Caesonia gens
The gens Caesonia was the name of two unrelated Roman families. The first was a plebeian family at Rome who emerged during the late Republic and extended into early imperial times.[1] The second were an Italian equestrian family who emerged during the second century AD.
Origin of the gens
The nomen Caesonius is a patronymic surname, based on the praenomen Caeso, which must have belonged to the ancestor of the gens.[2] The second and third century Caesonii were probably not related to the Republican gens; an equestrian family, it has been speculated that the later Caesonii had Italic roots, possibly hailing from Antium.[3] Sometime during the reign of the Severan Dynasty, the family had been elevated to Patrician status.
Members of the gens
- Marcus Caesonius, praetor, probably in 66 B.C.
- Milonia Caesonia, the last wife of the emperor Caligula.
- Caesonius Maximus, an ex-consul, and friend of Seneca the Younger, banished from Italy by the Emperor Nero in A.D. 66.[4][5]
- Gaius Caesonius Macer Rufinianus, suffect consul around 197/198
- Lucius Caesonius Lucillus Macer Rufinianus, suffect consul around 226/229
- Lucius Caesonius Ovinius Manlius Rufinianus Bassus, suffect consul twice, first around 260, the second in 284
- Caesonius Bassus, ordinary consul in 317
See also
Footnotes
- ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
- ^ George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897).
- ^ Mennen, Inge, Power and Status in the Roman Empire, AD 193-284 (2011), pgs. 55-56
- ^ Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales, xv. 72.
- ^ Marcus Valerius Martialis, Epigrams, vii. 44.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)