The gens Nasidia was an obscure
plebeian family at
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. The
gens is best known from Quintus Nasidius, one of the admirals of
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus during the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. Although none of the Nasidii are known to have held any of the higher offices of the Roman state, a number are known from inscriptions. A coin of this gens depicts the head of Pompeius and a trident on the obverse, and on the reverse a ship, with the inscription ''Q. Nasidius''.
Origin
The
nomen ''Nasidius'' belong to a class of gentilicia formed with the suffix ''-idius'', which originally developed from
surnames ending in ''-idus'', but later came to be viewed as a regular means of forming nomina. It implies the existence of a cognomen ''Nasidus'', but may perhaps be from the more regular ''Naso'', originally signifying someone with a prominent nose. The nomen ''Nasidienus'' may, in turn, have been formed from ''Nasidius'' or a similar name.
Praenomina
The only
praenomina
The ''praenomen'' (; plural: ''praenomina'') was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the birt ...
associated with the Nasidii are ''
Quintus'', ''
Marcus'', ''
Lucius
Lucius ( el, Λούκιος ''Loukios''; ett, Luvcie) is a male given name derived from '' Lucius'' (abbreviated ''L.''), one of the small group of common Latin forenames ('' praenomina'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius derives from ...
'', and ''
Gaius
Gaius, sometimes spelled ''Gajus'', Kaius, Cajus, Caius, was a common Latin praenomen; see Gaius (praenomen).
People
* Gaius (jurist) (), Roman jurist
*Gaius Acilius
*Gaius Antonius
*Gaius Antonius Hybrida
*Gaius Asinius Gallus
*Gaius Asinius P ...
'', all of which were very common throughout Roman history.
Branches and cognomina
A large family of Nasidii appears to have settled in
Africa Proconsularis
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and
Numidia, and in particular the colony at Castellum Elefantum in Numidia. For convenience they have been grouped together below.
Members
*
Quintus Nasidius
Quintus Nasidius, sometimes referred to as Lucius Nasidius, was a Roman naval commander who lived during the 1st century BC and sided with the Optimates during Caesar's Civil War.
Biography
Nasidius is first mentioned, under the name Lucius, in J ...
, an admiral under
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus during the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. He was defeated in the second of two naval battles of Massilia - today
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
by Caesar's admiral
Brutus Decimus. He fled to the Spanish coast, and went further to Africa. He then served under Pompeius' son,
Sextus, but eventually went over to
Marcus Antonius. He commanded part of the triumvir's fleet, and was defeated by
Agrippa Agrippa may refer to:
People Antiquity
* Agrippa (mythology), semi-mythological king of Alba Longa
* Agrippa (astronomer), Greek astronomer from the late 1st century
* Agrippa the Skeptic, Skeptic philosopher at the end of the 1st century
* Agri ...
off the coast of
Patras in 31 BC.
* Quintus Nasidius Severus, mentioned in a funerary inscription from
Nicomedia
Nicomedia (; el, Νικομήδεια, ''Nikomedeia''; modern İzmit) was an ancient Greek city located in what is now Turkey. In 286, Nicomedia became the eastern and most senior capital city of the Roman Empire (chosen by the emperor Diocleti ...
.
* Marcus Nasidius Secundus, a
decurion with the
tenth legion, buried at
Delminium
Delminium was an Illyrian city and the capital of the Dalmatia which was located somewhere near today's Tomislavgrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, under which name it also was the seat of a Latin bishopric (also known as ''Delminium'').
Name
The to ...
in
Illyricum, together with his son, Nasidius Rufinus.
[.]
* Nasidius M. f. Rufinus, son of the decurion, buried at Delminium.
* Marcus Nasidius Saturus Sabinianus Noveanus, a
flamen
A (plural ''flamens'' or ''flamines'') was a priest of the ancient Roman religion who was assigned to one of eighteen deities with official cults during the Roman Republic. The most important of these were the three (or "major priests"), who ser ...
whose outstanding service is commemorated in an inscription at Rome, dated AD 322.
* Quintus Nasidius, the former master of Quintus Nasidius Epagatus.
[.]
* Quintus Nasidius Q. l. Epagatus, a freedman buried at Rome, aged forty-five.
* Nasidius Valens, the husband of Viria Rufina, who was buried at
Fanum Fortunae in
Picenum.
* Nasidius Primus, named in a libationary inscription from
Alburnus Major in
Dacia
Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It ...
.
Nasidii of Roman Africa
* Nasidius Firmus, mentioned in an inscription from Africa Proconsularis.
* Nasidius Januarius, buried at
Thubursicum in Africa Proconsularis, aged eighty.
* Lucius Nasidius Crispus, buried at
Cirta
Cirta, also known by various other names in antiquity, was the ancient Berber and Roman settlement which later became Constantine, Algeria.
Cirta was the capital city of the Berber kingdom of Numidia; its strategically important port city ...
in Numidia, aged ninety-five.
* Quintus Nasidius Arator, buried at Castellum Elefantum in Numidia, aged forty-five.
* Gaius Nasidius Florus, buried at Castellum Elefantum, aged forty-five.
* Nasidius Secundus, buried at Castellum Elefantum, aged fifty-five.
* Quintus Nasidius Secundillus, buried at Castellum Elefantum, aged fifty.
* Nasidius Sodalis, buried at Castellum Elefantum, aged thirty.
[.]
Footnotes
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 ...
References
Bibliography
*
Gaius Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
, ''
Commentarii de Bello Civili
''Commentarii de Bello Civili'' ''(Commentaries on the Civil War)'', or ''Bellum Civile'', is an account written by Julius Caesar of his war against Gnaeus Pompeius and the Roman Senate. It consists of three books covering the events of 49–4 ...
'' (Commentaries on the Civil War).
*
Aulus Hirtius
Aulus Hirtius (; – 43 BC) was consul of the Roman Republic in 43 BC and a writer on military subjects. He was killed during his consulship in battle against Mark Antony at the Battle of Mutina.
Biography
He was a legate of Julius Caesar's s ...
, ''
De Bello Africo
''De Bello Africo'' (also ''Bellum Africum''; ''On the African War'') is a Latin work continuing Julius Caesar's accounts of his campaigns, ''De Bello Gallico'' and '' De Bello Civili'', and its sequel by an unknown author '' De Bello Alexandri ...
'' (On the African War, attributed).
* Cicero, Marcus Tullius Cicero, ''Epistulae ad Atticum''.
* Appianus Alexandrinus (Appian), ''Bellum Civile'' (The Civil War).
* Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (Cassius Dio), ''Roman History''.
* ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849).
* Theodor Mommsen ''et alii'', ''Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum'' (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).
* Stéphane Gsell, ''Inscriptions Latines de L'Algérie'' (Latin Inscriptions from Algeria, abbreviated ''ILAlg''), Edouard Champion, Paris (1922–present).
* Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton, T. Robert S. Broughton, ''The Magistrates of the Roman Republic'', American Philological Association (1952).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nasidia (gens)
Roman gentes