The gens Gessia was a minor
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
family, known chiefly from the east of
Imperial times. 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 ...
are first mentioned toward the end of the second century BC. Although they were of
senatorial rank, none of the Gessii are known to have held any curule
magistracies. The emperor
Severus Alexander
Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – 21/22 March 235) was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his slain cousin Elagabalus in 222. Alexander himself was ...
is believed to have been descended from a branch of this family.
Members
* Publius Gessius P. f., a member of the
Roman senate
The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...
in 129 BC.
* Decimus Gessius, father of the Delian Gessius.
* Decimus Gessius D. f., mentioned in an inscription from
Delos
The island of Delos (; el, Δήλος ; Attic: , Doric: ), near Mykonos, near the centre of the Cyclades archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. The excavations in the island are ...
, dated to about 125 BC.
* Lucius Gessius Optatus, built an altar for
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times ...
at
Roatto
Roatto is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Asti in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southeast of Turin and about northwest of Asti. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 385 and an area of .All demographics and ...
.
* Publius Gessius P. f. Vala, the name is mentioned in an inscription found in
Praeneste
Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; grc, Πραίνεστος, ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Pre ...
, which is dated between 130 and 81 BC.
* Publius Gessius P. f., mentioned on a monument found near Viterbo, probably dating to about AD 50.
[M. B. Comstock and C. C. Vermeule, ''Sculpture in Stone'', Boston (1976), pp. 200, 201.]
* Publius Gessius P. l. Primus, freedman of Publius Gessius.
* Gessia P. l. Fausta, freedwoman of Publius Gessius.
* Aulus Gessius was the chief magistrate of
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...
during the reigns of
Claudius
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...
and
Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...
. His name is preserved on coins commemorating the marriage of Claudius and
Agrippina the Younger
Julia Agrippina (6 November AD 15 – 23 March AD 59), also referred to as Agrippina the Younger, was Roman empress from 49 to 54 AD, the fourth wife and niece of Emperor Claudius.
Agrippina was one of the most prominent women in the Julio-Claud ...
.
*
Gessius Florus
Gessius Florus was the 7th Roman procurator of Judea from 64 until 66.
Biography
Born in Clazomenae, Florus was appointed to replace Lucceius Albinus as procurator by the Emperor Nero due to his wife Cleopatra's friendship with Nero's wife Poppa ...
,
procurator
Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to:
* Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency
* ''Procurator'' (Ancient Rome), the title of ...
of
Judea
Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous L ...
during the reign of Nero.
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
considers his numerous abuses of power and efforts to distract attention from them with instigating the
First Jewish–Roman War
The First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), sometimes called the Great Jewish Revolt ( he, המרד הגדול '), or The Jewish War, was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews against the Roman Empire, fought in Roman-controlled ...
.
*
Marcus Julius Gessius Marcianus, procurator, possibly in
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
, in the latter part of the second century, and perhaps the early part of the third; he was possibly the father, or more likely step-fater of emperor
Severus Alexander
Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – 21/22 March 235) was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his slain cousin Elagabalus in 222. Alexander himself was ...
. He was put to death on the orders of
Macrinus
Marcus Opellius Macrinus (; – June 218) was Roman emperor from April 217 to June 218, reigning jointly with his young son Diadumenianus. As a member of the equestrian class, he became the first emperor who did not hail from the senatorial ...
in 218.
[Cassius Dio, lxxviii. 30.]
*
Marcus Julius Gessius Bassianus, a priest of the
Arval Brethren
In ancient Roman religion, the Arval Brethren ( la, Fratres Arvales, "Brothers of the Fields") or Arval Brothers were a body of priests who offered annual sacrifices to the Lares and gods to guarantee good harvests. Inscriptions provide eviden ...
during the reign of
Caracalla
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor S ...
; possibly a brother of Severus Alexander.
*
Theoclia, the sister of Severus Alexander
See also
*
List of Roman gentes
The gens (plural gentes) was a Roman family, of Italic or Etruscan origins, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same '' nomen'' and claimed descent from a common ancestor. It was an important social and legal structure in early ...
*
Gessius of Petra Gessius of Petra (Greek: Γέσιος, ''Gesios'')''Suda Online''Γ 486/ref> was a physician, iatrosophist and pagan philosopher active in Alexandria in the late 5th and early 6th century.Edward J. Watts"The Enduring Legacy of the Iatrosophist Gessi ...
*
Gessius (praetorian prefect) Gessius (''floruit'' 420–443) was a politician of the Eastern Roman Empire, brother of the Empress Aelia Eudocia.
Life
Gessius was born in Athens, son of the pagan and sophist philosopher Leontius, and brother of Valerius and Athenais. In 421 ...
References
Bibliography
* Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (
Cassius Dio
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
), ''Roman History''.
* ''
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 ...
''.
* ''
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 p ...
'',
William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).
* Robert K. Sherk,
The Text of the ''Senatus Consultum De Agro Pergameno'', in ''Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies'', vol. 7, pp. 361–369 (1966).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gessia gens
Roman gentes