Reading Companion to Book 1 of The Seculary of a Wandering Jew

by Paulo Barata

recent historians have revised this opinion. Many authors contend that he was murdered by his own wife. After his death in 54, his grand-nephew and adopted son Nero succeeded him as Emperor.

  Cuspius Fadus

  Procurator of Judaea

  Cuspius Fadus was an Ancient Roman eques and procurator of Judaea Province in 44 AD.

  After the death of King Agrippa, in 44¬†AD, he was appointed procurator by Claudius. During his administration, peace was restored in the country, and the only disturbance was created by one Theudas, who came forward with the claim of being a prophet. But he and his followers were put to death by the command of Cuspius Fadus.

  Domitian

  Son of Vespasian, emperor

  (24 October 51 - 18 September 96)

  Roman Emperor from 81 to 96. Domitian was the third and last emperor of the Flavian dynasty.

  Domitian's youth and early career were largely spent in the shadow of his brother Titus, who gained military renown during the First Jewish-Roman War. While Titus held a great many offices under the rule of his father, Domitian was left with honors but no responsibilities. Vespasian died in 79 and was succeeded by Titus, whose own reign came to an unexpected end when he was struck by a fatal illness in 81. The following day Domitian was declared Emperor by the Praetorian Guard.

  As Emperor, Domitian strengthened the economy by revaluing the Roman coinage, expanded the border defenses of the Empire, and initiated a massive building program to restore the damaged city of Rome. Significant wars were fought in Britain, where his general Agricola attempted to conquer Caledonia (Scotland), and in Dacia, where Domitian was unable to procure a decisive victory against king Decebalus.

  Domitian's government exhibited totalitarian characteristics; he saw himself as the new Augustus, an enlightened despot destined to guide the Roman Empire into a new era of brilliance. Religious, military, and cultural propaganda fostered a cult of personality, and by nominating himself perpetual censor, he sought to control public and private morals. As a consequence, Domitian was popular with the people and army but considered a tyrant by members of the Roman Senate. According to Suetonius, he was the first Roman Emperor who had demanded to be addressed as dominus et deus (master and god).

  Domitian's reign came to an end in 96 when he was assassinated by court officials. The same day he was succeeded by his advisor Nerva. After his death, Domitian's memory was condemned to oblivion by the Roman Senate.

  Drusilla

  Cousin of Claudius, first wife of Marcus Antonius Felix

  Drusilla of Mauretania (38-79) was a Princess of Mauretania, North Africa and may have been the great grandchild of Ptolemaic Greek Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Roman Triumvir Mark Antony.

  Drusilla was most probably born in Caesaria (modern Cherchell Algeria), the capital of the Roman Client Kingdom of Mauretania in the Roman Empire. She was named in honor of her father's second maternal cousin Julia Drusilla, one of the sisters of the Roman Emperor Caligula who died around the time of her birth and is also the namesake of her paternal aunt Drusilla.

  Her father was executed while visiting Rome in 40. Mauretania was annexed by Rome and later became two Roman provinces. Drusilla was probably raised in the Imperial Family in Rome. Around 53, the Roman Emperor Claudius arranged for her to marry Marcus Antonius Felix, a Greek Freedman who was the Roman Governor of Judea. Between the years 54 until 56, Felix divorced Drusilla as he fell in love and married the Herodian Princess Drusilla.

  In 56 Drusilla married as her second husband; her distant relative the Emesene Priest King, Sohaemus, who ruled from 54 until his death in 73. Drusilla and Sohaemus had a son Gaius Julius Alexio also known as Alexio II, who later succeeded his father as Emesene Priest King.

  Flavius Silva

  General and Legate of Judaea

  Lucius Flavius Silva Nonius Bassus was a late-1st century Roman general, governor of the province of Judaea and consul.

  History remembers Silva as the Roman commander who led his army, composed mainly of the Legio X Fretensis, in 73 AD up to Masada and laid siege to its near-impenetrable mountain fortress occupied by a group of Jewish rebels called the Sicarii.

  The end of the siege in 74 AD culminated with Silva's forces breaching the defenses of the Masada plateau and the mass suicide of the Sicarii who preferred death to defeat or capture.

  Silva's actions are documented by 1st century Jewish-Roman historian Josephus; the remains of a 1st century Roman victory arch identified in Jerusalem in 2005; and of course the extensive earthworks at the Masada site, a monument to the high-water mark of Roman siege warfare.

  Gaius A. Pollio

  Roman Consul, patron of Virgil and Horatio

  Gaius Asinius Pollio (Teate Marrucinorum - currently Chieti in Abruzzi 75 BC - AD 4) was a Roman soldier, politician, orator, poet, playwright, literary critic and historian, whose lost contemporary history provided much of the material for the historians Appian and Plutarch.

  Pollio was most famously a patron of Virgil and a friend of Horace and had poems dedicated to him by both men.

  Gaius Caligula

  Nephew of Claudius, emperor

  (31 August 12 - 24 January 41)

  3rd Roman Emperor. Ruled from 37 to 41.

  Caligula was a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula's father Germanicus, the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, was a very successful general and one of Rome's most beloved public figures. The young Gaius earned the nickname Caligula (meaning "little soldier's boot", the diminutive form of caliga, n. hob-nailed military boot) from his father's soldiers while accompanying him during his campaigns in Germania.

  When Tiberius died on 16 March 37 AD, his estate and the titles of the Principate were left to Caligula and Tiberius's own grandson, Gemellus, who were to serve as joint heirs. Backed by Macro, Caligula had Tiberius' will nullified with regards to Gemellus on grounds of insanity.

  There are few surviving sources on Caligula's reign, although he is described as a noble and moderate ruler during the first two years of his rule. After this, the sources focus upon his cruelty, extravagance, and sexual perversity, presenting him as an insane tyrant. While the reliability of these sources has increasingly been called into question, it is known that during his brief reign, Caligula worked to increase the unconstrained personal power of the emperor (as opposed to countervailing powers within the principate). He directed much of his attention to ambitious construction projects and notoriously luxurious dwellings for himself.

  In early 41 AD, Caligula became the first Roman emperor to be assassinated, the result of a conspiracy involving officers of the Praetorian Guard, as well as members of the Roman Senate and of the imperial court. The conspirators' attempt to use the opportunity to restore the Roman Republic was thwarted: on the same day the Praetorian Guard declared Caligula's uncle Claudius emperor in his place.

  Gaius Quadratus

  Governor of Roman Syria

  Gaius Ummidius Durmius Quadratus (c. 12 BCE-c. 60 CE) was the Roman governor of Syria from c. 50 until his death.

  The procurator of Judaea, Ventidius Cumanus, was accused of partiality to the Samaritans, who were at variance with the Galileans, and both parties appealed to Quadratus. The governor went to Samaria in 52 and suppressed the disturbance. The Samaritan and Galilean insurgents were crucified; five Galileans whom the Samaritans pointed out as instigators of the movement were executed in Lydda; the high priest Ananias and Anan, the governor of the Temple, were sent in chains to Rome; and the leaders of the Samaritans, the procurator Cumanus, and the military tribune Celer were also sent to plead their cause before the emperor.

  In fear of further disturbances, Quadratus hurried to Jerusalem; finding the city peacefully celebrating the Feast of Passover, he returned to Antioch.

  Gaius Rufinus*

  Tribune

  Gessius Florus

  Procurator of Judaea

  Gessius Florus was the Roman procurator of Judaea from 64 until 66. Florus was appo
inted to replace Lucceius Albinus as procurator by the Emperor Nero due to his wife's friendship with Nero's wife Poppaea. He was noted for his public greed and injustice to the Jewish population, and is credited by Josephus as being the primary cause of the Great Jewish Revolt

  Upon taking office in Caesarea, Florus began a practice of favoring the local Greek population of the city over the Jewish population. The local Greek population noticed Florus' policies and took advantage of the circumstances to denigrate the local Jewish population.

  Florus further angered the Jewish population of his province by having seventeen talents removed from the treasury of the Temple in Jerusalem, claiming the money was for the Emperor. In response to this action, the city fell into unrest and some of the Jewish population began to openly mock Florus by passing a basket around to collect money as if Florus was poor. Florus reacted to the unrest by sending soldiers into Jerusalem the next day to raid the city and arrest a number of the city leaders. The arrested individuals were whipped and crucified despite many of them being Roman citizens.

  After the outbreak of the Great Jewish Revolt, Florus was replaced as procurator by Marcus Antonius Julianus.

  Helvidius Priscus

  Quaestor and senator

  Helvidius Priscus, Stoic philosopher and statesman, lived during the reigns of Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian.

  He was distinguished for his ardent and courageous republicanism. Although he repeatedly offended his rulers, he held several high offices. During Nero's reign he was quaestor of Achaea and tribune of the plebs (AD 56); he restored peace and order in Armenia, and gained the respect and confidence of the provincials. His declared sympathy with Brutus and Cassius occasioned his banishment in 66.

  As praetor elect he ventured to oppose Vitellius in the senate, and as praetor (70) he maintained, in opposition to Vespasian, that the management of the finances ought to be left to the discretion of the senate; he proposed that the Temple of Jupiter Best and Greatest, which had been destroyed in the Vitelline/Flavian civil war, should be restored at the public expense; he saluted Vespasian by his private name, and did not recognize him as emperor in his praetorian edicts.

  At length he was banished a second time, and shortly afterwards was executed by Vespasian's order.

  Horace

  Writer and poet

  Quintus Horatius Flaccus (8 December 65 BC - 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.

  His career coincided with Rome's momentous change from Republic to Empire. An officer in the republican army defeated at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, he was befriended by Octavian's right-hand man in civil affairs, Maecenas, and became a spokesman for the new regime. For some commentators, his association with the regime was a delicate balance in which he maintained a strong measure of independence (he was "a master of the graceful sidestep").

  Julius Caesar

  General, dictator of Rome

  Gaius Julius Caesar (July 100 BC - 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general, statesman, Consul and notable author of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.

  In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus and Pompey formed a political alliance that was to dominate Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to amass power through populist tactics were opposed by the conservative elite within the Roman Senate, among them Cato the Younger with the frequent support of Cicero. Caesar's conquest of Gaul, completed by 51 BC, extended Rome's territory to the English Channel and the Rhine.

  With the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to lay down his military command and return to Rome. Caesar refused, and marked his defiance in 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon with a legion to march into the city itself.