Sicinius
Encyclopedia
Sicinius is the nomen
of the gens
Sicinia, a plebian family of Rome. Ancient documentation place the name in use during The Roman Republic and The Roman Empire.
Possible Latin
forms include, in the nominative:
The main use of coin was to pay Rome's soldiers. In the 1st century BC, the wages of a legion were around 1,500,000 denarii, and more when Caesar raised the pay. With around 30 legions in active service in the Empire, this required huge sources of silver.
The second coin is the Q. Sicinius and C. Coponius Denarius. 49 BC. Mint in the east moving with Pompey.
171 BC - 168 BC - Third Macedonian War
Roman naming conventions
By the Republican era and throughout the Imperial era, a name in ancient Rome for a male citizen consisted of three parts : praenomen , nomen and cognomen...
of the gens
Gens
In ancient Rome, a gens , plural gentes, referred to a family, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a stirps . The gens was an important social structure at Rome and throughout Italy during the...
Sicinia, a plebian family of Rome. Ancient documentation place the name in use during The Roman Republic and The Roman Empire.
Possible Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
forms include, in the nominative:
- Sicinius, masculine singular
- Sicinia, feminine singular
- Sicinii, masculine plural
- Siciniae, feminine plural
- Sicinianus, masculine adoptive
- Siciniana, feminine adoptive
History
The Sicinia gens gained great celebrity by their advocacy of the rights of the plebeians in their struggle with the patricians.Sicinius Coin
This silver coin was minted in Rome by Quintus Sicinius in 49 BC. It is a type called a denarius, the most common Roman silver coin.The main use of coin was to pay Rome's soldiers. In the 1st century BC, the wages of a legion were around 1,500,000 denarii, and more when Caesar raised the pay. With around 30 legions in active service in the Empire, this required huge sources of silver.
The second coin is the Q. Sicinius and C. Coponius Denarius. 49 BC. Mint in the east moving with Pompey.
Notable members of the gens Sicinia
- Lucius Sicinius Vellutus - In 494 BC, in response to the harsh rule of Appius Claudius Sabinus InregillensisAppius Claudius Sabinus InregillensisAppius Claudius Sabinus Inregillensis or Regillensis was the semi-legendary founder of the Roman gens Claudia.He was born Attius Clausus, Atta Claudius, Titus Claudius or a lost original name from which the other versions derive. To the Romans he was known as Appius Claudius. He was a Sabine from...
, Sicinius Bellutus lead the plebeians to secede and lead them to Mons SacerMonte SacroMonte Sacro is a hill in Rome on the banks of the river Aniene, some kilometres to the north-east of the Campidoglio. It popularly derives its name from being the site of rituals by augurs or haruspices and gives its name to the Monte Sacro quarter....
(the Sacred Mountain) and threatened to found a new town. He became the basis for Sicinius Velutus in Shakespeare'sWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
CoriolanusCoriolanusGaius Marcius Coriolanus was a Roman general who is said to have lived in the 5th century BC. He received his toponymic cognomen "Coriolanus" because of his exceptional valor in a Roman siege of the Volscian city of Corioli. He was then promoted to a general...
- Cnaeus Sicinius - tribune of the Plebs, BC 470, when the tribunes are said to have been for the first time elected in the comitia tributaTribal AssemblyThe Tribal Assembly of the Roman Republic was the democratic assembly of Roman citizens. During the years of the Roman Republic, citizens were organized on the basis of thirty-five Tribes: Four Tribes encompassed citizens inside the city of Rome, while the other thirty-one Tribes encompassed...
. He and his colleague M. Duilius accused Ap. Claudius before the people, on account of his opposing the agrarian lawAgrarian lawAgrarian laws were laws among the Romans regulating the division of the public lands, or ager publicus.There existed three types of land in ancient Rome: private land, common pasture, and public land...
.
- Lucius Sicinius Dentatus (514 BC - 450 BC) - was a Roman soldier, Primus pilusPrimus PilusThe Primus pilus was the senior centurion of a Roman legion.-Historical role:In the late Roman republic, the cohort , became the basic tactical unit of the legions. The cohort was composed of five to eight centuries each led by a centurion assisted by an optio, a soldier who could read and write...
and tribune, living in the 5th century BC. The cognomenCognomenThe cognomen nōmen "name") was the third name of a citizen of Ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. The cognomen started as a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditary. Hereditary cognomina were used to augment the second name in order to identify a particular branch within...
Dentatus means "born with teeth". He was became known as "Roman Achilles". Dentatus was a tribune in 454 BC. He was a champion of the plebeians in their struggle with the patricians. As a military man, Dentatus had fought in 120 battles, received 45 honorable wounds and several civic crowns. According to Pliny the ElderPliny the ElderGaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
, he won the Grass CrownGrass CrownThe Grass Crown or Blockade Crown was the highest and rarest of all military decorations in the Roman Republic and early Roman empire. It was presented only to a general, commander, or officer whose actions saved the legion or the entire army...
. After his tribunate he was assassinated for his opposition to the DecemviriDecemviriDecemviri is a Latin term meaning "Ten Men" which designates any such commission in the Roman Republic...
.
- Caius Sicinius - elected tribune of the Plebs after the BC 449 secession of plebeiansSecessio plebisSecessio plebis was an informal exercise of power by Rome's plebeian citizens, similar to a general strike taken to the extreme. During a secessio plebis, the plebs would simply abandon the city en masse and leave the patrician order to themselves...
to the Aventine. The plebs seceded again to force the patricians to adopt the Twelve TablesTwelve TablesThe Law of the Twelve Tables was the ancient legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law. The Law of the Twelve Tables formed the centrepiece of the constitution of the Roman Republic and the core of the mos maiorum...
. Unlike the earlier secret laws which only the priests had access to, these new laws amounted to a written and published legal code. And unlike the earlier non-published laws, the Twelve Tables presented a basic set of laws and rights to the Roman public, as opposed hidden and secret laws which gave no specific rights to the ordinary plebeian Roman. The patricians vehemently opposed it but were nevertheless forced to found a commission headed by a decemvir who in turn announced the Twelve Tables in the Roman Forum. With the announcement of the new laws, the plebs were to a degree freed from injustice and subjectivity during trials. However, they were still obliged to pay slavery debt.
- Titus Sicinius - tribune of the plebs BC 395, he brought forward a bill for removing part of the Roman people to VeiiVeiiVeii was, in ancient times, an important Etrurian city NNW of Rome, Italy; its site lies in Isola Farnese, a village of Municipio XX, an administrative subdivision of the comune of Rome in the Province of Rome...
, and thus making, as it were, two capitals of the republic. Battle of VeiiBattle of VeiiThe Battle of Veii, also known as the Siege of Veii is a battle of ancient Rome, approximately dated at 406 BC. The main source about it is Livy's Ab Urbe Condita....
, also known as the Siege of Veii, is a battle of ancient Rome.
- Lucius Sicinius - Tribune of the Plebs BC 387, brought before the people an agrarian law respecting the ager PomptinusPontine Marshesthumb|250px|Lake Fogliano, a coastal lagoon in the Pontine Plain.The Pontine Marshes, termed in Latin Pomptinus Ager by Titus Livius, Pomptina Palus and Pomptinae Paludes by Pliny the Elder, today the Agro Pontino in Italian, is an approximately quadrangular area of former marshland in the Lazio...
.
- Cnaeus Sicinius (a) - was AedileAedileAedile was an office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enforce public order. There were two pairs of aediles. Two aediles were from the ranks of plebeians and the other...
in BC 185, and was an unsuccessful candidate for the praetorshipPraetorPraetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...
in the following year, to supply the place of C. Decimius, who had died while in office. He was, however, successful in BC 183, in which year he was elected praetor, and obtained Sardinia as his province. (Liv. xxxix. 39, 45.)
- Cnaeus Sicinius (a or b), one of the triumvirs for founding a colony at LunaLuni, ItalyLuni is a frazione of the comune of Ortonovo, province of La Spezia, in the easternmost end of the Liguria region of northern Italy...
in BC 177. (Liv. xli. 13.)
- Cnaeus Sicinius (b) - becomes praetor and is sent into ApuliaApuliaApulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
to destroy the locusts which had alighted in Apulia in enormous crowds. On the division of the provinces among the praetors he obtained the jurisdictio inter peregrines. On the breaking out of the war with PerseusPerseus of MacedonPerseus was the last king of the Antigonid dynasty, who ruled the successor state in Macedon created upon the death of Alexander the Great...
, at the beginning of the next year, his imperium was continued, and MacedoniaMacedonia (Roman province)The Roman province of Macedonia was officially established in 146 BC, after the Roman general Quintus Caecilius Metellus defeated Andriscus of Macedon, the last Ancient King of Macedon in 148 BC, and after the four client republics established by Rome in the region were dissolved...
was assigned to him as his province, where he was to remain till his successor arrived. (Liv. xlii. 9,10, 27.)
171 BC - 168 BC - Third Macedonian War
- Cnaeus Sicinius (b) - imperium was continued, and Macedonia was assigned to him as his province, where he was to remain till his successor arrived.
- Caius Sicinius - sent as ambassador, with two colleagues, to the Gauls, in BC 170. (Liv. xliii. 5.)
- Caius Sicinius, the grandson of Quintus Aulus PompeiusQuintus PompeiusQuintus Pompeius was the name of various Romans from the gens Pompeius, who were of plebeian status. They lived during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire.-Consul of 141 BC:...
(consul in BC 141) by his daughter Pompeia died in BC 131 before he had held any higher office in the state than the quaestorshipQuaestorA Quaestor was a type of public official in the "Cursus honorum" system who supervised financial affairs. In the Roman Republic a quaestor was an elected official whereas, with the autocratic government of the Roman Empire, quaestors were simply appointed....
, but obtained a place in Cicero'sCiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
Epistulae ad Brutum (c. 76), as one of the Roman orators.
- Cnaeus Sicinius or Lucius Sicinius - tribune of the plebs BC 76, was the first magistrate who ventured to attack The Constitutional Reforms of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, which deprived the tribunes of their former power. He abused the leaders of the aristocracy very freely, and especially C. Curio. His only qualification as an orator, says Cicero, was being able to make people laugh. It has been erroneously inferred, from a passage in SallustSallustGaius Sallustius Crispus, generally known simply as Sallust , a Roman historian, belonged to a well-known plebeian family, and was born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines...
(Gaius Sallustius Crispus), that he was murdered by the ruling party. (Cic. Brut. 60 ; Pseudo-Ascon. in Divin. p. 103, ed. Orelli ; Quintilian's Institutes of Oratory. xi. 3. § 129 ; Pint. Crass. 7 ; Sail. Hist. iii. 22 ; Drumann, Geschichte Roms^ vol. iv. p. 385.)
- Sicinius Pontianus - From the town of OeaTripoliTripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
(modern-day Tripoli) Pontianus was classmates with ApuleiusApuleiusApuleius was a Latin prose writer. He was a Berber, from Madaurus . He studied Platonist philosophy in Athens; travelled to Italy, Asia Minor and Egypt; and was an initiate in several cults or mysteries. The most famous incident in his life was when he was accused of using magic to gain the...
in Athens. He is known to us in history as being the friend who persuaded Apuleius to marry his mother, Pudentilla, was a very rich widow. Meanwhile Pontianus himself married the daughter of one Herennius Rufinus; he, indignant that Pudentilla's wealth should pass out of the family, instigated his son-in-law, together with a younger brother, Sicinius Pudens, a mere boy, and their paternal uncle, Sicinius Aemilianus, to join him in impeaching Apuleius upon the charge that he had gained the affections of Pudentilla by charms and magic spells. The case was heard at Sabratha, near Tripoli, c. 158 CE, before Claudius Maximus, proconsul of Africa. The accusation itself seems to have been ridiculous, and the spirited and triumphant defence spoken by Apuleius is still extant. This is known as the Apologia (A Discourse on Magic).