This article is about a Roman family. For the genus of spiders, see
Ummidia.
The gens Ummidia was a
Roman family which flourished during the first and second 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 second century, and through the marriage of Gaius Ummidius Quadratus Annianus Verus they were related to the emperor
Marcus Aurelius.[1][2]
Origin
The Ummidii were a minor family, apparently not of any great antiquity, and was not familiar to contemporary writers. The
nomenUmmidius is given in various forms by different authors.
Josephus writes it as Numidius, while in different editions of
Tacitus,
Pliny, 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
Horace, where again different manuscripts give it variously, but it appears that the original reading was Ummidius.[1][3]
The family probably came from the town of
Casinum, in
Latium adiectum, 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
Volscian origin, although the antiquarian
Varro believed the inhabitants of Casinum to be
Samnite.[4][5]
Praenomina
The only
praenomina 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.[1]
Branches and cognomina
The only family-name of the Ummidii was Quadratus, meaning "square", presumably referring to someone with squarish proportions or angular features. All of the Ummidii known to history bore this surname.[1][6]
Members
This list includes abbreviated
praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see
filiation.
Gaius Ummidius Quadratus, the father of Gaius Ummidius Durmius Quadratus and Ummidia Quadratilla.[4]
Ummidia C. f. Quadratilla, probably the sister of Gaius Ummidius Durmius Quadratus, she was a woman of great wealth, who died during the reign of
Trajan, bequeathing her estate, including the house formerly inhabited by the jurist
Gaius Cassius Longinus, to her grandchildren.[4][11]
Ummidius M. f. C. n. Quadratus, was induced by his cousin,
Lucilla, to conspire against her brother, the emperor
Commodus. The conspiracy failed, and Quadratus was put to death in AD 183.[21][22][23]
Footnotes
^Long known simply as Ummidius Quadratus, his full name was discovered by Ronald Syme.
Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (
Cassius Dio), Roman History.
Herodianus, History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus.
Aelius Lampridius, Aelius Spartianus, Flavius Vopiscus, Julius Capitolinus, Trebellius Pollio, and Vulcatius Gallicanus, Historia Augusta (Augustan History).
Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum (The Study of Ancient Coins, 1792–1798).
Johann Caspar von Orelli, Inscriptionum Latinarum Selectarum Amplissima Collectio (An Extensive Collection of Select Latin Inscriptions), Orell Füssli, Zürich (1828).