Caenis Explained

Antonia Caenis, (died 75 AD) a former slave and secretary of Antonia Minor (mother of the emperor Claudius), was Roman emperor Vespasian's contubernalis.[1] [2] [3] [4]

Life

It could be thought that she had family in Istria, now in Croatia, 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 as contubernium,[5] before his marriage. According to Suetonius, after the death of Vespasian's wife Flavia 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 son Domitian, who refused to greet her as one of the family.[7]

Popular culture

The life of Caenis and her love-story with Vespasian are portrayed in Lindsey Davis's novel The Course of Honour.She is also a character who features regularly in Robert Fabbri's Vespasian series, 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 in I, 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. [8]

See also

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Companion: Caenis. feminaeromanae.org. en. 2019-11-22.
  2. Book: Anagnostou-Laoutides. Eva. Charles. M.B.. 2012. Vespasian, Caenis and Suetonius. C. . Deroux . Studies in Latin Literature and Roman History XVI. Brussels. Editions Latomus . 530–547. en.
  3. Acton. Karen. 2010-05-12. Antonia Caenis and the Flavian Dynasty. SSRN Electronic Journal. 10.2139/ssrn.1605506.
  4. Book: Women's Life in Greece and Rome: A Source Book in Translation. Lefkowitz. Mary R.. Fant. Maureen B.. 2005-08-23. JHU Press. 978-0-8018-8310-1. en.
  5. Web site: LacusCurtius • Roman Law — Contubernium (Smith's Dictionary, 1875).
  6. (Cassius Dio 66.14)
  7. (Suet. Dom. 12.3)
  8. "Caenis on Incest A.D. 75 (1946)" from "Occupation: Writer" Universal Library, Grosset and Dunlap, 1950