Sestia (gens)

The gens Sestia was a family at Rome. The gens was originally patrician, but in later times there were also plebeian members. The only member of the family to obtain the consulship under the Republic was Publius Sestius Capitolinus Vaticanus, in 452 BC.[1]

Coin of Lucius Sestius,
consul suffectus in 23 BC

Origin

The nomen Sestius is frequently confounded with that of Sextius, and the two names may originally have been the same; but the ancient writers evidently regarded them as two distinct names. If they are in fact 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.[2]

Praenomina

The praenomina used by the Sestii included Publius, Lucius, Vibius, and Titus. The Sestii are the only patrician family known to have used Vibius.[3]

Branches and cognomina

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

Members

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

• Vibius Sestius Capitolinus, grandfather of Publius Sestius Capitolinus, the consul of 452 BC.
• Publius Sestius V. f. Capitolinus, father of Publius, the consul of 452 BC.
• Publius Sestius P. f. V. n. Capitolinus Vaticanus, consul in 452 BC; the following year, he was one of the decemvirs charged with drawing up the first ten tables of Roman law.[6][7][8]
• Publius Sestius, accused of murder by Gaius Julius Iulus, one of the decemvirs, in 451 BC; apparently a different man from the decemvir Capitolinus.[9]
• Publius Sestius, quaestor in 414 BC.[10]
• Lucius Sestius, tribune of the plebs, probably early in the first century BC. Cicero calls him Lucius, but in the Capitoline Fasti, his grandson's filiation is P. f. Vibi n.[11][12]
• Publius Sestius L. f., praetor in 53 BC; he was a friend and ally of Cicero, by whom he was defended in 56. He was with Pompeius on the outbreak of the Civil War, but subsequently went over to Caesar, who sent him into Cappadocia in 48 BC.
• Lucius Sestius Pansa, made a demand resisted by Quintus Tullius Cicero in 54 BC.[13]
• Publius Sestius P. f., to whom Cicero wrote circa 53 BC, had been condemned for an unknown offense.[14]
• Titus Sestius Gallus, owned the land where Publius Clodius Pulcher was slain in 52 BC.[15]
• Lucius Sestius P. f. L. n., consul suffectus in 23 BC.

See also

• List of Roman gentes
• Sextia (gens)

References

1. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
2. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
3. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
4. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
5. D.P. Simpson, Cassell's Latin & English Dictionary (1963).
6. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, iii. 32-34.
7. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Romaike Archaiologia, x. 54.
8. Sextus Pompeius Festus, epitome of Marcus Verrius Flaccus, De Verborum Significatu, s. v. peculatus.
9. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, iii. 33, 34.
10. Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, iv. 50.
11. Fasti Capitolini.
12. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Sestio, 3. 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.
13. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Quintum Fratrem, ii. 11.
14. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares, v. 17.
15. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Milone, 31.

 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.