Suetonius, Biography of the Caesars: Claudius 28
created: This entry is taken from Biography of the Caesars: Claudius 28 written by Sueton
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: la; la
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https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/419

Caesarea Maritima is indirectly attested at Suetonius, Biography of the Caesars: Claudius 28. This passage was written ca. 117-122 C.E. possibly in Rome. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, or simply Suetonius (69-122 C.E.), was a historian of the early Roman Empire. Possibly originating in Numidia (modern Algeria), he was an accomplished intellectual in the Imperial capital who developed a close relationship with Pliny the Younger, on whose provincial staff he may have served in Bithynia and Pontus in 110-112 C.E., and who rose to serve in high administrative offices under Trajan and Hadrian. His Biography of the Caesars (de vita Caesarum), which has become over the centuries one of the most popular and influential historical works of ancient Rome, vividly portrayed the private and public lives of the first 12 leaders of the Roman Empire, starting with Julius Caesar and continuing through Augustus to Domitian. In this passage from the account of Claudius, Suetonius discusses how the emperor showered benefits on his freedmen, including Antonius Felix, the procurator of Judaea in 52-60 C.E. It is uncertain whether Felix was a freedman of Claudius or of Claudius’s mother Antonia Minor, the daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia Minor and niece to Augustus.

Libertorum praecipue suspexit Posiden spadonem, quem etiam Britannico triumpho inter militares viros hasta pura donavit, nec minus Felicem, quem cohortibus et alis provinciaeque Iudaeae praeposuit, trium reginarum maritum, et Harpocran, cui lectica per urbem vehendi spectaculaque publice edendi ius tribuit …

[Ed. Kaster 2016]

Among (Claudius’s) freedmen he held in high regard the eunuch Posides, whom he even presented with the Spear without Iron at his British triumph, along with men who had served as soldiers. He was no less fond of Felix, whom he placed in command of the cohorts and cavalry units, as well as the province of Judaea, and who married three queens. And there was Harpocras, to whom he granted the privilege of riding through the city on a litter and producing public entertainments …

[Adapted from Rolfe 1997] [We know two of Felix’s royal wives: Drusilla the daughter of Juba II of Mauretania, and Drusilla the daughter of Herod Agrippa I of Judaea, former wife of Azizus of Emesa.]

Works Cited

[...] 28
[...] 2 56-57

[*Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 20.7

*Tacitus, Histories 5.9]

[Britain

Judaea]

[Antonius Felix, governor of Judaea

Claudius, emperor

Harpocras, Imperial freedman

Posides, Imperial freedman]

[Family

Government and Law

Military

Roman History]