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]

Origin

The nomen Cestius seems to be derived from the cognomen Cestus, referring to an open-fingered boxing glove, or to a girdle. The Cestii probably of Latin origin.[2] Although the surname Gallus, borne by two of the family, might point to a Gallic origin, another surname of the Cestii, Camerinus, suggests that the Cestii might have claimed descent from the ancient Latin city of Cameria.[3] At least two other prominent families, the Sulpicii and the Coruncanii, seem to have come from Cameria.[4] However, the name might also indicate that some of the Cestii claimed descent from the great patrician house of the Sulpicii, who had long used this surname.[5]

Praenomina

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.

Branches and cognomina

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 refers to a cockerel, or to someone of Gallic extraction. 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.[6]

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

Cestii Galli

Others
  • 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.[16]
  • 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.[17][18]
  • Cestius Macedonicus, a native of Perusia, acquired his surname on account of his service in Macedonia. When Perusia was taken by Octavian in 41 BC, he determined to destroy himself by fire, and setting his house ablaze, stabbed himself, then leaped into the flames. The fire spread to adjacent structures, ultimately destroying much of the town.[19][20]
  • Gaius Cestius L. f., praetor, tribune of the plebs, and member of the septemviri epulones. The Pyramid of Cestius was erected in his honor, apparently during the reign of Augustus. He may be identical with one of the Cestii mentioned by Cicero.
  • Lucius Cestius Pius, a native of Smyrna, who taught rhetoric at Rome, and was known for replying to Cicero with public speeches of his own. He is mentioned by both Seneca and Quintilian, neither of whom held a high opinion of him.[21][22][23][24]
  • Cestius Cordus, governor of Creta et Cyrenaica circa AD 21.
  • Numerius Cestius, consul suffectus in AD 55, succeeding the emperor Nero on the Kalends of March, and serving until the Kalends of May.[25][26]
  • Cestius Proculus, was accused of repetundae in AD 56, but acquitted.[27]
  • Cestius Severus, a notorious delator during the reign of Nero.[28]
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See also

References
  1. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, pp. 674, 675 ("Cestius").
  2. Chase, pp. 129–132.
  3. Chase, pp. 113, 114.
  4. Tacitus, Annales, xi. 24.
  5. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 590 ("Camerinus")
  6. Cassell's Latin & English Dictionary.
  7. Tacitus, Annales, iii. 36, vi. 7, 31.
  8. Cassius Dio, lviii. 25.
  9. Pliny the Elder, x. 43.
  10. Josephus, Vita Flavii Josephi, § 43, Bellum Judaicum, ii. 14. § 3, 16. §§ 1, 2, 18. §§ 9, 10, 19. §§ 1-9, 20. § 1, iii. 1.
  11. Tacitus, Historiae, v. 10.
  12. Suetonius, "The Life of Vespasian," 4.
  13. CIL X, 3722
  14. Anthony Birley, The Fasti of Roman Britain (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981), pp. 258f
  15. CIL X, 7506
  16. Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum, v. p. 169.
  17. Cicero, Pro Flacco, 13, Epistulae ad Atticum, v. 13, Philippicae, iii. 10.
  18. Appian, Bellum Civile, iv. 26.
  19. Appian, Bellum Civile, v. 49.
  20. Velleius Paterculus, ii. 74.
  21. St. Jerome, In Chronicon Eusebii, cxci.
  22. Seneca the Elder, Controversiae, iii. praef., Suasoriae, vii.
  23. Quintilian, x. 5. § 20.
  24. Meyer, Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta.
  25. CIL IV, 5513.
  26. Gallivan, "The Fasti for the Reign of Nero", p. 290.
  27. Tacitus, Annales, iv. 41.
  28. Tacitus, Historiae, iv. 41.

Bibliography
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