Sedatia (gens)

The gens Sedatia, occasionally written Sedata, was a plebeian family from Roman Gaul, which flourished from the first century to the third century. The only known member of the gens to achieve a position in the Roman Senate was Marcus Sedatius Severianus, consul suffectus in 153.

Etymology

Sedatius derives from the name of the god, Sedatus, known from the dedications discovered in the Danubian regions and belonged to the Celtic pantheon.^[1] In Gaul this name which began as a theonym also served as an anthroponym. It had been transformed into a gens in usage by an ancestor of Marcus Sedatius Severianus who had obtained the right to the name without power or wanting to take the gens of the imperial family. This practice was very exceptional during the 1st-century and was even illegal.^[2]

Background

The power of the wealthy Sedatii was founded on trade and commerce. The Sedatii depended on the Loire river, and were known to have had interests in Ostia.^[3]

The social and political rise of the Sedatii illustrates the decline of the aristocratic Iulii who had been the leading class in Roman Gaul since the time of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The possible marriage of Marcus Sedatius Severianus' father with Julia Rufina might have contributed to winemakers and land owners becoming the leading class in Gaul until the Flavians.^[4]

Members

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

• Gaius Sedatius Florus (early 2nd-century AD),^[5] secretary for the administration of Portus Namnetum (modern Nantes) with Marcus Gemellius Secundus.
• Marcus Sedatius Myro: buried in Rome with his brother Apollinare.^{[I 1]}
• Gaius Sedatius Velleius Priscus Macrinus, imperial legate in Bithynia during the reign of Claudius Gothicus (268-270).^[6]
• Gaius Sedatius Stephanus (mid 3rd-century AD),^[7] decurion of Civitatis Taunensium in Germania Superior.^{[I 2][Note 1]}

Sedatii Severiani

• Gaius Sedatius Severus (born ca. 75), father of M. Sedatius Severianus.^[8]
• Marcus Sedatius C. f. Severianus (ca. 105-161/162), governor of Cappadocia at the start of the Parthian War of Lucius Verus during which he is defeated and commits suicide.^[9]
• Marcus Sedatus M. f. Severus (born ca. 130), son of M. Sedatius Severianus.^[8]

Inscriptions

1. AE 1987, 00078
2. CIL XIII, 7352

Notes

1. G. Sedatius Stephanus seems to have been adopted into the gens Sedatia for none of his children bear the name.

References

1. Kruene, RE II 1, c.1010 sqq.
2. Picard 1981, p. 887.
3. Picard 1981, p. 983-915.
4. (French) Bernard Rémy, Les carrières sénatoriales dans les provinces romaines d'Anatolie, Istanbul-Paris, 1989, p. 220.
5. (French) Jacqueline Champeaux, Martine Chassignet, Aere perennius: en hommage à Hubert Zehnacker, 2006, p. 229
6. Prosopographia Imperii Romani (1891), S 233, p. 190
7. (French) Société nationale des antiquaires de France, Mémoires de la Société nationale des antiquaires de France, 1886, p.142
8. Picard 1981, p. 889.
9. Picard 1981, pp. 885-888.

Sources

• Picard, Gilbert Charles (1981). Ostie et la Gaule de l'Ouest. MEFRA (in French) 93. pp. 883–915.