Gaius Valerius Eudaemon was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

who held a number of military and civilian positions during the reigns of the Emperors

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

and

Antoninus Pius Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius (; ; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from AD 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Born into a senatorial family, Antoninus held var ...

, which includes

praefectus ''Praefectus'', often with a further qualification, was the formal title of many, fairly low to high-ranking, military or civil officials in the Roman Empire, whose authority was not embodied in their person (as it was with elected Magistrates) b ...

Roman Egypt Roman Egypt was an imperial province of the Roman Empire from 30 BC to AD 642. The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai. It was bordered by the provinces of Crete and Cyrenaica to the west and Judaea, ...

. He is known as a close friend of the emperor Hadrian. His career is documented in two inscriptions. One is in Latin from

Ephesus Ephesus (; ; ; may ultimately derive from ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital ...

, erected by an imperial

freedman A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...

named Hermes. The name of the subject is missing, but from the other inscription, erected in Syria and written in Greek, Eudaemon is confirmed as the subject. The date of his death is not known, although he may be the same Eudaemon

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...

mentions in a list of dead men he looked up to, along with Demetrius and

Aulus Claudius Charax Aulus Claudius Charax was a Roman Empire, Roman Roman senate, senator and historian of the second century AD, who held a number of offices in the emperor's service. He served as Roman consul, suffect consul for the ''nundinium'' April–June 147 wit ...

Career

Eudaemon first appears in history when Hadrian appointed him , or "procurator of Emperor Hadrian for the administration of Alexandria".

Anthony Birley Anthony Richard Birley (8 October 1937 – 19 December 2020) was a British ancient historian, archaeologist and academic. He was one of the leaders of excavations at of the Roman fortress at Vindolanda and also published several books on Roman ...

provides context for this, placing the appointment at the time Hadrian was proclaimed emperor; Birley is certain that Eudaemon was present at the occasion (August 117), noting that ''

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, Caesar (title), designated heirs and Roman usurper, usurpers from 117 to 284. S ...

'' describes Eudaemon as , Hadrian's "accomplice in attaining the throne".''Historia Augusta'', "Hadrian", 15.1 "Eudaemon was evidently dispatched almost at once to Egypt", Birley writes, given a minor posting "to keep an eye on things there."Birley, ''Hadrian: the Restless Emperor'' (London: Routledge, 1997), p. 79 Birley speculates that he arrived with a letter of dismissal for the current prefect,

Marcus Rutilius Lupus Marcus Rutilius Lupus was a Roman '' eques'' who was active during the reign of emperor Trajan. He was appointed to a series of imperial offices, the most important of which was ''praefectus'' or governor of Roman Egypt. It was while he was governo ...

. Birley further speculates that Eudaemon also encouraged Hadrian "to issue an edict confirming the privileges to philosophers, rhetors, , and doctors granted by

Vespasian Vespasian (; ; 17 November AD 9 – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolida ...

and

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

." His next recorded appointment was to manage the Greek and Latin libraries at Rome. This was followed by the , or overseer of the Emperor's

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

correspondence; Birley dates this to 126 or 127, after the emperor had returned to Italy and found himself busy attending to the petitions of the cities of Greece. Further appointments followed. Eudaemon held a procuratorship in Asia Minor comprising

Lycia Lycia (; Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; , ; ) was a historical region in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is today the provinces of Antalya and Muğ ...

Pamphylia Pamphylia (; , ''Pamphylía'' ) was a region in the south of Anatolia, Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the ...

Galatia Galatia (; , ''Galatía'') was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace (cf. Tylis), who settled here ...

Paphlagonia Paphlagonia (; , modern translit. ''Paflagonía''; ) was an ancient region on the Black Sea coast of north-central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus (region), Pontus to the east, and separated from Phrygia (later, Galatia ...

Pisidia Pisidia (; , ; ) was a region of ancient Asia Minor located north of Pamphylia, northeast of Lycia, west of Isauria and Cilicia, and south of Phrygia, corresponding roughly to the modern-day province of Antalya in Turkey. Among Pisidia's set ...

and

Pontus Pontus or Pontos may refer to: * Short Latin name for the Pontus Euxinus, the Greek name for the Black Sea (aka the Euxine sea) * Pontus (mythology), a sea god in Greek mythology * Pontus (region), on the southern coast of the Black Sea, in modern ...

, with a salary of over 100,000

sesterces The ''sestertius'' (: ''sestertii'') or sesterce (: sesterces) was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin. The name ''sester ...

. Then followed and . This is an abnormal combination of two appointments, the first concerning Rome and the second in the provinces;

Henriette Pavis d'Escurac Henriette may refer to: People Nobles :''Ordered chronologically'' * Henriette of Cleves (1542–1601), Duchess of Nevers, Countess of Rethel and Princess of Mantua * Henriette Marie of the Palatinate (1626–1651), daughter of Elizabeth Stuart, Q ...

explains this combination with the supposition that Hadrian took Eudaemon with him on his travels in the East. Pavis d'Escurac
''La préfecture de l'annone, service administratif impérial d'Auguste à Constantin''
(Rome: Ecole française de Rome, 1976), p. 341 Eudaemon then became , probably when Hadrian spent the winter of 129/130 in

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

. The Greek inscription allows us to add more two posts to the career of Valerius Eudaemon, which includes a palatine secretariat. The ''Historia Augusta'' notes that Hadrian turned against many of his friendships by the last years of his reign, providing a list of names that includes Eudaemon, whom Hadrian "reduced to poverty." However, after a space of several years Antoninus Pius rehabilitated him. We know that Eudaemon was appointed governor of Egypt, which he held from 142 to 143. Beginning with Arthur Stein and

Hans-Georg Pflaum Hans-Georg Pflaum (3 June 1902, Berlin – 26 December 1979, Linz) was a German-born French historian. Life Pflaum, who came from a Jewish family of industrialists, at first studied law in Breslau and Heidelberg, afterwards taking a position in ...

, it has been assumed he was appointed to one of these other two prefectures first: or . Pavis d'Escurac believes it was more appropriate that Eudaemon was , the immediate predecessor of

Lucius Valerius Proculus Lucius Valerius Proculus was a Roman Empire, Roman ''Equites, eques'' who held a number of military and civil appointments during the reigns of the Emperors Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius. He is known primarily from inscriptions and non-literary papyru ...

. His primary concern as governor of Egypt was to safeguard the harvest and delivery of grain to the populace of Rome, but surviving letters from his administration show his responsibilities extended further. One concerns his investigation and grant of immunity from

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

to a doctor who mummified corpses. Another also concerns the liturgy: in it Valerius Eudaemon berates a village clerk for nominating a man to this responsibility, who was too poor to handle this responsibility, and as a result fled his farm and home.''Sammelbuch'' 4284. English translation in Napthtali Lewis, ''Life in Egypt under Roman Rule'' (Oxford: University Press, 1983), p. 181

Career

References

Further reading