Caenis

For the Greek mythological woman who was transformed into a man, see Caeneus. For the genus Mayflies, see Caenis (genus).

Roman imperial dynasties
Flavian dynasty
Chronology
Vespasian		69 AD – 79 AD
Titus		79 AD – 81 AD
Domitian		81 AD – 96 AD
Family
Gens Flavia Flavian tree Category:Flavian dynasty
Succession
Preceded by Year of the Four Emperors		Followed by Nerva–Antonine dynasty

Antonia Caenis, a former slave and secretary of Antonia Minor (mother of the emperor Claudius), was the mistress of the Roman emperor Vespasian. It is believed that she was born in Istria, now in Croatia, based on a trip she took there on her own Cassius Dio 66.14. In her 30s Caenis, still possibly a slave, was in an unofficial relationship known as contubernium, with Vespasian before his marriage. According to Suetonius, after the death of Vespasian's wife Flavia Domitilla, Vespasian and Caenis, now a freedwoman, resumed their relationship; she was his wife "in all but name" until her death in AD 74. She had a remarkable memory and considerable influence on the emperor's administration, carried out official business on his behalf, and apparently made a lot of money from her position. However, she was treated with disrespect by Vespasian's son Domitian, who refused to greet her as one of the family Cassius Dio 66.14.

In 2015, independent researchers P.J. Gott and Logan Licht presented compelling evidence that identifies "Caenis" as Vespasian's chief advisor, not his mistress, and the same woman who assumed the name "Antonia Pallas" during the time Claudius was Emperor (41-54). The trail of evidence that supports their case starts with Greek mythology: "Caenis" is a woman who becomes a man; in Homer's Odyssey, the goddess Pallas Athena often disguises herself as a man; in the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus says of "Mary," “Look, I myself will lead her to make her a man..." Supporting evidence comes from two letters that Pliny the Younger (61 – c. 113) wrote to his friend Montanus, complaining at length about a monument he saw on the east side of Rome that honored the "freedman Pallas." In 400 CE, Emperor Honorius, a proponent of Nicene Christian and a merciless heresy-hunter, built a massive tower to bury a gate and a monument also located on the east side of Rome. The Honorius Tower came down in 1838 and revealed Claudius' Porta Maggiore and The Baker's Tomb, described as "a monument to bread baking." The reason they were buried for more than fourteen hundred years has remained a mystery. Gott and Licht believe they have solved it: Vestal Virgins were known for baking bread for bloodless sacrifices offered to the Goddess; in Biblical Hebrew, BTLHM is rendered Bet Lehem and translated, "House of Bread." Overlooked, however, is the fact that BTLHM can also become Betulah Em,which means "Virgin Mother." The same BTLHM can also be rendered Bat El Ha Em, which is translated, "Daughter of El the Mother." Gott and Licht propose that Honorius buried this "heretical" monument, a "House of Bread," because the competing Nassareans revered it as the final resting place of the man and woman known in the Christian Bible as "Jesus The Nassarean and Mary The Magdalene." The Magdalene fulfilled Micah's 4:8-13 prophesy of the return of "Daughter Jerusalem," "Daughter Zion," the "Watchtower of the Flock," and the "Redemptoris Mater." Micah's 5:2-3 prophesy, that Israel's Ruler would come from BTLHM, refers to the generations of women known as "Daughters of El the Mother," descendants of Joseph's mother Rachel, a name that means "The Way of El."

Popular culture

The life of Caenis and her love-story with Vespasian is portrayed in Lindsey Davis' novel The Course of Honour. She is also a character who features regularly in Robert Fabbri's Vespasian series, where she is depicted as being the long lost grand-niece of the king of the Caenii, a rebelling tribe in Thracia.

See also

• List of slaves

Sources

• Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars: Vespasian 3, 21; Domitian 12.3
• Dio Cassius, Roman History 66.14
• William Smith (1870), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology