Accoleia gens

The gens Accoleia, also spelled Acoleia, Acculeia, and Aculeia, was a minor plebeian family at Rome during the latter part of the Republic.

[1] The origin of the nomen is uncertain, but the gens apparently shared its name with one of the thirty curiae, or wards, which formed divisions of the three Romulean tribes, suggesting that the family might have been of great antiquity, although if so it was exceedingly obscure.

One tradition states that the curiae were named after the Sabine women carried off in the time of Romulus.

This might account for the fact that the curia Acculeia carried out a sacrifice in honor of Angerona, the tutelary goddess of Rome itself, during the Angeronalia.

[3] A denarius issued by Publius Accoleius Lariscolus, pictured above, may represent the worship of Acca Larentia, although the figure has also been identified as that of Diana Nemorensis, depicted as a triple goddess.

Denarius issued by Publius Accoleius Lariscolus, 43 BC. The reverse is often identified as a depiction of Diana Nemorensis , but it may represent Acca Larentia , perhaps the legendary ancestor of the gens, and the source of its nomen.