Claudius Athenodorus was a Roman '' eques'' who flourished during the reign of the emperor

Domitian Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavi ...

. He was appointed to a series of imperial offices, including ''

praefectus annonae The ("prefect of the provisions"), also called the ("prefect of the grain supply") was a Roman official charged with the supervision of the grain supply to the city of Rome. Under the Republic, the job was usually done by an aedile. However, i ...

'' for the city of Rome.

Hans-Georg Pflaum Hans-Georg Pflaum (3 June 1902, Berlin – 26 December 1979, Linz) was a German-born French historian. Life Pflaum, who came from a Jewish family of industrialists, at first studied law in Breslau and Heidelberg, afterwards taking a position in ...

noted that Athenodorus is the Greek translation of the Syrian Vaballath. This, combined with an inscription attesting that he was imperial

procurator Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to: * Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency * ''Procurator'' (Ancient Rome), the title o ...

Roman Syria Roman Syria was an early Roman province annexed to the Roman Republic in 64 BC by Pompey in the Third Mithridatic War following the defeat of Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity), King of Armenia Tigranes the Great. Following the partition of the Hero ...

during the reign of Domitian, led Pflaum to conclude Athenodorus was a native of that province. The '' gentilicium'' "Claudius" suggests that he became a citizen of Rome during the reign of emperor Claudius.Henriette Pavis d'Escurac
''La préfecture de l'annone, service administratif impérial d'Auguste à Constantin''
(Bibliothèque des Écoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome, 226) (Rome: Ecole française de Rome, 1976), pp. 329f The other appointment Athenodorus is known to have held was ''praefectus annonae'' or overseer in charge of the public dole of bread for the inhabitants of Rome. = ILS 1535 Because he is the only known procurator of the imperial properties who advanced to this prefecture, it is difficult to estimate the lapse of time that could have elapsed between the two functions. Henriette Pavis d'Escurac dated his procuratorship of Syria to the earlier part of the reign of Domitian, and his prefecture of the public dole to the last eight years of Domitian's rule, between

Marcus Mettius Rufus Marcus Mettius Rufus was a Roman '' eques'' who flourished during the reign of the emperors Domitian and Trajan. He was appointed to a series of imperial offices, including ''praefectus'' or governor of Roman Egypt. Hans-Georg Pflaum first traced ...

and Gaius Minicius Italus, which would be c. 88 to c. 96. Except for these two appointments, nothing more is known of Claudius Athenodorus.

References

{{Reflist 1st-century Romans Praefecti annonae Athenodorus, Claudius