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 edit
- ^ a b Unknown; Anthony R. Birley (trans.) (1976). Lives of the Later Caesars. Penguin Classics. pp. 123, 146–147. ISBN 0-14-044308-8.
- ^ Birley, Anthony R. (1993). Marcus Aurelius: A Biography. London: Routledge. p. 243. ISBN 0-415-17125-3.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Duff, Arnold Mackay (1958). Freedmen in the Early Roman Empire. Michigan: University of Michigan Press.
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.
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