Ummidia (gens)
Encyclopedia
The gens Ummidia was a Roman
family which flourished during the 1st and 2nd centuries. The first member of the gens
to achieve prominence was Gaius Ummidius Durmius Quadratus, governor of Syria
during the reigns of Claudius
and Nero
. The Ummidii held several consulships
in the 2nd century, and were related by marriage to the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Ummidius is given in various forms by different authors. Josephus
writes it as Numidius, while in different editions of Tacitus
, Plinius
, and the authors of the Historia Augusta
, it is written as Numidius, Vindius, and Ummidius. The latter occurs in some of the best manuscripts, and in inscriptions. The name is mentioned by the poet Horatius
, where again different manuscripts give it variously, but it appears that the original reading was Ummidius.
The family probably came from the town of Casinum
, in Campania
, where an inscription mentions Ummidia Quadratilla
, who funded the building of an amphitheater and a temple for the townspeople. In this case, the Ummidii may have been of Volsci
an origin, although the antiquarian Varro
believed the inhabitants of Casinum to be Samnite
.
associated with the Ummidii are Gaius
and Marcus
; in some manuscripts of Tacitus, Titus
is given in place of Gaius, but this appears to be a mistake.
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
family which flourished during the 1st and 2nd centuries. The first member 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...
to achieve prominence was Gaius Ummidius Durmius Quadratus, governor of Syria
Syria (Roman province)
Syria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War. It remained under Roman, and subsequently Byzantine, rule for seven centuries, until 637 when it fell to the Islamic conquests.- Principate :The...
during the reigns of Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
and Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
. The Ummidii held several consulships
Roman consul
A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...
in the 2nd century, and were related by marriage to the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Origin of the gens
The Ummidii were a minor family, apparently not of any great antiquity, and was not familiar to contemporary writers. The nomenRoman 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...
Ummidius is given in various forms by different authors. Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
writes it as Numidius, while in different editions of Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
, Plinius
Pliny the Younger
Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo , better known as Pliny the Younger, was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate him...
, and the authors of the Historia Augusta
Augustan History
The Augustan History is a late Roman collection of biographies, in Latin, of the Roman Emperors, their junior colleagues and usurpers of the period 117 to 284...
, it is written as Numidius, Vindius, and Ummidius. The latter occurs in some of the best manuscripts, and in inscriptions. The name is mentioned by the poet Horatius
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
, where again different manuscripts give it variously, but it appears that the original reading was Ummidius.
The family probably came from the town of Casinum
Casinum
Casinum was an ancient town of Italy, probably of Volscian origin. Varro states that the name was Sabine, and meant forum vetus, and also that the town itself was Samnite, but he is probably wrong. When it came under Roman supremacy is not known, but it probably received the citizenship in 188 BC...
, in Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
, where an inscription mentions Ummidia Quadratilla
Ummidia Quadratilla
Ummidia Quadratilla, was a wealthy Roman woman and was a member of the gens Ummidia. She died in the reign of Emperor Trajan within a little of eighty years of age, leaving two-thirds of her fortune to her grandson and the other third to her granddaughter...
, who funded the building of an amphitheater and a temple for the townspeople. In this case, the Ummidii may have been of Volsci
Volsci
The Volsci were an ancient Italic people, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. They then inhabited the partly hilly, partly marshy district of the south of Latium, bounded by the Aurunci and Samnites on the south, the Hernici on the east, and stretching roughly from...
an origin, although the antiquarian Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro was an ancient Roman scholar and writer. He is sometimes called Varro Reatinus to distinguish him from his younger contemporary Varro Atacinus.-Biography:...
believed the inhabitants of Casinum to be Samnite
Samnium
Samnium is a Latin exonym for a region of south or south and central Italy in Roman times. The name survives in Italian today, but today's territory comprising it is only a small portion of what it once was. The populations of Samnium were called Samnites by the Romans...
.
Praenomina used by the gens
The only praenominaPraenomen
The praenomen was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the dies lustricus , the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the birth of a boy...
associated with the Ummidii are Gaius
Gaius (praenomen)
Gaius is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. The feminine form is Gaia. The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Gavia...
and Marcus
Marcus (praenomen)
Marcus is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. The feminine form is Marca or Marcia. The praenomen was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Marcia, as well as the cognomen Marcellus...
; in some manuscripts of Tacitus, Titus
Titus (praenomen)
Titus is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, and was one of the most common names throughout Roman history. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gens Titia. The feminine form is Tita or Titia...
is given in place of Gaius, but this appears to be a mistake.
Branches and cognomina of the gens
The only family-name of the Ummidii was Quadratus, meaning "quartered". All of the Ummidii known to history bore this surname.Members of the gens
- This list includes abbreviated praenominaPraenomenThe praenomen was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the dies lustricus , the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the birth of a boy...
. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.- Gaius Ummidius Quadratus, father of Gaius Ummidius Durmius Quadratus and Ummidia Quadratilla.
- Gaius Ummidius C. f. Durmius Quadratus, governor of SyriaSyria (Roman province)Syria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War. It remained under Roman, and subsequently Byzantine, rule for seven centuries, until 637 when it fell to the Islamic conquests.- Principate :The...
from the reign of ClaudiusClaudiusClaudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
, circa AD 51, to his death in 60. He acquiesced to the deposition of MithridatesMithridates of ArmeniaMithridates of Armenia was an Iberian prince and a king of Armenia under the protection of the Roman Empire.Mithridates was installed by his brother Pharasmanes I of Iberia who, encouraged by Tiberius, invaded Armenia and captured its capital Artaxata in 35...
, the king of Armenia, by RhadamistusRhadamistusRhadamistus was an Iberian prince who reigned in Armenia from 51 to 53 and 54 to 55 CE. Considered to be an usurper and tyrant, he was overthrown in a rebellion supported by the Parthian Empire.- Life :...
, who put the king to death in AD 52. - Ummidia C. f. QuadratillaUmmidia QuadratillaUmmidia Quadratilla, was a wealthy Roman woman and was a member of the gens Ummidia. She died in the reign of Emperor Trajan within a little of eighty years of age, leaving two-thirds of her fortune to her grandson and the other third to her granddaughter...
, probably the sister of Gaius Ummidius Durmius Quadratus, she was a woman of great wealth, who died during the reign of TrajanTrajanTrajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
, bequeathing her estate, including the house formerly inhabited by the jurist Gaius Cassius Longinus, to her grandchildren. - Ummidius Quadratus, a friend and admirer of the younger PliniusPliny the YoungerGaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo , better known as Pliny the Younger, was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate him...
. He was the grandson of Ummidia QuadratillaUmmidia QuadratillaUmmidia Quadratilla, was a wealthy Roman woman and was a member of the gens Ummidia. She died in the reign of Emperor Trajan within a little of eighty years of age, leaving two-thirds of her fortune to her grandson and the other third to her granddaughter...
, and was consul suffectus with the emperor HadrianHadrianHadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
, by whom he was later persecuted, in AD 118. - Gaius Ummidius Quadratus, married Annia Cornificia FaustinaAnnia Cornificia FaustinaAnnia Cornificia Faustina was the youngest child and only daughter to Praetor Marcus Annius Verus and Domitia Lucilla. The parents of Cornificia came from wealthy senatorial families who were of consular rank. She was born and raised in Rome. The brother of Cornificia was the future Roman Emperor...
, sister of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. He held the consulship, but the year is uncertain. - Marcus Ummidius C. f. QuadratusMarcus Ummidius Quadratus AnnianusMarcus Ummidius Quadratus Annianus was a wealthy Roman Politician and the nephew of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.Quadratus was the son of Marcus Aurelius’ sister, Annia Cornificia Faustina and the Roman Senator who served as a suffect consul in 146, Gaius Ummidius Quadratus Annianus Verus....
, nephew of Marcus Aurelius, he was consul in AD 167 with the emperor Lucius Aurelius VerusLucius VerusLucius Verus , was Roman co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius, from 161 until his death.-Early life and career:Lucius Verus was the first born son to Avidia Plautia and Lucius Aelius Verus Caesar, the first adopted son and heir of Roman Emperor Hadrian . He was born and raised in Rome...
. - Ummidia C. f. Cornificia FaustinaUmmidia Cornificia FaustinaUmmidia Cornificia Faustina was a wealthy Roman noblewoman, an heiress and the niece of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.Cornificia Faustina was the daughter of Marcus Aurelius’ sister, Annia Cornificia Faustina and the Roman Senator who served as a suffect consul in 146, Gaius Ummidius Quadratus...
, niece of Marcus Aurelius. - Ummidius M. f. C. n. Quadratus, induced by his cousin, LucillaLucillaAnnia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla or Lucilla was the second daughter and third child of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Roman Empress Faustina the Younger and an elder sister to future Roman Emperor Commodus....
, to conspire against her brother, the emperor CommodusCommodusCommodus , was Roman Emperor from 180 to 192. He also ruled as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until his father's death in 180. His name changed throughout his reign; see changes of name for earlier and later forms. His accession as emperor was the first time a son had succeeded...
; the conspiracy failed, and Quadratus was put to death, in AD 183.