The gens Sestia was a family at Rome. The gens was originally patrician, but in later times there were also plebeian members. The only member of the family to obtain the consulship under the Republic was Publius Sestius Capitolinus Vaticanus, in 452 BC.
The nomen Sestius is frequently confounded with that of Sextius, and the two names may originally have been the same; but the ancient writers evidently regarded them as two distinct names. If they are in fact two forms of the same name, then Sestius is probably a patronymic surname, based on the common praenomen Sextus, meaning "sixth." The same name gave rise to the plebeian gens Sextilia.
The praenomina used by the Sestii included Publius, Lucius, Vibius, and Titus. The Sestii are the only patrician family known to have used Vibius.
Branches and cognomina of the gens
The only cognomen of the early Sestii is Capitolinus, probably referring to the Capitoline Hill, where the family may have lived. The consul of 452 BC bore the agnomen Vaticanus, apparently referring to the Vatican Hill, across the Tiber from the Capitol. Towards the end of the Republic, the surnames Pansa, meaning "splay-footed," and Gallus, a cock or a Gaul, are found.
This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation.
Vibius Sestius Capitolinus, grandfather of the consul of 452 BC.
Publius Sestius V. f. Capitolinus, father of the consul of 452 BC.
Publius Sestius P. f. V. n. Capitolinus Vaticanus, consul in 452 BC; the following year, he was one of the decemvirs charged with drawing up the first ten tables of Roman law.
Publius Sestius, accused of murder by Gaius Julius Iulus, one of the decemvirs, in 451 BC; apparently a different man from the decemvir Capitolinus.
Publius Sestius, quaestor in 414 BC.
Lucius Sestius, tribune of the plebs, probably early in the 1st century BC Cicero calls him Lucius, but in the Capitoline Fasti, his grandson's filiation is P. f. Vibi n.
Publius Sestius L. f., praetor in 53 BC; he was a friend and ally of Cicero, by whom he was defended in 56. He was with Pompeius on the outbreak of the Civil War, but subsequently went over to Caesar, who sent him into Cappadocia in 48 BC.
Lucius Sestius Pansa, made a demand resisted by Quintus Tullius Cicero in 54 BC.
Publius Sestius P. f., to whom Cicero wrote circa 53 BC, had been condemned for an unknown offense.
Titus Sestius Gallus, owned the land where Publius Clodius Pulcher was slain in 52 BC.
Lucius Sestius P. f. L. n., consul suffectus in 23 BC.
