Cestia (gens)

The gens Cestia was a plebeian family at Rome during the later Republic, and in imperial times. The first member of the gens to obtain the consulship was Gaius Cestius Gallus in AD 35. The family's name is commemorated on two monuments, the Pons Cestius and the Pyramid of Cestius which survive into modern times.^[1]

Praenomina used by the gens

The praenomina used by the Cestii included Gaius, Lucius, Numerius, Publius, and Titus. Except for Numerius, all of these were among the most common names throughout Roman history.^[1][2]

Branches and cognomina of the gens

The Cestii do not appear to have been divided into distinct families. The cognomina Gallus, Macedonicus, Proculus, and Severus were probably personal surnames, as was Pius, a rhetorician and a native of Smyrna, who was perhaps a freedman of the gens. Gallus may refer to a cock, or to one of the Gauls. Macedonicus alluded to the military service of one of the Cestii in Macedonia, while Proculus was an old praenomen that came to be used as a surname in many families. Severus was a common surname meaning "grave, serious," or "severe", while Pius referred to a person known for being dutiful or pious.^[1][3]

Members of the gens

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

• Lucius Cestius, father of the Gaius Cestius for whom the Pyramid of Cestius was erected. A Lucius Cestius, perhaps the same person, was triumvir monetalis circa 43 BC.^[4]
• Gaius Cestius, praetor in 44 BC, he belonged to the aristocratic party, and refused the offer of a province from Marcus Antonius. He may be the same as the Gaius Cestius mentioned by Cicero in a letter to Atticus in 51, and the Cestius mentioned in the oration Pro Flacco in 59. He is probably the Cestius who perished in the proscriptions of 43 BC.^[5][6]
• Cestius Macedonicus, a native of Perusia, acquired his surname on account of his service in Macedonia. When Perusia was taken by Octavianus in 41 BC, he set fire to his house, stabbed himself, and leaped into the flames.^[7][8]
• Gaius Cestius L. f., served as epulo, praetor, and tribune of the plebs. The Pyramid of Cestius was erected in his honor, apparently during the reign of Augustus. It has been conjectured that he was the same as one of the Cestii mentioned by Cicero.
• Lucius Cestius Pius, a rhetorician, and native of Smyrna, who lived in the latter half of the 1st century BC Neither Seneca nor Quintilian speaks of him with any respect.^{[9][10][11][12]}
• Gaius Cestius Gallus, surnamed Camerinus, a senator, and consul in AD 35.^[13][14][15]
• Gaius Cestius C. f. Gallus, governor of Syria, he failed to quash the revolt of the Jews circa AD 64 and 65, and was removed from his command. He apparently died before the arrival of his successor.^[16][17][18]
• Cestius Proculus, was accused of repetundae in AD 56, but acquitted.^[19]
• Cestius Severus, an infamous informer in the reign of Nero.^[20]

See also

• List of Roman gentes

Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b c} Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
2. ^ Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft.
3. ^ D.P. Simpson, Cassell's Latin & English Dictionary (1963).
4. ^ Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum, v. p. 169.
5. ^ Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Flacco, 13, Epistulae ad Atticum, v. 13, Philippicae, iii. 10.
6. ^ Appianus, Bellum Civile, iv. 26.
7. ^ Appianus, Bellum Civile, v. 49.
8. ^ Marcus Velleius Paterculus, Compendium of Roman History, ii. 74.
9. ^ Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus, ap. Chron. Euseb. ad. Ol. (translation and supplement to the Chronicon of Eusebius), cxci.
10. ^ Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Controversiae, iii. praef., Suasoriae, vii.
11. ^ Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, Institutio Oratoria, x. 5. § 20.
12. ^ Meyer, Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta.
13. ^ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales, iii. 36, vi. 7, 31.
14. ^ Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History, lviii. 25.
15. ^ Gaius Plinius Secundus, Historia Naturalis, x. 43.
16. ^ Flavius Josephus, The Life of Flavius Josephus, § 43, Bellum Judaicum, ii. 14. § 3, 16. §§ 1, 2, 18. §§ 9, 10, 19. §§ 1-9, 20. § 1, iii. 1.
17. ^ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Historiae, v. 10.
18. ^ Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum, "Vespasian," 4.
19. ^ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales, iv. 41.
20. ^ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Historiae, iv. 41.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).