Titus Flavius T. f. T. n. Clemens was a Roman politician and cousin 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 Fl ...

, with whom he served as

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

from January to April in AD 95. Shortly after leaving the consulship, Clemens was executed, allegedly for atheism, although the exact circumstances remain unclear. Over time, he came to be regarded as an early

Christian martyr In Christianity, a martyr is a person considered to have died because of their testimony for Jesus or faith in Jesus. In years of the early church, stories depict this often occurring through death by sawing, stoning, crucifixion, burning at t ...

.''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', vol. I, p. 788 ("T. Flavius Clemens").

Biography

Clemens was the son of Titus Flavius Sabinus,

''suffectus'' in AD 69, and a brother of Titus Flavius Sabinus, consul in AD 82. The emperor

Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...

was his paternal great-uncle, while the emperors

Titus Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September 81 AD) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death. Before becoming emperor, Titus gained renown as a mili ...

and Domitian were his father's cousins. As a child, Clemens was besieged along with his family in the capitol, while his great-uncle Vespasian's soldiers were approaching Rome. His grandfather, Vespasian's brother T. Flavius Sabinus, consul in AD 47, was captured and slain by the forces of

Vitellius Aulus Vitellius (; ; 24 September 1520 December 69) was Roman emperor for eight months, from 19 April to 20 December AD 69. Vitellius was proclaimed emperor following the quick succession of the previous emperors Galba and Otho, in a year of ci ...

, who burnt the capitol, but the rest of the family escaped. Clemens' brother was consul with Domitian, shortly after the latter's accession, but the emperor put his cousin to death on the pretext that the herald proclaiming him consul had called him ''Imperator''. Suetonius claims that Domitian was motivated by his love for his cousin's wife,

Julia Flavia Julia Flavia or Flavia Julia and also nicknamed Julia Titi ( – 91) was the daughter of Roman Emperor Titus and his first wife Arrecina Tertulla. Biography Early life Julia was born in Rome to Titus and Arrecina Tertulla, she was named fo ...

(who, as the daughter of his brother Titus, was also his niece). Clemens also married one of his second cousins, Flavia Domitilla, daughter of Vespasian's daughter, Domitilla, who was thus also a niece of Domitian. They had two sons, whom Domitian intended to succeed him in the empire, renaming one of them ''Vespasian'' and the other ''Domitian''. In AD 95, Clemens served as consul alongside the emperor from January to April. He was executed shortly after leaving the consulship at the end of April. According to

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

, Clemens was put to death on a charge of atheism, for which, he adds, many others who went over to the Jewish opinions were executed. This may imply that Clemens had converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. For the same reason, his wife was banished to Pandataria. Some scholars identify Clemens with "Ketia bar Shalom", whom the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

described as a Roman senator who converted to Judaism and managed to save the Jews from a decree of persecution, before himself being executed.Keti’a Bar Shalom
/ref>

Flavian family tree

References

Bibliography

* Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, '' De Vita Caesarum'' (Lives of the Caesars, or The Twelve Caesars). * Lucius Flavius Philostratus, '' The Life of Apollonius of Tyana''. * Eusebius of Caesarea, '' Historia Ecclesiastica''. * Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus (

St. Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is com ...

), ''Epistulae''. *

Annibale Albani Annibale Albani (15 August 1682 – 21 September 1751) was an Italian Cardinal. Biography Annibale Albani was born in Urbino as a member of the Albani family, of Albanian-Italian origin. His parents were Orazio Albani, brother of Pope Clement XI ...

, ''T. Flavii Clementis Viri Consularis et Martyris Tumulus illustratis'', Urbino (1727). * ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 ...

'', William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). * Franz Xaver Kraus, ''Roma Sotterranea: Die Römische Katakomben'', Herder, Freiburg-in-Breisgau (1873), p. 41. *

Heinrich Grätz Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was amongst the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective. Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (now Książ Wielkop ...

, ''Die Jüdischen Proselyten im Römerreiche unter den Kaisern Domitian, Nerva, Trajan und Hadrian'' (1884), pp. 28 ''et seq.'' * Heinrich Grätz, ''Geschichte der Juden von den ältesten Zeiten bis auf die Gegenwart'', 3d ed., vol. iv, p. 403. * Lebrecht, in

Abraham Geiger Abraham Geiger (Hebrew: ''ʼAvrāhām Gayger''; 24 May 181023 October 1874) was a German rabbi and scholar, considered the founding father of Reform Judaism. Emphasizing Judaism's constant development along history and universalist traits, Geig ...

, ''Jüd. Zeit.'', vol. xi., p. 273. *

Abraham Berliner Abraham (Adolf) Berliner (May 2, 1833 – April 21, 1915) (Hebrew: אברהם ברלינר) was a German theologian and historian, born in Obersitzko, in the Grand Duchy of Posen, Prussia. He received his first education under his father, who ...

, ''Geschichte der Juden in Rom, von der ältesten Zeit bis zur Gegenwalt'', J. Kaufmann, Frankfurt am Mein (1893), p. 39. * Théodore Reinach, ''Fontes rerum Judaicarum'', vol. i, p. 195. * Paul von Rohden, Elimar Klebs, & Hermann Dessau, ''

Prosopographia Imperii Romani The ', abbreviated ''PIR'', is a collective historical work to establish the prosopography of high-profile people from the Roman empire. The time period covered extends from the Battle of Actium in 31 BC to the reign of Diocletian. The final vol ...

'' (The Prosopography of the Roman Empire), Berlin (1898), vol. ii. p. 81. * Gavin Townend
"Some Flavian Connections"
in ''

Journal of Roman Studies The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies (The Roman Society) was founded in 1910 as the sister society to the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. The Society is the leading organisation in the United Kingdom for those interest ...

'', No. 51 (1961). * John D. Grainger, ''Nerva and the Roman Succession Crisis of AD 96–99'', Routledge (2004). {{DEFAULTSORT:Flavius Clemens, Titus Flavian dynasty Flavii Sabini Imperial Roman consuls Executed ancient Roman people Cultural assimilation Converts to Judaism from paganism Italian saints 1st-century Christian saints Jewish martyrs 1st-century Romans People executed by the Roman Empire 1st-century executions Year of birth unknown 95 deaths Roman consuls who died in office

Biography

Flavian family tree

See also

References

Bibliography