Frederick E. Brenk - S.J Filippo Canali De Rossi, «The ‘Notorious’ Felix, Procurator of Judaea, and His Many Wives (Acts 23–24)», Vol. 82 (2001) 410-417

Confusion exists over both the gentilicium and the wives of Felix. As for the name, possibly both Antonius and Claudius are correct. In any case, the attempt to assign only the name Claudius to Felix rests on rather shaky ground. As for his wives, possibly none was a descendant of Kleopatra VII. But if she were, she would be a great-granddaughter rather than a granddaughter of the famous queen. An inscription adduced to fix Felix’ name and career is beset with many problems. Finally, we should take his reputation as ‘notorious’ with a grain of salt. But whether notorious or not, his rise was remarkable, deserving of awe if not admiration.

(Ma/rkou ui(...) bestow on at least one of his sons a name taken by ‘Hellenized Jews’¹⁸? They must be the sons (ui(oi/, line 10) of someone mentioned in the previous line. Their relation to Mucius remains unknown. Finally, is this a grave stele? Avi-Yonah, followed by Pflaum et al. and Kokkinos, assumes so. However, a restoration as [pa/trwni, eu)ergesi/aj xa/[rin] (to his patron, because of [the] benefaction [received]), would make better sense¹⁹.

        The text would then read as follows:

        [Ti/]twi Mouki/wi Ma/rkou ui(w=i [tribu?]
        [Kl]h/menti e)pa/rxwi st[rateu/matoj pezikou=?]
        basile/wj mega/lou 'Agri/p[pa ...]²⁰
        Tiberi/ou 'Aleca/ndrou e)pa/r[xou 'Ioudai/aj]
   5   e)pa/rxwi spe/irhj prw/t[hj vac. Hrw?]
        dianhj i(ppikh=j vac. [...]
        Tiberi/ou Klaudi/o[u Fh/likoj?]
        e)pitro/pou Se[...]
        Simwni/dhj kai_ T[... tou= dei=noj]
   10 ui(oi_ tw=(i) e(autw=n [pa/trwni, eu)ergesi/aj]
                    xa/[rin]

        The translation would be:

To Titus Mucius, [son of], Marcus [tribu?],
Clemens, prefect of the infantry cohort
of King Agrippa the Great, ... of]²¹
Tiberius Alexander, the [prefect of (the province of) Judaea],
prefect of the first cohort [... of Hero?-]
dian cavalry, [...]
of Tiberius Claudius [Felix?]²²,
procurator — of the Au[gustus — in Judaea].
[S]imonides and T[..., of ... ]
sons, to their [patron for his benefaction in]
            gra[titude]²³.

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