Sextia (gens)

The gens Sextia was a plebeian family at Rome, from the time of the early Republic and continuing into imperial times. The most famous member of the gens was Lucius Sextius Lateranus, who as tribune of the plebs from 376 to 367 BC, prevented the election of the annual magistrates, until the passage of the lex Licinia Sextia, otherwise known as the "Licinian Rogations," in the latter year. This law, brought forward by Sextius and his colleague, Gaius Licinius Calvus, opened the consulship to the plebeians, and in the following year Sextius was elected the first plebeian consul. Despite the antiquity of the family, only one other member obtained the consulship during the time of the Republic. Their name occurs more often in the consular fasti under the Empire.[1][2]

Origin of the gens

The nomen Sextius is a patronymic surname, derived from the praenomen Sextus, meaning "sixth", which must have belonged to the ancestor of the gens. It is frequently confounded with that of the patrician gens Sestia, and in fact the two families may originally have been the same; however, Roman authors considered them distinct gentes. The plebeian gens Sextilia was derived from the same praenomen.[1]

Praenomina used by the gens

The Sextii used a variety of praenomina, including Marcus, Gaius, Lucius, Publius, Quintus, and Titus, all of which were very common throughout Roman history. There are early examples of Sextus, the praenomen that gave the family its name, and perhaps also of Numerius. Some of the Sextii also used the praenomen Vibius, a name that was also used by the patrician Sestii, suggesting that the two gentes may indeed have shared a common origin.[1][3]

Branches and cognomina of the gens

Most of the Sextii under the Republic bore no surname, or else had only personal cognomina, instead of family-names. These included Baculus, Calvinus, Lateranus, Naso, Paconianus, and Sabinus.[1]

Members of the gens

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

Sextii Laterani

Sextii Calvini

See also

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
  2. 1 2 Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, vi. 34-42.
  3. Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft.
  4. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, iv. 49.
  5. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, xxx. 26, 27.
  6. Gaius Sallustius Crispus, Jugurthine War, 29.
  7. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Brutus, 48.
  8. Marcus Tullius Cicero, In Verrem, iii. 67, v. 45, 54.
  9. Gaius Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico, ii. 25, iii. 5, vi. 38.
  10. Appianus, Bellum Civile, ii. 113.
  11. Aulus Hirtius, De Bello Alexandrino, 55.
  12. Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac Dictorum Memorabilium libri IX, ix. 4. § 2. Valerius Maximus calls him Marcus Silius.
  13. Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, 64, 73, 98, De Ira, iii. 36.
  14. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales, vi. 3, 4, 39.
  15. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales, vi. 29.
  16. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales, xiii. 19, xiv. 46.
  17. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales, xvi. 10, 11.
  18. 1 2 3 Fasti Capitolini.
  19. Sextius' praenomen is uncertain. His grandson's filiation in the Capitoline Fasti is given as Sex. f. N. n. Sex. tin. Lateran. Some scholars interpret Sex. tin. as an additional cognomen, Sextinus, while others suggest that the inscription should be read Sexti n. see T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic (1952).
  20. Mennen, Power and Status of the Roman Empire, AD 193-284
  21. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita Epitome, 61.
  22. Strabo, Geographica, iv. p. 180.
  23. Marcus Velleius Paterculus, Compendium of Roman History, i. 15.
  24. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Brutus, 34.
  25. Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Oratore, ii. 60, 61.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "article name needed". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 

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