The gens Antonia was a Roman family of great antiquity, with both patrician and plebeian branches. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Titus Antonius Merenda, one of the second group of Decemviri called, in 450 BC, to help draft what became the Law of the Twelve Tables. The most prominent member of the gens was Marcus Antonius. Origin Marcus Antonius, the triumvir, claimed that his gens was descended from Anton, a son of Heracles. According to ancient traditions the Antonii were Heracleidae and because of that Marcus Antonius harnessed lions to his chariot to commemorate his descent from Heracles, and many of his coins bore a lion for the same reason. Praenomina The patrician Antonii used the praenomina Titus and Quintus. Titus does not appear to have been used by the plebeian Antonii, who instead used Quintus, Marcus, Lucius, and Gaius. There is also a few instance of Aulus, while Marcus Antonius the triumvir named one of his sons Iulus. This name, also borne by a later descendant of the triumvir, may have been an ancient praenomen revived by the family, but it was probably also intended to call to mind the connections of his family with the illustrious gens Julia. Branches and cognomina The patrician Antonii bear the cognomen Merenda; the plebeian Antonii bear no surname under the Republic, with the exception of Quintus Antonius, propraetor in Sardinia in the time of Sulla, who is called Balbus on coins. Members Titus Antonius Merenda, Decemvir in 450 BC, defeated by the Aequi on Mount Algidus. Quintus Antonius T. f. Merenda, consular tribune in 422 BC. Marcus Antonius, magister equitum in 333 BC. Lucius Antonius, expelled from the Senate by the censors in 307 BC for divorcing his wife. Quintus Antonius, one of the officers in the fleet under the praetor Lucius Aemilius Regillus, in the war with Antiochus the Great, in 190 BC. Aulus Antonius, sent by the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus, with two others to Perseus, after the defeat of the latter, in 168 BC. Marcus Antonius, tribune of the plebs in 167 BC, opposed the bill introduced by the praetor Marcus Juventius Thalna for declaring war against the Rhodians. Lucius Antonius, defended by Cato the Elder circa 150 BC. Gaius Antonius, 2nd-century BC moneyer, was for many years incorectly assumed to have been the father of the orator and consul of 99 BC. Marcus Antonius