Antonius Felix

Marcus Antonius Felix (Felix in Greek: ο Φηλιξ, born between 5/10-?) was the ancient Rome procurator of Iudaea Province 52-60, in succession to Ventidius Cumanus. The squabbling created by the Roman practice of generating the equality of the Jews by insuring civic privileges bedeviled his time of service.

Life

Felix was the younger brother of the Greek freedman Marcus Antonius Pallas (freedman). Felix was a Greek freedman either of the Emperor Claudius, according to which theory Josephus (Antiq. xx. 7) calls him Claudius Felix, or his mother Antonia Minor, a daughter of Triumvir Mark Antony to Octavia Minor and niece of Emperor Augustus. According to Tacitus, Pallas and Felix descended from the Greek Kings of Arcadia. Felix’s cruelty and licentiousness, coupled with his accessibility to bribes, led to a great increase of crime in Judaea. To put down the Zealots he favored an even more violent sect, the Sicarii ("Dagger-men"), by whose aid he contrived the murder of the high-priest Jonathan. The period of his rule was marked by internal feuds and disturbances, which he put down with severity. Paul the Apostle, after being apprehended in Jerusalem, was sent to be judged before Felix at Caesarea, and kept in custody for two years (Acts xxiv.). On returning to Rome, Felix was accused of having taken advantage of a dispute between the Jews and Syrians of Caesarea to slay and plunder the inhabitants, but through the intercession of his brother, the freedman Pallas who had great influence with the Emperor Nero, he escaped unpunished. Porcius Festus succeeded him as procurator of Judea.

Marriages and issue

Felix married three times. His first wife was princess Drusilla of Mauretania, a maternal second cousin of Emperor Claudius. Drusilla was an only child to Claudius’ late maternal cousin King Ptolemy of Mauretania and his wife Queen of Mauretania Julia Urania. Claudius arranged for Felix and Drusilla to marry around 53 in Rome. Like Felix, Drusilla was partly of Greek descent. Felix and Drusilla had no children. Felix between 54-56, divorced Drusilla and to marry a Judean Princess. Felix’s second wife was a Judean princess Drusilla, daughter of King of Judea Herod Agrippa I, from his wife and cousin Cypros. Felix and the Judean Drusilla, had a very happy marriage. Felix with the Judean Drusilla, had a son called Marcus Antonius Agrippa (he died along with his wife in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 24 August 79) and a daughter Antonia Clementiana. Antonia Agrippina could be a daughter from their son‘s marriage (this name was graffiti in a Royal Tomb in Egypt). Clementiana became a grandmother to a Lucius Anneius Domitius Proculus. Two possible descendants from this marriage are Marcus Antonius Fronto Salvianus (a quaestor) and his son Marcus Antonius Felix Magnus a high priest in 225. Felix married for a third time, it is not known whether Felix divorced the Judean Drusilla or she died. Nothing is known on his third wife.

External links

• Roman coinage of Felix can be seen under Roman Procurators at [1]

See also

• Roman Prefects and Procurators of Iudaea Province, 6-132 AD

References

• Tacitus, Annals, xii. 54, Histories v. 9
• Suetonius, Claudius, 28
• Emil Schürer, History of the Jewish People (1890-1891)
• article in Hastings' Diet, of the Bible (A. Robertson)
• commentaries on the Acts of the Apostles
• Sir W. M. Ramsay, St Paul the Traveller
• Carl von Weizsacker, Apostolic Age (Eng. trans., 1894)
• Jewish Encyclopedia: FELIX (ANTONIUS FELIX)
• http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/ptolemies_selene_ii.htm

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.