The gens Simplicinia was an obscure
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
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
. No 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 mentioned by ancient writers, but a few are known from inscriptions.
Origin
The
nomen ''Simplicinius'' belongs to a class of gentilicia derived from other nomina using the suffix ', which could also be used to form gentile names 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 '. ''Simplicinius'' is an elaboration on another nomen, ''
Simplicius'', which in turn is derived from a surname ''Simplex'', originally applied to someone whose character or habits were described as "simple" or "straightforward". Many cognomina were derived, like ''Simplex'', from the nature of the individuals to whom they were originally applied.
Members
* Marcus Simplicinius Genialis, an
eques
Eques, ''horseman'' or ''rider'' in Latin, may refer to:
* Equites, a member of the Roman Equestrian order
* the Latin word for a knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or ...
of high status, and an assistant to the imperial governor of
Raetia, named in a dedicatory inscription from
Augusta Vindelicorum, dating between AD 260 and 262.
* Simplicinius Serenus, a cavalry soldier from
Noviomagus Batavorum
Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. South Guelderish, Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal (river), Waal river close to th ...
, buried at Rome during the second or third century, aged twenty-three, having served for five years.
* Marcus Simplicinius Superinus, a
cornicen in the century of Crescens, in the tenth
cohort
Cohort or cohortes may refer to:
* Cohort (educational group), a group of students working together through the same academic curriculum
* Cohort (floating point), a set of different encodings of the same numerical value
* Cohort (military unit), ...
of the
Praetorian Guard
The Praetorian Guard (Latin: ''cohortēs praetōriae'') was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort fo ...
, was buried at Rome during the first half of the third century, aged thirty-one, with a monument dedicated by his heirs, Gaius Valerius Valens and Marcus Drusinius Lupulus, soldiers in the century of Maximus, in the sixth cohort.
* Simplicinius Victor, a
centurion
A centurion (; la, centurio , . la, centuriones, label=none; grc-gre, κεντυρίων, kentyríōn, or ) was a position in the Roman army during classical antiquity, nominally the commander of a century (), a military unit of around 80 ...
in the
Legio I Minervia
Legio I Minervia ( First Legion "Minervan", i.e., "devoted to the goddess Minerva") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army founded in AD 82 by emperor Domitian (r. 81–96), for his campaign against the Germanic tribe of the Chatti. ...
and
Legio III Parthica
Legio III Parthica ("Parthian-conquering Third Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army founded in AD 197 by the emperor Septimius Severus (r. 193–211) for his campaign against the Parthian Empire, hence the cognomen ''Parthica''. The le ...
, was buried at
Bonna
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr ...
in
Germania Inferior, in a tomb dedicated by his wife, Aelia Arvania.
[.]
See also
*
List of Roman gentes
References
{{reflist
Bibliography
*
Theodor Mommsen
Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th cent ...
''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).
* George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'', vol. VIII, pp. 103–184 (1897).
Roman gentes