Coin of Lucius Sestius,
consul suffectus in 23 BC

The gens Sestia (Sēstia)[1] was a minor patrician family at ancient Rome. The only member of this gens to obtain the consulship in the time of the Republic was Publius Sestius Capitolinus Vaticanus, in 452 BC.[2]

Origin

The nomen Sestius is sometimes confused with that of Sextius, and these families may in fact share a common origin; but Roman writers considered them distinct gentes.[2] If Sestius and Sextius are two forms of the same name, then Sestius is probably a patronymic surname, based on the common praenomen Sextus, meaning "sixth". The same name gave rise to the plebeian gens Sextilia.[3] The plebeian Sestii known from the later Republic may have been descendants of freedmen, or of Sestii who relinquished their patrician status.

Praenomina

The main praenomina used by the Sestii included Publius, Lucius, Vibius, and Titus. The Sestii are the only patrician family known to have used Vibius. Epigraphy also provides an example of the rare praenomen Faustus, although as it was borne by a freedwoman, it is unclear whether the name previously belonged to members of this ancient family.

Branches and cognomina

The only cognomen of the early Sestii is Capitolinus, presumably referring to the Capitoline Hill, where the family must originally have lived.[4] The consul of 452 BC bore the agnomen Vaticanus, apparently referring some association with the Vatican Hill, across the Tiber from the Capitol. Towards the end of the Republic, the surnames Pansa, meaning "splay-footed,"[5] and Gallus, a cock or a Gaul, are found.[6]

Members

This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.

See also

Notes

  1. Cicero calls him Lucius, but in the Capitoline Fasti, his grandson's filiation is P. f. Vibi n. The inconsistent names in Cicero and the Capitoline Fasti have led some to speculate that the grandson was a member of another family, although the substitution of a common praenomen for a rare one was quite common. Another explanation would be that the filiation in the Capitoline Fasti was "borrowed" from Sestius' ancestor, Publius Sestius Capitolinus Vaticanus, whose father and grandfather were named Publius and Vibius, respectively.

References

  1. Chapter 3, Charles E. Bennett (1907) The Latin Language – a historical outline of its sounds, inflections, and syntax. Allyn & Bacon, Boston.
  2. 1 2 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 795 ("Sestia Gens").
  3. Chase, p. 123.
  4. Chase, p. 114.
  5. Chase, p. 110.
  6. Cassell's Latin & English Dictionary, s.v. Gallus.
  7. Livy, iii. 32-34.
  8. Dionysius, x. 54.
  9. Festus, s. v. peculatus.
  10. Livy, iii. 33, 34.
  11. Livy, iv. 50.
  12. Cicero, Pro Sestio, 3.
  13. 1 2 Fasti Capitolini.
  14. Cicero, Epistulae ad Quintum Fratrem, ii. 11.
  15. Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, v. 17.
  16. Cicero, Pro Milone, 31.
  17. Syme, The Augustan Aristocracy, pp. 41, 383 ff.
  18. 1 2 CIL VI, 39714

Bibliography

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