The Wives of Felix, the Procurator of Judaea

Roman Deiksler

Abstract


The article attempts at presenting the wives of Felix – a procurator of Judaea from 52 to 58/60 A.D. The governor is supposed to have had relationships with three women, two of whom are better known than the third. The author strives for solving the problem of kinship between the first wife – Drusilla of Mauretania – and Cleopatra VII, which is mentioned by Tacitus. Some researchers, however, have discredited the statement of the Roman historian that Drusilla would have been the granddaughter of the Egyptian queen. It was accepted by most historians and has been repeated in the following studies concerning Drusilla of Mauretania. Nevertheless, the renewed analysis of the matter indicates that it was Tacitus who was right and that Drusilla was the granddaughter of Cleopatra indeed. The second part of the article presents the second wife of Felix, who was the daughter of Agrippa I and is supposed to have started her relationship with the procurator of Judaea during his stay in the province.

Keywords


Judea; Jews; Roman provinces in the 1st century; Roman governors; Roman administration; Prefects and procurators of Judea; Drusilla of Mauretania

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/rh.2020.49.31-40
Date of publication: 2020-12-21 13:05:10
Date of submission: 2018-05-15 10:21:03


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