Lentulus, the name of a Roman patrician family of the Cornelian gens, derived from lentes (lentils), which its oldest members were fond of cultivating (according to Pliny, Nat. Hist. xviii. 3, 10). The word Lentulitas ("Lentulism"; cf. Appietas) is coined by Cicero (Ad Fam. iii. 7, 5 ) to express the attributes of a pronounced aristocrat. The three first of the name were L. Cornelius Lentulus (consul 327 BC), Servius Cornelius Lentulus (consul 303) and L. Cornelius Lentulus Caudinus (consul 275). Their connection with the later Lentuli (especially those of the Ciceronian period) is very obscure and difficult to establish. The following members of the family deserve mention.
- Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus, consul 146 BC
- Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus, consul 72 BC
- Publius Cornelius Lentulus (Sura), consul 71 BC
- Publius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, consul 57 BC
- Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Crus, consul 49 BC
See also Publius Lentulus, fictitious governor of Jerusalem, supposedly the author of an epistle describing Jesus.