Caenis
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| Flavian dynasty | ||
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69–79 AD |
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79–81 AD |
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81–96 AD |
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Antonia Caenis,(died 75 AD) a former slave and secretary ofAntonia Minor(mother of the emperorClaudius), wasRoman emperorVespasian'scontubernalis.[1][2][3][4]
Life
[edit]It could be thought that she had family inIstria,now inCroatia,based on a trip she took there (Suet. Dom. 12.3). In her 30s Caenis, still possibly a slave, was in an unofficial type of relationship with Vespasian, known ascontubernium,[5]before his marriage. According toSuetonius,after the death of Vespasian's wifeFlavia Domitilla,Vespasian and Caenis, now a freedwoman, resumed their relationship; she was his wife "in all but name" until her death in AD 75.
She had a remarkable memory and considerable influence on the emperor's administration, carried out official business on his behalf, and apparently made a lot of money from her position.[6]However, she was treated with disrespect by Vespasian's sonDomitian,who refused to greet her as one of the family.[7]
Popular culture
[edit]
The life of Caenis and her love-story with Vespasian are portrayed inLindsey Davis's novelThe Course of Honour. She is also a character who features regularly in Robert Fabbri'sVespasianseries, in which she is depicted as a long-lost grand-niece of the king of the Caenii, a rebelling tribe in Thracia.
Robert Graves,in his short story "Caenis on Incest", used her as a kind of foil to present what he then thought to have been the underlying reason for the power-related murders chronicled inI, Claudius.The story is included in his compendium "Occupation: Writer", and he admits to having missed the real reason for the murders in the introduction to that anthology.[9]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"Companion: Caenis".feminaeromanae.org.Retrieved2019-11-22.
- ^Anagnostou-Laoutides, Eva; Charles, M.B. (2012). "Vespasian, Caenis and Suetonius". In Deroux, C. (ed.).Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History XVI.Brussels: Editions Latomus. pp. 530–547.
- ^Acton, Karen (2010-05-12)."Antonia Caenis and the Flavian Dynasty".SSRN Electronic Journal.doi:10.2139/ssrn.1605506.
- ^Lefkowitz, Mary R.;Fant, Maureen B. (2005-08-23).Women's Life in Greece and Rome: A Source Book in Translation.JHU Press.ISBN978-0-8018-8310-1.
- ^"LacusCurtius • Roman Law — Contubernium (Smith's Dictionary, 1875)".
- ^(Cassius Dio 66.14)
- ^(Suet. Dom. 12.3)
- ^CIL6.12037
- ^"Caenis on Incest A.D. 75 (1946)" from "Occupation: Writer" Universal Library, Grosset and Dunlap, 1950
Sources
[edit]- Suetonius,Lives of the Twelve Caesars:Vespasian3,21;Domitian12.3
- Dio Cassius,Roman History66.14
- William Smith (1870),Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
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