Titus Flavius Clemens (consul)

{{short description|1st century Roman politician and cousin of emperor Domitian}}

Titus Flavius T. f. T. n. Clemens ({{died in|AD 95}}) was a Roman politician and cousin of the emperor Domitian, with whom he served as consul 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.Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. I, p. 788 ("T. Flavius Clemens").

Biography

Clemens was the son of Titus Flavius Sabinus, consul suffectus in AD 69, and a brother of Titus Flavius Sabinus, consul in AD 82. The emperor Vespasian was his paternal great-uncle, while the emperors Titus and Domitian were his father's cousins.Townend, "Some Flavian Connections", pp. 55–57.

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 Titus Flavius Sabinus, consul in AD 47, was captured and slain by the forces of Vitellius, who burnt the capitol, but the rest of the family escaped.Arthur Stein: Flavius 62. Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, vol. VI,2, col. 2536-2539 (here: col. 2538).

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 (who, as the daughter of his brother Titus, was also his niece).Suetonius, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Domitian*.html#10 "The Life of Domitian", 10].

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.Suetonius, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Domitian*.html#15 "The Life of Domitian", 15]. 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.Grainger, Nerva and the Roman Succession Crisis of AD 96-99, p. 12.

According to Cassius Dio, 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.Cassius Dio, Roman History lxvii. 14. This may imply that Clemens had converted to Christianity.Arthur Stein: Flavius 62. Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, vol. VI,2, col. 2536-2539. For the same reason, his wife was banished to Pandataria.Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana, viii. 15.Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica, iii. 18.Jerome, Epistulae, 107. The Christian author Eusebius mentions Clemens without saying anything about his belief.Weiß, Alexander. "Soziale Elite und Christentum. Studien zu ordo-Angehörigen unter den frühen Christen." Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter (2015), pp. 157–158. Some scholars identify Clemens with "Ketia bar Shalom", whom the Talmud described as a Roman senator who converted to Judaism and managed to save the Jews from a decree of persecution, before himself being executed.[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/keti-x0027-a-bar-shalom Keti’a Bar Shalom]

Flavian family tree

References

Bibliography

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Lucius Flavius Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana.
Eusebius of Caesarea, Historia Ecclesiastica.
Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus (St. Jerome), Epistulae.
Annibale Albani, T. Flavii Clementis Viri Consularis et Martyris Tumulus illustratis, Urbino (1727).
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Franz Xaver Kraus, Roma Sotterranea: Die Römische Katakomben, Herder, Freiburg-in-Breisgau (1873), p. 41.
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Gavin Townend, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/298836 "Some Flavian Connections"], in Journal of Roman Studies, No. 51 (1961).
John D. Grainger, Nerva and the Roman Succession Crisis of AD 96–99, Routledge (2004).
Weiß, Alexander. "Soziale Elite und Christentum. Studien zu ordo-Angehörigen unter den frühen Christen." Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter (2015), pp. 157–160.