The gens Septimia was a minor plebs family at ancient Rome. The gens first appears in history towards the close of the Roman Republic, and they did not achieve much importance until the latter half of the second century, when Lucius Septimius Severus obtained the imperial dignity.[ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 784 ("").]
Origin
The nomen
Septimius is a patronymic surname, derived from the rare Latin
praenomen Septimus, originally given to a seventh child or seventh son, or to a child born in September, originally the seventh month of the
Roman calendar.
[Chase, pp. 150, 151.][Petersen, pp. 347, 348.] Several other gentes obtained their nomina in this way, including the
Quinctia gens from
Quintus, the
Sextia gens from
Sextus, and the
Octavia gens from
Octavius.
Praenomina
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.
Branches and cognomina
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, severe,"
Aper, a wild boar, and
Geta, referring to one of the
Getae, a
Thracians people.
[Chase, pp. 111, 114.][ Cassell's Latin and English Dictionary, s.v. severus.] All three
cognomen were associated with the imperial family. They were of
equites, and had probably lived in
Leptis Magna for some time, for
Statius addressed one of his poems to a certain Septimius Severus of that city.
[ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 806 ("").][Statius, Silvae, iv. 5, praefatio.]
Members
-
Titus Septimius Sabinus, aedile at some point following the consulship of Lucullus in 74 BC.
[Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis, xxxiv. 8. s. 19. § 35.]
-
Publius Septimius Scaevola, a Roman Senate, 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, but probably due instead to his actions during the trial of Oppianicus.
[Cicero, In Verrem, Act. i. 13, Pro Cluentio, 41.]
-
Septimius, a participant in the conspiracy of Catiline, who was sent into the Picenum in 63 BC.
[Sallust, The Conspiracy of Catiline, 27.]
-
Lucius Septimius, a centurion in the command of Pompey in 67 BC, during the war against the pirates. He then went to Egypt, where he served under Aulus Gabinius, and Gabiniani supporting Ptolemy XII Auletes and his successors. When Pompeius fled to Egypt after the Battle of Pharsalia, in 48 BC, Septimius slew his old commander.
[Cassius Dio, xlii. 3, 4, 38.][Caesar, De Bello Civili, iii. 104.][Plutarch, "The Life of Pompeius", 78.][Appian, Bellum Civile, ii. 84.]
-
Gaius Septimius, a secretary of the consul Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, in 59 BC.
[Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, ii. 24.]
-
Publius Septimius, gave evidence against Lucius Valerius Flaccus in 59 BC.
[Cicero, Pro Flacco, 4, 35.]
-
Gaius Septimius, as praetor in 57 BC, supported recalling Cicero from exile. He was an augur in 45 BC.
[Cicero, Post Reditum in Senatu, 9, Epistulae ad Atticum, xii. 13, 14.]
-
Publius Septimius, had served as quaestor under Marcus Terentius Varro, who sent him three volumes of his treatise De Lingua Latina. Vitruvius speaks of him in connection with Varro, indicating that this Septimius is probably the author of two books on architecture.
[Varro, De Lingua Latina, v. 1, vii. 109, ed. Müller.][Vitruvius, De Architectura, vii. praefatio, p. 194, ed. Bipont Editions.]
-
Septimia, the wife of Sicca, a friend of Cicero.
[Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, xiv. 11.]
-
Septimius, proscribed by the Second Triumvirate in 43 BC, as his wife was carrying on an affair with one of Antonius' friends. Not realizing his wife's treachery, Septimius fled to her house, where she detained him until his murderers arrived.
[Appian, Bellum Civile, iv. 23.]
-
Septimius, a friend of Augustus, and of the poet Horace, who dedicated one of his odes to Septimius.
[Horace, Carmen Saeculare, ii. 6, Epistulae, i. 9.][Suetonius, "The Life of Horatius".]
-
Septimius, one of a number of centurions slain in a soldiers' revolt in Germania, following the death of Augustus. He appealed to the legate, Aulus Caecina, for protection, but the soldiers were so insistent on Septimius' fate that the legate eventually yielded to their demands.
[Tacitus, Annales, i. 32.]
-
Septimius, a soldier in the Praetorian Guard who attempted to protect the praetorian prefect Nymphidius Sabinus from harm when his men deserted him, and declared their allegiance to Galba in AD 68. Septimius deflected a lance aimed at Nymphidius with his shield, but when other soldiers attacked, the prefect fled for his life, until he was cut down by his pursuers.
[Plutarch, "The Life of Galba", 14.]
-
Aulus Septimius Serenus, a lyric poet, of whom only brief fragments are preserved. His subject matter appears to have consisted largely of rural topics.
[Terentianus, p. 2427 (ed. Putschius).][Servius, Ad Virgilii Aeneidem, ii. 15.][Jerome, "Epistula ad Paulinum", 7.][Sidonius Apollinaris, "Epistula ad Polem. Carm. ix. ad Fel."][Wernsdorf, Poëtae Latini Minores, vol. ii, pp. 247, 279.][ Anthologia Latina, i. 27, iii. 57, 191, 192 (ed. Meyer).]
-
Gaius Septimius Vegetus, governor of Egypt from AD 85 to 88.
[Bastianini, "Lista dei prefetti d'Egitto", p. 277.]
-
Quintus Septimius Romanus, the author of a Latin translation of the Dictys Cretensis, a history of the Trojan War, ostensibly written either in Phoenician, or in Greek using the Phoenician alphabet, and translated into ordinary Greek during the reign of Nero.
[ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, pp. 1002–1004 ("").]
-
Lucius Septimius Flaccus, consul suffectus in AD 183.
[.]
-
Septimius, said by Aelius Lampridius to have written a life of Alexander Severus, which he treated as an authority for his own biography of the emperor.
[Lampridius, "The Life of Alexander Severus", 17, 48.]
-
Tertullian, an early Christian writer, who exposited the doctrine of the Trinity.
[ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, pp. 1006–1012 ("").]
Septimii Apri, Severi et Getae
-
Marcus Septimius Aper, probably the great-grandfather of Lucius Septimius Severus, the emperor.
[Birley, Septimius Severus, pp. 218 ff.][Birley, Septimius Severus, Appendix B, No. 23.]
-
Septimius Severus, a wealthy eques at Leptis Magna in Africa Proconsularis, to whom Statius addressed one of his poems. He is probably the Lucius Septimius Severus who was sufet and duumvir at Leptis Magna.
-
Lucius Septimius (M. f.) Severus, grandfather of the emperor Septimius Severus, shophet and subsequently duumviri of Leptis Magna during the reign of Trajan.
[Reynolds & Ward-Perkins, Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania, 412.][Birley, Septimius Severus, Appendix B, No. 26.]
-
Gaius Claudius Septimius Aper or Afer, probably the brother of the duumvir Lucius Septimius Severus.
[Birley, Septimius Severus, Appendix B, No. 16.]
-
Publius Septimius L. f. M. n. Geta, father of the emperor Septimius Severus.
[Augustan History, Septimius Severus, 1.][Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, viii. 19493.][Birley, Septimius Severus, Appendix B, No. 20.][ PIR, S. 328.]
-
Septimia L. f. M. n. Polla, a sister of Publius Septimius Geta, and aunt of the emperor Septimius Severus. She never married, but her brother set up a silver statue in her honour.
[Birley, p. 214.]
-
Publius Septimius Aper, probably a cousin of the emperor Septimius Severus, was consul suffectus in July of AD 153.
[.][Birley, Septimius Severus, Appendix B, No. 15.][ PIR, S. 319.]
-
Gaius Septimius C. f. Severus, a cousin of the emperor Septimius Severus, and perhaps the son of Gaius Claudius Septimius Aper, was consul suffectus in AD 160.
[Birley, Septimius Severus, Appendix B, No. 25.]
-
Lucius Septimius P. f. L. n. Severus, emperor from AD 193 to 211.
[Cassius Dio, lxxiv–lxxvi.][Herodian, ii–iii.][Spartianus, "The Life of Septimius Severus".][Eutropius, viii.][Aurelius Victor, De Caesaribus, xx.][Orosius, vii. 17.]
-
Publius Septimius P. f. L. n. Geta, brother of the emperor Septimius Severus, was consul suffectus about AD 191, and ordinarius in 203. He seems to have died during or shortly after the end of his consulship. On his deathbed, he warned his brother of the treachery of Gaius Fulvius Plautianus, the praetorian prefect.
[Birley, Septimius Severus, Appendix B, No. 21.][ PIR, S. 326.]
-
Septimia P. f. L. n. Octavilla, sister of the emperor Septimius Severus. She may have been the mother of Lucius Flavius Septimius Aper Octavianus, whose career is detailed in an early third-century inscription from Rome, on a monument set up by his daughter, Flavia Neratia Septimia Octavilla.
[.][Birley, Septimius Severus, Appendix B, Nos. 8, 9, 17.]
-
Lucius or Gaius Septimius Severus Aper, a native of Leptis Magna, and probably the grandson of Publius Septimius Aper, consul in AD 153, was consul in 207. He is probably same person known as Afer in the Historia Augusta, described as a cousin of the emperor Caracalla, who abruptly ordered his execution at the end of 211 or 212.
[Spartianus, "The Life of Caracalla", 3.][ PIR, S. 311.]
-
Caracalla, better known as Caracalla, was emperor with his father Septimius Severus from AD 198 to 211, with his brother Geta from 209 to 212, and sole emperor from 212 to 217.
[Spartianus, "The Life of Caracalla".]
-
Publius Septimius L. f. P. n. Geta, the emperor's younger son, was elevated to the rank of Augustus emperor alongside his father, from AD 209 to 211, and then his brother Caracalla from 211 to 212, when he was murdered on his brother's orders.
[Spartianus, "The Life of Geta".]
-
Lucius Septimius (Severus), probably the son of Aper or Afer, the ex-consul put to death by Caracalla, and the grandfather of Septimius Bassus.
-
Lucius Septimius L. f. Severus, the father of Septimius Bassus, the praefectus urbi.
-
Septimius Bassus, praefectus urbi from at least 317 to 319.
[ PLRE, vol. I, p. 157.]
See also
Notes
Bibliography
-
Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Civili (Commentaries on the Civil War).
-
Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, In Verrem, Post Reditum in Senatu, Pro Cluentio, Pro Flacco.
-
Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust), Bellum Catilinae (The Conspiracy of Catiline).
-
Marcus Terentius Varro, De Lingua Latina (On the Latin Language).
-
Vitruvius, De architectura (On Architecture).
-
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (Horace), Carmen Saeculare, Epistulae.
-
Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder), Historia Naturalis (Natural History).
-
Statius, Silvae.
-
Tacitus, Annales.
-
Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (Plutarch), Parallel Lives.
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Suetonius, De Poetis (Lives of the Poets).
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Appianus Alexandrinus (Appian), Bellum Civile (The Civil War).
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Terentianus, De Litteris, Syllabis, Pedibus, et Metris.
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Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (Cassius Dio), Roman History.
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, Tes Meta Marcon Basileas Istoria (History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus Aurelius).
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Aelius Lampridius, Aelius Spartianus, Flavius Vopiscus, Julius Capitolinus, Trebellius Pollio, and Vulcatius Gallicanus, Historia Augusta (Lives of the Emperors).
-
Eutropius, Breviarium Historiae Romanae (Abridgement of the History of Rome).
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Aurelius Victor, De Caesaribus (On the Caesars).
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Maurus Servius Honoratus (Servius), Ad Virgilii Aeneidem Commentarii (Commentary on Vergil's Aeneid).
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Orosius, Historiarum Adversum Paganos (History Against the Pagans).
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Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus (Jerome), Epistulae.
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Pieter Burmann, Latin Anthology (Latin Anthology), ed. Wernsdorf, (1759–1778).
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Johann Christian Wernsdorf, Poëtae Latini Minores (Minor Latin Poets), Altenburg, Helmstedt (1780–1799).
-
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).
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Theodor Mommsen et alii, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated CIL), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present).
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Paul von Rohden, Elimar Klebs, & Hermann Dessau, Prosopographia Imperii Romani (The Prosopography of the Roman Empire, abbreviated PIR), Berlin (1898).
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Joyce M. Reynolds, J. B. Ward-Perkins, The Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania, British School at Rome (1952).
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Hans Petersen, "The Numeral Praenomina of the Romans", in Transactions of the American Philological Association, vol. xciii, pp. 347–354 (1962).
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D.P. Simpson, Cassell's Latin and English Dictionary, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York (1963).
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A. H. M. Jones & J. R. Martindale, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (abbreviated PLRE), Cambridge University Press (1971–1992).
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Guido Bastianini, " Lista dei prefetti d'Egitto dal 30a al 299p" (List of the Prefects of Egypt from 30 BC to AD 299), in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, vol. 17 (1975).
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Anthony Birley, Septimius Severus: The African Emperor (revised ed.), Yale University Press, New Haven (1988).
