Gens").