Agaclytus (freedman)

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Agaclytus was a freedman of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, said to have had great influence over Aurelius and his co-emperor, Lucius Verus. [1] He was given in marriage to the widow of Marcus Aurelius' cousin, Marcus Annius Libo by Verus, over the objections of Aurelius, who declined to attend the wedding banquet. [2] It is one of the few—if not only—examples in ancient Rome of a freedman marrying someone from the senatorial class. [3] Agaclytus's son by this marriage, Lucius Aurelius Agaclytus, went on to become the second husband of Vibia Aurelia Sabina, the youngest daughter of Aurelius. The Augustan History reports a rumor that a plot against Marcus Aurelius fomented by his wife, Faustina the Younger, was quashed when Agaclytus reported its existence to Aurelius; however, there were numerous rumors of Faustina's misbehavior, and Aurelius vigorously denounced them all as untrue. [1] [4]

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References

  1. 1 2 Unknown; Anthony R. Birley (trans.) (1976). Lives of the Later Caesars . Penguin Classics. pp. 123, 146–147. ISBN   0-14-044308-8.
  2. Birley, Anthony R. (1993). Marcus Aurelius: A Biography. London: Routledge. p. 243. ISBN   0-415-17125-3.
  3. McGinn, Thomas A.J. (1998). Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 103. ISBN   978-0-19-516132-8.
  4. Duff, Arnold Mackay (1958). Freedmen in the Early Roman Empire. Michigan: University of Michigan Press.

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Agaclytus". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology .