A marble monument dedicated toSol Invictus by Marcus Aurelius Stertinius, procurator of the camp, and two of his brothers-in-arms. Probably third century; from the collection of theWalters Art Museum.
Thegens Stertinia was aplebeian family ofancient Rome. It first rose to prominence at the time of theSecond Punic War, and although none of its members attained theconsulship in the time of theRepublic, a number of Stertinii were so honoured in the course of the first two centuries ofthe Empire.[1]
The mainpraenomina used by the Stertinii wereLucius,Gaius, andMarcus, the three most common of all praenomina. There are also instances ofQuintus andPublius, which likewise were very common names.
Along theVia Labicana is theColumbarium of the Stertinii, a tomb discovered in 1912, containing various Stertinii, and members of their household, includingfreedmen and their wives.[2] The tomb had a capacity of at least one hundred and sixty niche burials, organized in a grid, each containing a cinerary urn. Beneath many of the niches were inscriptions identifying their occupants, freeborn Stertinii as well as theirliberti, often buried side by side.[3]
Gaius Stertinius M. f. Maximus, consulsuffectus in AD 23.[16][14][17]
Gaius Stertinius C. l. Orpex, a freedman of the consul Stertinius Maximus, was a scribe and secretary. He was buried atEphesus inAsia, together with his wife, Stertinia Quieta, and three young children: Gaius Stertinius Marinus, Gaius Stertinius Asiaticus, and Stertinia Prisca.[18][17]
Stertinia C. l. Quieta, freedwoman of the consul Gaius Stertinius Maximus, and wife of Gaius Stertinius Orpex, herconlibertus, with whom she was buried at Ephesus.[18]
Gaius Stertinius C. f. Marinus, son of Gaius Stertinius Orpex and Stertinia Quieta, buried with his parents at Ephesus, age eight.[18]
Gaius Stertinius C. f. Asiaticus, son of Gaius Stertinius Orpex and Stertinia Quieta, buried with his parents at Ephesus, age three.[18]
Stertinia C. f. Prisca, daughter of Gaius Stertinius Orpex and Stertinia Quieta, buried with her parents at Ephesus, age eight.[18]
Stertinia C. f. Maria, the daughter of Stertinius Orpex.[17]
Quintus Stertinius, a Roman physician in the time ofClaudius. He and his brother were retained by the emperor for the sum of five hundred thousandsestertiiper annum, less than they might have received in private practice, with which they helped beautify the city ofNeapolis.Pliny describes their accumulated fortune as thirty million sestertii.[19][12]
Gaius Stertinius Xenophon, the brother of Quintus, was suspected of having poisoned Claudius. He died the same year, although whether he perished as a result of the belief in his guilt, or coincidentally, is unclear.[20][21]
Marcus Stertinius Rufus, father of Marcus Stertinius Rufus, the councilor.[14]
Marcus Stertinius M. f. Rufus, served on the council of Lucius Helvius Agrippa, proconsul of Sardinia in AD 69.[22][14]
Lucius Stertinius Avitus, consulsuffectus ex kal. Mai. in AD 92, under the emperorDomitian, apparently the same praised byMartial in the ninth book of hisEpigrams.[23][24][25][26][27][28]
Publius Stertinius Quartus, consulsuffectus in AD 112, and afterward proconsul of Asia.[23][29][24][30][14]
Lucius Stertinius Noricus, consulsuffectus in AD 113.[23][24][29][30]
Gaius Stertinius, father of Lucius Stertinius Quintilianus, the consul of AD 146.[31]
Lucius Stertinius C. f. Quintilianus Acilius Strabo Gaius Curiatius Maternus Clodius Nummus, consulsuffectus in AD 146.[31][32][14]
Stertinia L. f. Cocceia Bassula Venecia Aeliana, perhaps the granddaughter of the consul Lucius Stertinius Noricus, was the wife of Quintus Camurius Numisius Junior, legate of thesixth legion inBritain, and probably consul in AD 161.[33][34]
Marcus Aurelius Stertinius,procurator of aRoman camp, who with two of his brothers-in-arms, Hermioneus and Balbinus, dedicated a monument toSol Invictus Mithras. His name,Marcus Aurelius, suggests that he had been grantedRoman citizenship by a member of theSeveran dynasty.[35]
T. Robert S. Broughton,The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association (1952).
E. Mary Smallwood,Documents Illustrating the Principates of Nerva, Trajan, and Hadrian, Cambridge University Press (1966).
Paul A. Gallivan, "TheFasti for A.D. 70–96", inClassical Quarterly, vol. 31, pp. 186–220 (1981).
Robert Alan Gurval,Actium and Augustus: The Politics and Emotions of Civil War, University of Michigan Press (1995),ISBN0472084895.
Sjev van Tilborg,Reading John in Ephesus, E. J. Brill, Leiden (1996),ISBN9004105301.
Werner Eck, Gianfranco Paci, and E. Percossi Serenelli, "Per una nuova edizione dei Fasti Potentini", inPicus, vol. 23, pp. 51–108 (2003).
Anthony R. Birley,The Roman Government in Britain, Oxford University Press (2005).
Dorian Borbonus,Columbarium Tombs and Collective Identity in Augustan Rome, Cambridge University Press (2014),ISBN9781107031401.
Martin Klonnek,Chronologie des Römischen Reiches 2 Jahrhundert – Jahr 100 bis 199 (Chronology of the Roman Empire: the Second Century), epubli GmbH, Berlin (2014).
