Septimia (gens)

The gens Septimia was a plebeian family at Rome. The gens first appears in history towards the close of the Republic, and they did not achieve much importance until the latter half of the 2nd century, when Lucius Septimius Severus obtained the imperial dignity.^[1]

Origin of the gens

The nomen Septimius is a patronymic surname, derived from the praenomen Septimus. Several other gentes obtained their nomina in this way, including the Quinctii from Quintus, the Sextii from Sextus, and the Octavii from Octavius.^[1]

Praenomina used by the gens

The chief praenomina of the Septimii were Publius, Lucius, Gaius, and Titus. There are a few instances of other names, including Aulus, Marcus, and Quintus. The ancestor of the family must have been named Septimus, although none of the members who are known to history bore this praenomen.^[1][2]

Branches and cognomina of the gens

The Septimii of the Republic were not clearly divided into separate families. A number of surnames are found at various periods, of which the most notable are Severus, meaning "stern, serious," or "severe," and Geta, referring to one of the Getae, a Thracian people. Both cognomina were associated with the imperial family of the late 2nd and early 3rd century. Severus had been borne by one of the Septimii early in the 1st century BC, but it was a common surname, and it is not known whether the imperial family was descended from that Septimius Severus.^[1][3]

Members of the gens

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

• Publius Septimius Scaevola, a senator, who was one of the judges allegedly bribed by Aulus Cluentius Habitus in order to obtain the condemnation of Statius Albius Oppianicus in 74 BC. Septimius was condemned two years later, ostensibly on a charge of repetundae, or extortion.^[4]
• Septimius, one of the conspirators of Catiline, who was sent into the ager Picenus in 63 BC.^[5]
• Titus Septimius Severus, curule aedile, apparently after the consulship of Lucullus, in 74 BC.^[6]
• Lucius Septimius, a centurion under Pompeius during the war against the pirates, in 67 BC, and afterward under Aulus Gabinius in Egypt; after the Battle of Pharsalia, in 48 BC, he slew his old commander.
• Gaius Septimius, a secretary of the consul Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, in 59 BC.^[7]
• Publius Septimius, one of the witnesses against Lucius Valerius Flaccus, in 59 BC.^[8]
• Gaius Septimius, praetor in 57 BC, supported Cicero's recall from banishment. He was an augur in 45 BC.^[9]
• Publius Septimius, the quaestor of Marcus Terentius Varro, who sent him three books of De Lingua Latina. Septimius is probably the same man who wrote two books on architecture, as his name is mentioned by Vitruvius in connection with Varro's.^[10][11]
• Septimia, the wife of Sicca, a friend of Cicero.^[12]
• Septimius, proscribed by the triumvirs in 43 BC, he was betrayed by his wife to the assassins.^[13]
• Septimius, a friend of the poet Horatius, who dedicated to him one of his odes. In a letter to Horatius, Augustus refers to him as Septimius noster, "our Septimius".^[14][15]
• Septimius, a centurion slain by the soldiers in Germania, when they revolted at the commencement of the reign of Tiberius.^[16]
• Aulus Septimius Serenus, a lyric poet, whose subject matter concerned mainly rural pursuits.
• Septimius, the author of a life of Alexander Severus, which Lampridius referred to as an authority.^[17]
• Quintus Septimius, the translator of a work on the Trojan War, bearing the name of Dictys Cretensis.
• Lucius Septimius Flaccus, consul suffectus in AD 183.
• Publius Septimius Geta, father of the emperor Septimius Severus.^[18][19]
• Lucius Septimius P. f. Severus, emperor from AD 193 to 211.
• Lucius Septimius L. f. P. n. Bassianus, the elder son of Septimius Severus, better known as Caracalla; emperor with his father from AD 198 to 211, and sole emperor from 211 to 217.
• Publius Septimius L. f. P. n. Geta, the younger son of Septimius Severus; emperor with his father from AD 209 to 211.
• Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, an early Christian writer, who exposited the doctrine of the Trinity.

See also

• List of Roman gentes

Footnotes

1. 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. Marcus Tullius Cicero, In Verrem, Act. i. 13, Pro Cluentio, 41.
5. Gaius Sallustius Crispus, The Conspiracy of Catiline, 27.
6. Gaius Plinius Secundus, Historia Naturalis, xxxiv. 8. s. 19. § 35.
7. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, ii. 24.
8. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Flacco, 4, 35.
9. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Post Reditum in Senatu, 9, Epistulae ad Atticum, xii. 13, 14.
10. Marcus Terentius Varro, De Lingua Latina libri XXV, v. 1, vii. 109, ed. Müller.
11. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, De Architectura, vii. Praef. p. 194, ed. Bip.
12. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, xiv. 11.
13. Appianus, Bellum Civile, iv. 23.
14. Quintus Horatius Flaccus, Carmen Saeculare, ii. 6, Epistulae, i. 9.
15. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, Horatius.
16. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales, i. 32.
17. Aelius Lampridius, Alexander Severus, 17, 48.
18. Aelius Spartianus, Septimius Severus, 1.
19. Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, viii. 19493.

 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.