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Caedicia gens

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Denarius possibly minted by a Caecidius Noctua between 194 and 190 BC. The owl on the reverse may be an allusion to the moneyer's cognomen.

The gens Caedicia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens first came to prominence in the early decades of the Republic, but none obtained the consulship until Quintus Caedicius Noctua in 289 BC. The family faded from public life during the later Republic, but one of the Caedicii was known to Juvenal, toward the end of the first century AD.[1][2]

Origin

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The nomen Caedicius belongs to a class of gentilicia derived from cognomina ending in -ex or -icus. Here the root seems to be a surname, Caedicus, the meaning of which is uncertain.[3]

Praenomina

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The Caedicii used the common praenomina Lucius, Gaius, Marcus, and Quintus.

Branches and cognomina

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The only cognomen found among the Caedicii of the Republic is Noctua, an owl. Surnames derived from familiar objects and animals were quite common at Rome. Noctia seems to have been a personal cognomen, as it was not borne by later Caedicii. None of the other Caedicii mentioned in history bore any surname.[1][4][5] Several numismatists, such as Grueber, nevertheless suggest that this cognomen was a reference to a supernatural warning that Marcus Caedicius witnessed before the Gallic Sack of Rome in 390 BC.[6][7]

Members

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

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 531 ("Caedicia Gens").
  2. ^ Juvenal, Satirae, xiii. 197, xvi. 46.
  3. ^ Chase, p. 126.
  4. ^ Chase, pp. 112, 113.
  5. ^ New College Latin & English Dictionary, s. v. noctua.
  6. ^ Livy, v. 32.
  7. ^ a b Grueber, Coins of the Roman Republic in the British Museum, vol. II, pp. 217, 218.
  8. ^ Livy, ii. 52.
  9. ^ Dionysius, ix. 28.
  10. ^ Livy, v. 32, 45, 46.
  11. ^ Plutarch, "The Life of Camillus", 14.
  12. ^ Zonaras, vi. 23.
  13. ^ Appianus, Bella Celtica, 5.
  14. ^ Livy, x. 40.
  15. ^ a b c Fasti Capitolini, AE 1927, 101; 1940, 59, 60.
  16. ^ Broughton, vol. I, pp. 184, 188.
  17. ^ Broughton, vol. I, p. 208.
  18. ^ Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, p. 211.

Bibliography

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