Vipsanius Clemens (died 16
AD) was an impostor in
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
who attempted to impersonate the Roman emperor
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
' grandson
Postumus Agrippa
Marcus Agrippa Postumus (12 BC – AD 14),: "The elder Agrippa died, in the summer of 12 BC, while Julia was pregnant with their fifth child. The boy was very likely born sometime after June 26 of the following year. When his grandfather adopted ...
(Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Postumus). He afterwards also became known as pseudo-Agrippa.
Biography
He was a former slave of
Agrippa Postumus
Marcus Agrippa Postumus (12 BC – AD 14),: "The elder Agrippa died, in the summer of 12 BC, while Julia was pregnant with their fifth child. The boy was very likely born sometime after June 26 of the following year. When his grandfather adopted ...
, the grandson of
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
, who was killed around the time
Tiberius
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...
came to power. Clemens appeared claiming that he really was Postumus, and gained a significant band of followers, but was captured and executed by Tiberius. It is reputed that when he was brought before Tiberius, he was asked: "How did you become Agrippa?" Clemens replied "The same way you became
Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caes ...
".
Meyer Reinhold
Meyer Reinhold (September 1, 1909 – July 2002) was an American classical scholar and also a specialist in Jewish studies. He was co-author or editor of 23 books. With his wife Diane he had two children, Helen Reinhold Barrett, later Dean of the ...
noted a magistrate at Verona in Venetia and Histria in 1 BC named Sextus Vipsanius Clemens who was the son of a Marcus Vipsanius, possibly associated with Clemens the impostor.
August Pauly
August Friedrich von Pauly (; ; 9 May 1796, in Benningen am Neckar – 2 May 1845, in Stuttgart) was a German educator and classical philologist.
From 1813 to 1818 he studied at the University of Tübingen, then furthered his education at Heidelb ...
proposed that the man could be the impostor's son. Anthony A. Barrett believes the two should not be assumed to be the same man.
Ralf Scharf states in his work ''Agrippa Postumus: Splitter einer historischen Figur'' that "Clemens" is simply too common a name for there to be any certain connection.
In fiction
Robert Graves, in his novel ''
I, Claudius
''I, Claudius'' is a historical novel by English writer Robert Graves, published in 1934. Written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius, it tells the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and the early years of the Roma ...
'', makes the suggestion that this person really was Postumus. This was not included in the 1976
TV adaptation
An adaptation is a transfer of a work of art from one style, culture or medium to another.
Some common examples are:
* Film adaptation, a story from another work, adapted into a film (it may be a novel, non-fiction like journalism, autobiography, ...
, which does not include Clemens and instead explicitly shows Postumus being killed while in exile.
See also
*
Pseudo-Nero
After the emperor Nero committed suicide near the villa of his freedman Phaon in June of 68 AD, various Nero impostors appeared between the autumn of 69 AD and the reign of the emperor Domitian. Most scholars set the number of Nero impostors to two ...
*
Pseudo-Marius
Pseudo-Marius (also referred to as Amatius, Herophilus, Chamates, or the false Marius; died 13 April 44 BC) was a man who claimed to be the son of Gaius Marius the Younger, and therefore the grandson of the famous Roman general Gaius Marius. He was ...
*
Pseudo-Alexios II
Pseudo-Alexios II was the most famous among several pretenders to the throne of the Byzantine Empire who appeared in the early reign of Isaac II Angelos (r. 1185-1195 and 1203–1204). He claimed to be the Emperor Alexios II Komnenos, who had be ...
*
Pseudo-Plutarch Pseudo-Plutarch is the conventional name given to the actual, but unknown, authors of a number of pseudepigrapha (falsely attributed works) attributed to Plutarch but now known to have not been written by him.
Some of these works were included in s ...
*
Pseudo-Apuleius 210px, Manuscript Kassel; 9th century, Mandragora
Pseudo-Apuleius is the name given in modern scholarship to the author of a 4th-century herbal known as ''Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarius'' or ''Herbarium Apuleii Platonici''. The author of the text appare ...
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clemens
Impostor pretenders
16 deaths
1st-century BC births
Year of birth unknown
1st-century BC Romans
1st-century Romans
Imperial Roman slaves and freedmen
Executed ancient Roman people
Vipsanii
People executed by the Roman Empire