Caecina (gens)

Caecina was the name of an Etruscan family of Volaterrae, one of the ancient cities of Etruria. Persons of this gens are first mentioned in the first century BC. Under the Empire the name is of frequent occurrence. As late as the reign of Honorius, we read of the poet Decius Albinus Caecina, residing at his villa in the neighborhood of Volaterrae; and until modern times there has been a family of this name at the modern Volterra. The family tomb of the Caecinae has been discovered in the neighborhood of Volterra; in this tomb there was found a beautiful sarcophagus, now in the Museum of Paris.^[1]

Origin

The family seems either to have derived its name from, or given it to, the river Caecina, which flows by the town of Volterra. From the tomb of the Caecinae, we learn that Ceicna was the Etruscan form of the name.^[1]

Branches and cognomina

The family was divided into several branches, and we accordingly find on the funeral urns the cognomina Caspu and Tlapuni; in Latin inscriptions we also meet with the surnames Quadratus and Placidus, and various others occur.^[1]

Members

This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.

• Aulus Caecina, a native of Volaterrae, whom Cicero defended in a lawsuit, in 69 BC.^[2]
• Aulus Caecina (A. f.), an orator and scholar of Etruscan culture.
• Caecina, a native of Volaterrae, and friend of Octavianus.^[3][4]
• Aulus Caecina Severus, legate of Germanicus, triumphed over the Cherusci in AD 14.
• Caecina Paetus, put to death by the emperor Claudius in AD 42.^[5][6][7][8]
• Gaius Caecina Largus, consul in AD 42, inhabited the magnificent house which formerly belonged to Scaurus, the contemporary of Cicero.^[9][10][11]
• Publius Caecina Largus, a close friend of Claudius; perhaps the brother of Gaius Caecina Largus.^[12]
• Caecina Tuscus, governor of Egypt, banished by the emperor Nero.
• Aulus Caecina Alienus, general of Aulus Vitellius in AD 69.
• Licinius Caecina, a senator attached to Otho's party, in AD 69.^[13]
• Decius Albinus Caecina, a Roman satirist of the fifth century.

See also

List of Roman gentes

References

1. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
2. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Caecina.
3. Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, xvi. 8, Epistulae ad Familiares, vi. 5.
4. Appianus, Bellum Civile, v. 60.
5. Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, Epistulae, iii. 16.
6. Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History, lx. 16.
7. Marcus Valerius Martialis, Epigrams, i. 14.
8. Joannes Zonaras, Epitome Historiarum, xi. 9.
9. Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History, lx. 10
10. Quintus Asconius Pedianus, in Scaur., p. 27, ed. Orelli.
11. Gaius Plinius Secundus, Historia Naturalis, xvii. 1.
12. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales, xi. 33, 34.
13. Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Historiae, ii. 53.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "^{article name needed}". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.