The gens Laecania or Lecania was a minor

plebeian In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words " commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of ...

family at ancient Rome. Members of this

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same Roman naming conventions#Nomen, nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (p ...

first appear in history during the reign of Tiberius. The first to attain the consulship was

Gaius Laecanius Bassus Gaius Laecanius Bassus was a Roman senator, who was active during the Principate. He was consul ''ordinarius'' for the year 64 AD with Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi as his colleague. Originally from Pola in Istria, where his family owned importa ...

in AD 40.

Origin

The nomen ''Laecanius'' seems to belong to a class of gentilicia formed using the sufix ''-anius'', typically derived from

cognomina A ''cognomen'' (; plural ''cognomina''; from ''con-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became here ...

ending in ''-anus'', or derived from other "a-stem" words. The name might be derived from the surname ''Laeca'', which was used by a family of the Porcia gens, or from the same root.

Branches and cognomina

The only important family of the Laecanii bore the cognomen ''Bassus'', originally indicating someone stout.

Members

Laecanii Bassi

* Gaius Laecanius Bassus, praetor ''urbanus'' in AD 32, and consul in 40.''PIR'', vol. II, pp. 259, 260. * Gaius Laecanius (C. f.) Bassus, consul in AD 64. *

Gaius Laecanius Bassus Caecina Paetus Gaius Laecanius Bassus Caecina Paetus was a Roman senator of the early Roman Empire, whose known career flourished under the reign of Vespasian. He was suffect consul in the '' nundinium'' of November to December AD 70 as the colleague of Lucius ...

, probably one of the Caecinae adopted into the Lecania gens, was consul ''suffectus'' for the months of November and December in AD 70. He was governor of Asia from 80 to 81. * Gaius Laecanius C. f. Bassus Caecina Flaccus, probably the son of Gaius Laecanius Bassus Caecina Paetus, the consul of AD 70, was buried at Brundisium in

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, aged eighteen. * Gaius Lecanius C. f. Bassus Paccius Paelignus, named in an inscription from Rome. * Quintus Laecanius Bassus, mentioned by Pliny the Elder as a contemporary who died after puncturing a carbuncle on his left hand. Possibly the same person as ''Gaius'' Laecanius Bassus, the consul of AD 64. * Laecania, a woman whom

Martial Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...

contrasted with Thaïs in one of his

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

s. Thaïs is said to have had black teeth, Laecania white; the reason being that Laecania wore false teeth, while Thaïs still had her own.

Others

* Lecanius or Laecanius, a soldier in the year of the four emperors, AD 69, and one of several persons said to have given

Galba Galba (; born Servius Sulpicius Galba; 24 December 3 BC – 15 January AD 69) was the sixth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 68 to 69. After his adoption by his stepmother, and before becoming emperor, he was known as Livius Ocella Sulpicius Ga ...

his death-blow. *

Lecanius Areius Lecanius Areius ( grc, Λεκάνιος Ἄρειος) was a Greek physician who probably lived in or before the first century CE, as one of his medical formulae is quoted by the Roman court physician Andromachus, work wrote in the 1st century. Le ...

, a Greek physician, who probably lived in or before the first century AD. Few details of his life are known, but he was quoted in at least one passage by Galen, and perhaps on several subsequent occasions, although his identification is uncertain. He may have written on the life of Hippocrates. * Laecanius Vitalianus, husband of Faminia Novatilla, and father of Gaius Laecanius Novatillianus. * Gaius Laecanius Novatillianus, subprefect of the vigiles in the early third century AD, was the son of Laecanius Vitalianus and Faminia Novatilla, and father of Laecanius Novatillianus and Laecanius Volusianus., , , , . * Laecanius C. f. Novatillianus, son of Gaius Laecanius Novatillianus, and brother of Laecanius Volusianus.. * Laecanius C. f. Volusianus, son of Gaius Laecanius Novatillianus, and brother of the younger Laecanius Novatillianus.

References

Bibliography

* Gaius Plinius Secundus ( Pliny the Elder), '' Naturalis Historia'' (Natural History). *

Marcus Valerius Martialis Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...

(

), ''Epigrammata'' (Epigrams). * Publius Cornelius Tacitus, '' Annales, Historiae''. * Plutarchus, '' Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans''. * Pedanius Dioscorides, '' De Materia Medica'' (On Medical Subjects). * Soranus of Ephesus, ''The Life of Hippocrates''. * Aelius Galenus, ''De Compositione Medicamentorum per Genera'' (On the Composition of Medications According to their Kind), ''De Compositione Medicamentorum Secundum Locos Conscriptorum'' (On the Composition of Medications According to the Place Prescribed). * '' Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). * Theodor Mommsen ''et alii'', ''

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum The ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (''CIL'') is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw ...

'' (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated ''CIL''), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present). * René Cagnat ''et alii'', '' L'Année épigraphique'' (The Year in Epigraphy, abbreviated ''AE''), Presses Universitaires de France (1888–present). * George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'', vol. VIII, pp. 103–184 (1897). *

Paul von Rohden Paul von Rohden (12 December 1862, Barmen – 28 February 1939, Pieterlen) was a German-Swiss schoolteacher and historian known for his research in the field of prosopography. He was the son of theologian Ludwig von Rohden (1815–1889) and the bro ...

Elimar Klebs Elimar Klebs (15 October 1852 – 16 May 1918) was a German historian of ancient history. He was the brother of botanist Georg Klebs. Biography Klebs was born in Braunsberg (Braniewo), Prussia. He studied in Berlin under Theodor Mommsen a ...

, &

Hermann Dessau Hermann Dessau (6 April 1856, Frankfurt am Main – 12 April 1931, Berlin) was a German ancient historian and epigrapher. He is noted for a key work of textual criticism published in 1889 on the ''Historia Augusta'', which uncovered reasons to ...

, '' Prosopographia Imperii Romani'' (The Prosopography of the Roman Empire, abbreviated ''PIR''), Berlin (1898). * Paul A. Gallivan, "Some Comments on the ''Fasti'' for the Reign of Nero", in ''

Classical Quarterly The Classical Association is a British learned society in the field of classics, aimed at developing classical study and promoting its importance in education. Constitution The association was founded on 19 December 1903, and its objects are de ...

'', vol. 24, pp. 290–311 (1974). * Werner Eck, "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69/70 bis 138/139" (Annual and Provincial Fasti of the Senatorial Governors from AD 69/70 to 138/139), in ''Chiron'', vol. 12 (1982). * Olli Salomies, ''Adoptive and Polyonymous Nomenclature in the Roman Empire'', Societas Scientiarum Fenica, Helsinki (1992). {{Refend Roman gentes