Sedatia gens

The gens Sedatia, occasionally written Sedata, was a plebeian family at ancient Rome, which flourished from the first to the third century. The only member of this gens known to have held a seat in the Roman senate was Marcus Sedatius Severianus, consul suffectus in AD 153.

The Sedatii were an influential mercantile family, whose wealth was based on commerce along the Loire, and had interests in Ostia. The social and political rise of the Sedatii parallels the decline of the aristocratic Julii, who had been the leading class in Roman Gaul since the time of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The likely marriage of Gaius Sedatius Severus and Julia Rufina might have contributed to the ascendency of winemakers and landowners, who became the leading class in Gaul until the Flavians.

Origin

The Sedatii seem to have been a Gallic family, which probably obtained Roman citizenship some time during the early Empire. The nomen Sedatius seems to be derived from the name of a Celtic god, Sedatus, of whom little is known, but who is mentioned in a series of inscriptions from the Danubian provinces. The transformation of a theonym into a personal name was typical of Gallic practice, but the development of original gentilicia at this early date was highly unusual. Cassius Dio relates that newly enrolled citizens in the time of Claudius were expected to assume the imperial gentilicium, unless the emperor granted them permission to bear another name, and no exceptions are known prior to the time of Vespasian. Original gentilicia were much more typical of the second century, when such names were very common in the provinces.