Luta'tia Gens
plebeian.
The name is sometimes written in MSS. Luctatius as well as Lutatius: in the poets the
u in the latter form is short (
Sil. Ital. 6.687; Claudian,
in Eutrop. 1.455.)
This gens first became distinguished in Roman history by C. Lutatius Catulus, who was consul B. C. 242, the last year of the first Punic war. Its cognomens are CATULUS, CERCO, and PINTHIA; but
Cerco is the only cognomen which we find upon coins. The Lutatii had a burial-place (
sepulchrum Lutatiorum) beyond the Tiber, which is mentioned in B. C. 82. (
Oros. 5.21.)