Epaphroditos
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Epaphroditos or Epaphroditus (died c. 95) was a freedman and secretary of the Roman Emperor Nero. He was later executed by Domitian for helping Nero commit suicide.
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[edit] Name
His name originates from the Greek language and means "lovely, charming" combined with the name Aphrodite.[1] The Romans often gave slaves of Greek origins illustrious names from Greek mythology and culture, for example Claudius's freedman Narcissus, Nero's freedman Polyclitus and Antonia Minor's freedwoman Caenis.
[edit] Life
Epaphroditus was an Imperial freedman and secretary (Latin: a libellis) of Emperor Nero. During the conspiracy which put an end to Nero's rule, Epaphroditus accompanied his master in his flight, and when Nero attempted to kill himself, Epaphroditus assisted him (June 9, 68 AD). For this service, however, he had afterwards to pay with his own life, for Domitian first banished and afterwards ordered him to be put to death (c. 95 AD), because he had not exerted himself to save the life of Nero.[2][3][4]
Epaphroditus was the owner of Epictetus of Hierapolis, a Stoic philosopher taught by Musonius Rufus.[5][6]
He is probably not the Epaphroditus to whom Josephus dedicated his Antiquities of the Jews, who may have been a freedman of Emperor Trajan; nor is he likely to be the Epaphroditus mentioned by St. Paul in the Epistle to the Philippians in the New Testament.[7]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Behind the Name: Meaning, Origin and History of the Name Epaphroditos
- ^ Tacitus, Annals, xv. 55.
- ^ Suetonius, Life of Nero, 49; Life of Domitian, 14.
- ^ Dio Cassius, lxiii. 27, 29; lxvii. 14.
- ^ Epictetus, Discourses, i. 26.
- ^ Suda, Επίκτητος.
- ^ St. Paul, Epistle to the Philippians, New Testament, ii. 25, iv. 18.
[edit] External links
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).
