The gens Steia was an obscureplebeian family at ancient Rome. No members of this gens are mentioned by ancient writers, but several are known from inscriptions, and at least some of them were of senatorial rank. A large number of the Steii settled in the provinces of Africa and Numidia.
Origin
The nomenSteius resembles names belonging to a large class of gentilicia formed using the suffix ', which was typical of Oscangentes. However, because the nomen is so short, this resemblance may be superficial, with ' belonging to the root, rather than being part of a gentile-forming suffix. Besides the African colonials, all of the known Steii lived at or in the immediate vicinity of Rome, in Latium, suggesting that the family might be of Latin origin.
Praenomina
The Steii known from inscriptions used only the most common praenomina, including Lucius, Gaius, Marcus, and Publius, with no obvious preference.
Steia Chreste, named in a funerary inscription from Rome.
Steius Cilio, a soldier mentioned in an inscription from Castellum Dimmidi in Numidia.
Steia Decumina, a girl buried at Rome, aged ten years, three months, and six days, with a monument from her father, Steius Valerianus.
Steia Donatula, buried in a second- or third-century tomb at Ammaedara in Africa Proconsularis, aged fifty, with a monument from her husband, Titus Lartius Quintulus.
Gaius Steius F, buried at Masculula in Africa Proconsularis, aged fifty-five years, three days.
Marcus Steius Faustus, buried at Masculula, aged twenty, along with his mother, Minucia Prima, aged forty-five.
Publius Steius Felix, the former master of Steia Fortunata, at some point in the first or second century.
Steia Fortunata, the house-slave of Publius Steius Felix, became the wife of Sextus Gavius, to whom she was married for twenty-one years, and the mother of Sextus Gavius Scantianus, who along with his father dedicated a monument at Portus in Latium in his mother's memory, dating to the second century, or the latter half of the first.
Lucius Steius Lucanus, buried at Thugga, aged eighty.
Steia Olympias, buried at Ostia in Latium, during the latter half of the second century.
Marcus Steius Priscus, together with his wife, Lollie Isias, dedicated a tomb at Ostia to their son, Marcus Steius Rogatus.
Steia Privata, buried at the site of modern Belab, formerly part of Africa Proconsularis, aged seventy-five, next to Publius Marius, aged eighty, perhaps her husband.
Marcus Steius M. f. Rogatus, buried at Ostia, aged eleven years, nine months, and twenty-five days, with a monument from his parents, Marcus Steius Priscus and Lollia Isias.
Gaius Steius C. f. Sabinianus, a soldier in the Legio III Augusta, buried at Lambaesis in Numidia, aged twenty-five, with a monument from his brother, Gaius Julius Pontius.
Publius Steius Valens, a soldier in the century of Caesernius Senecio, serving in the fifth cohort of the vigiles at Rome in AD 210.
Steius Valerianus, dedicated a tomb at Rome for his daughter, Steia Decumina.
