The gens Orbicia was an obscure
plebeian family of
ancient Rome. None of its members are known to have held any
magistracies, but several are known from inscriptions. The name may be best remembered from Orbicius, perhaps a Byzantine military strategist of uncertain date, credited with the authorship of a short treatise on the Byzantine army.[1]
Origin
The
nomenOrbicius belongs to a class of gentilicia formed from other names, in this instance the
Latin nomen Orbius, using the suffix -icius.[2]Orbius is derived from the
cognomenOrbus, a waif or orphan.[3][4]
Members
This list includes abbreviated
praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see
filiation.
Orbicia Procula, a freedwoman, was the
concubine of the
haruspex Gaius Helvius Agens. She died at the age of thirty, and was buried at
Falerio in Picenum.[5]
Manius Orbicius M'. l. Salvius, a freedman named in an inscription from Rome.[7]
Orbicius, the author of a short treatise on the names of the subdivisions and commanders of the army, incorporated into the Etymologicum Magnum, a twelfth century encyclopedia. Nothing is known of the date of Orbicius, except that he must have lived before the compilation of the Etymologicum.[8][1]
The gens Orbicia was an obscure
plebeian family of
ancient Rome. None of its members are known to have held any
magistracies, but several are known from inscriptions. The name may be best remembered from Orbicius, perhaps a Byzantine military strategist of uncertain date, credited with the authorship of a short treatise on the Byzantine army.[1]
Origin
The
nomenOrbicius belongs to a class of gentilicia formed from other names, in this instance the
Latin nomen Orbius, using the suffix -icius.[2]Orbius is derived from the
cognomenOrbus, a waif or orphan.[3][4]
Members
This list includes abbreviated
praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see
filiation.
Orbicia Procula, a freedwoman, was the
concubine of the
haruspex Gaius Helvius Agens. She died at the age of thirty, and was buried at
Falerio in Picenum.[5]
Manius Orbicius M'. l. Salvius, a freedman named in an inscription from Rome.[7]
Orbicius, the author of a short treatise on the names of the subdivisions and commanders of the army, incorporated into the Etymologicum Magnum, a twelfth century encyclopedia. Nothing is known of the date of Orbicius, except that he must have lived before the compilation of the Etymologicum.[8][1]