Vipsanius Clemens (died 16 AD) was an impostor in

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–50 ...

who attempted to impersonate the Roman emperor

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

' grandson Postumus Agrippa (Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Postumus). He afterwards also became known as pseudo-Agrippa.

Biography

He was a former slave of

Agrippa Postumus Marcus Agrippa Postumus (12 BC – AD 14),: "The elder Agrippa died, in the summer of 12 BC, while Julia was pregnant with their fifth child. The boy was very likely born sometime after June 26 of the following year. When his grandfather adopted ...

, the grandson of

, who was killed around the time

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...

came to power. Clemens appeared claiming that he really was Postumus, and gained a significant band of followers, but was captured and executed by Tiberius. It is reputed that when he was brought before Tiberius, he was asked: "How did you become Agrippa?" Clemens replied "The same way you became

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

Meyer Reinhold Meyer Reinhold (September 1, 1909 – July 2002) was an American classical scholar and also a specialist in Jewish studies. He was co-author or editor of 23 books. With his wife Diane he had two children, Helen Reinhold Barrett, later Dean of the G ...

noted a magistrate at Verona in Venetia and Histria in 1 BC named Sextus Vipsanius Clemens who was the son of a Marcus Vipsanius, possibly associated with Clemens the impostor.

August Pauly August Friedrich von Pauly (; ; 9 May 1796, in Benningen am Neckar – 2 May 1845, in Stuttgart) was a German educator and classical philologist. From 1813 to 1818 he studied at the University of Tübingen, then furthered his education at Heidel ...

proposed that the man could be the impostor's son. Anthony A. Barrett believes the two should not be assumed to be the same man.

Ralf Scharf Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

states in his work ''Agrippa Postumus: Splitter einer historischen Figur'' that "Clemens" is simply too common a name for there to be any certain connection.

In fiction

Robert Graves, in his novel ''

I, Claudius ''I, Claudius'' is a historical novel by English writer Robert Graves, published in 1934. Written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius, it tells the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and the early years of the R ...

'', makes the suggestion that this person really was Postumus. This was not included in the 1976

TV adaptation An adaptation is a transfer of a work of art from one style, culture or medium to another. Some common examples are: * Film adaptation, a story from another work, adapted into a film (it may be a novel, non-fiction like journalism, autobiography, ...

, which does not include Clemens and instead explicitly shows Postumus being killed while in exile.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clemens Impostor pretenders 16 deaths 1st-century BC births Year of birth unknown 1st-century BC Romans 1st-century Romans Imperial Roman slaves and freedmen Executed ancient Roman people Vipsanii People executed by the Roman Empire

Biography

In fiction

See also

Notes

References