The gens Opsidia or Obsidia was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome. Few members of this gens are known to have held any magistracies, but several are found in inscriptions. [1] One Obsidius gave his name to the volcanic glass obsidian.
The nomen Opsidius belongs to a class of gentilicia formed from other names using the suffix -idius. In this case the nomen is derived from the more common Opsius ; the same nomen also gives rise to the gens Opsilia. [2] The common root of all three nomina is op-, "help", found in the name of the goddess Ops, as well as the praenomen Opiter , and the derived patronymics Opiternius and Opetreius , and the nomen Oppius . [3]
Most of these names are thought to be of Sabine or Samnite origin, and in some writers we find the nomen Obsidius, apparently an orthographic variation of Opsidius, among the Frentani, a Samnite people. [4] [5] At a later period, a Roman traveler of this name is said to have discovered the type of volcanic rock now known as obsidian, which became highly fashionable at Rome. [6]
The gens Afrania was a plebeian family at Rome, which is first mentioned in the second century BC. The first member of this gens to achieve prominence was Gaius Afranius Stellio, who became praetor in 185 BC.
The gens Acutia was a minor plebeian family at Ancient Rome. Members of this gens are mentioned from the early Republic to imperial times. The first of the Acutii to achieve prominence was Marcus Acutius, tribune of the plebs in 401 BC.
The gens Crassicia, occasionally written Crassitia, was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Few members of this gens are mentioned in history, and it is best known from a single individual, Lucius Crassitius, a freedman and a Latin grammarian.
The gens Nautia was an old patrician family at ancient Rome. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Spurius Nautius Rutilus in 488 BC, and from then until the Samnite Wars the Nautii regularly filled the highest offices of the Roman Republic. After that time, the Nautii all but disappear from the record, appearing only in a handful of inscriptions, mostly from Rome and Latium. A few Nautii occur in imperial times, including a number who appear to have been freedmen, and in the provinces.
The gens Numeria was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Few of its members held any of the higher offices of the Roman state.
The gens Numitoria was an ancient but minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. The first member of this gens to appear in history was Lucius Numitorius, elected tribune of the plebs in 472 BC. Although Numitorii are found down to the final century of the Republic, none of them ever held any of the higher magistracies.
The gens Obellia was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome, known almost entirely from inscriptions.
The gens Opetreia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. No members of this gens are known to have held any important magistracies, but a number of them are found in inscriptions.
The gens Orbia was a minor plebeian family at Rome. No members of this gens are known to have held any magistracies, but many of them are known from inscriptions. The most illustrious of the family may have been the jurist Publius Orbius, a contemporary of Cicero.
The gens Pacidia was an obscure plebeian or patrician family at ancient Rome. Few members of this gens are mentioned by the historians, but a number are known from inscriptions. The most notable may have been the two Pacidii who were commanders in the army of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus during the Civil War.
The gens Palpellia was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned during the first century of the Empire, with Sextus Palpellius Hister obtaining the consulship in AD 43. Few other Palpellii are known from the historians, but several are known from inscriptions.
The gens Plinia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Few members of this gens are mentioned in history, and the Plinii are best known from the scholar and antiquarian, Gaius Plinius Secundus, author of the Historia Naturalis, who lived during the first century AD.
The gens Remmia, occasionally written Remia, was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome. Only a few members of this gens are mentioned in history, of whom the most illustrious was the grammarian Quintus Remmius Palaemon, but many others are known from inscriptions.
The gens Safinia was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Few members of this gens are mentioned in history, but a number are known from inscriptions.
The gens Saltia was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome. Hardly any members of this gens are mentioned in history, but others are known from inscriptions.
The gens Satria was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are mentioned in the first century BC, and under the early Empire, but none of them rose higher than the rank of praetor. Otherwise the Satrii are known largely from inscriptions.
The gens Sepullia was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Hardly any members of this gens are mentioned in ancient writers, of whom the most famous was Sepullius Bassus, a rhetorician known to Seneca the Elder.
The gens Salviena was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome. No members of this gens appear in history, but several are known from inscriptions.
The gens Statinia was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome. No members of this gens are mentioned by ancient writers, but several are known from inscriptions, several of which are from Aquileia in Venetia and Histria.
The gens Tampia was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in history during the time of Nero, but few achieved any distinction in the Roman state. The nomen Tampius is easily confused with that of Ampius. The most illustrious of the Tampii was Lucius Tampius Flavianus, who held the consulship twice during the latter half of the first century.